Kuala Lumpur, it's all about shopping!

For my first trip to Asia we went for a gentle introduction, Kuala Lumpur formerly part of the British empire (complete with cricket pitch in the centre of the old town) is a common stopping off point on the flight to Australia.

The city is, at first glance, very modern, with the Petronas towers dominating the skyline on clear days (sometimes it can be smoggy). It also has 3 massive upmarket shopping centres which are linked by kilometres of overground walkways for pedestrians (air conditioned of course!)

Food wise there was a huge array to choose from, for tourists most hotels have 2 or 3 restaurants in them, also all of the major shopping centres have a floor of restaurants with cuisines from all around the world. Our hotel, the Royal Chulane, had an excellent Malaysian restaurant which, although more expensive (at 40 ringgit, or 8 pounds for a main) than some options served an excellent curry.

The best place to grab lunch is probably in the food courts of the shopping centres, these are usually on the ground floor and are not to be confused with the sit in restaurants which are usually on the higher floors and charge closer to 30 ringgit for a main. The food courts have a central sit in area (at busy times it can be tough to get a seat) and a Cosmopolitan feel with noodles, curry, Mexican, sushi and McDonalds all jostling for your attention. Meals here usually cost around 10 Ringgit (2 pounds) for a main dish and are usually pretty tasty (I tried a Malay chicken hot pot which was really good and a burrito which was ok).

The hotel we were staying in was a 5 star hotel, complete with pool, gym and 3 restaurants all available for a very reasonable 60 pounds a night, including an interesting "international" breakfast. If you have never seen one of these then you are missing out, food from waffles to curry, not forgetting noodles and croissants! The only thing missing was bacon.

Rather than spend all of our time in the hotel and shopping centres we also ventured out (initially via taxi but after 30 minutes in a bank holiday traffic jam where we moved 200 meters we got out and walked) to try the highly recommended Bijan restaurant which also serves traditional Malay cuisine (most of which seem to be curries and seafood dishes)

Although the food was pretty good and had a very traditional feel I think the excellent meal in the hotel (at approximately the same price) was more of a fine dining experience. If you have time I would do both!