Monday, 18 May, Kuala Lumpur

Our nephew, Andrew, was passing through KL today on his way home to Sydney from a 10-pin bowling tournament in Manila. He had a few hours to kill in town, so we met up for a long-ish lunch at KL Tower, the communications tower on a hill in downtown KL.  It actually looks down on what was once the tallest building  in the world - the Petronas Towers, but only by virtue of its spot on a hilltop. It was only a "long-ish" lunch because there were subtle hints they wanted us to leave by 3pm, to make way for the incoming afternoon tea crowd.

We used to be able to take photos of visitors from a long plaza leading up to it, with the tower in the background.  No longer.  Some sort of redevelopment is going on there, and the plaza is no more.  So, no decent photo of Andy at Menara KL. That would have to wait until later at the Petronas Towers

The weather was a bit dicey throughout the afternoon. We dodged the rain for a while by virtue of being up Menara KL, from where we were able to watch its progress across the city.  But, we couldn't escape it forever, and so, we sought a retreat on the 33rd floor of the Traders Hotel, which happens to have a bar with a wonderful view of the Petronas Towers. Some sights I'll never tire of - that of the Petronas Towers, to my mind, one of  the most beautiful buildings in the world.  It changes when you look at it at different times of day, from the cool clear early morning light to the warm tones of sunset on the metal.

It seems we Aussies have been pronouncing "Petronas" wrongly all along.  We have accented the second syllable, with a log 'o': Pet -TRONE-is.  Now, we've heard the accent is really on the first syllable: PET-ron-is.  It'll be a hard habit to break.

Next door to the Traders Hotel is KL's convention and exhibition centre.  The centre of attraction there this week is a beauty and make-up convention, and as we were passing on our way to the Traders, we stuck our heads in the door   There were some wonderfully weird hairdos and makeups to be seen ( right).

Menara KL

Andy at the Petronas Towers

During the afternoon, we had a walk along one of KL's "eat streets", Changkat Bukit Bintang  That's a bit of a mouthful, so in the old days here, we renamed it Lygon Street, and that's what its been to us ever since then.  Many years ago we were introduced to a bar/restaurant that goes by the name of The Green Man in Lygon Street.  For ex-pats, The Green Man is a bit of an institution, so we couldn't pass by with going in for just one drink. Further on, we showed Andy where one of KL's famous hawker food streets is, Jalan Alor, but we weren't tempted - the lunch buffet had made sure that we weren't in the least bit hungry for many hours afterward.

Jalan Alor getting ready for a night's trading at its scores of food stalls

Tomorrow is our final day on this trip, but I think it will be a low key one, we don't have anything special lined up.....

Next: Last day