Very much like a slightly less polished version of Singapore, Kuala Lumpur still has plenty to recommend a 2-3 day stopover, including…
Colonial city centre
Home to some gorgeous heritage buildings, in particular the KL train station which is the most OTT train station since Dunedin, and the beautiful buildings near the Royal Selangor Club. The city gallery has a funky scale model of the city, if nothing on the scale or detail of Singapore or Chicago.
National Mosque
One of the most modern mosques I’ve been in, reflective of sixties optimism and full of beautiful design elements.
Islamic Arts Museum
Not quite as good than hoped (bizarrely there’s a better one in Copenhagen, The David Collection) but worth visiting if only for the collection of scale models of major mosques from around the world. Amazing how much their architecture and design varies from country to country.
Memorial Tun Abdul Razak
Slightly random house of the second Prime Minister of Malyasia, but for fans of cool sixties style this is a must see. Round the corner is an even more random scale model of Stonehenge!
KL Tower
Higher than the Petronas Towers but not as tall (as built on a hill), the tower offers some pretty awesome views across the city as you’d expect.
Petronas Towers
I didn’t go up but did enjoy photographing them day and night, pretty impressive structures.
Further afield
Taman Negara National Park
Six hours drive from KL, this is one of the best known national parks, home to one of the world’s highest canopy walkways and a number of jungle walks. Quite different to tramping in New Zealand in that it is very humid, hot and airless in the jungle, with little to see other than lots of trees, and home to leeches which are truly horrible things. Was a memorable experience but not one I particularly want to repeat…
Bukit Fraser
Two hours drive from KL, this was a great find on the way back from Taman Negara (via some of the twistiest roads I’ve ever been on). It’s a mountain village, where the British used to come to escape the heat and humidity of KL. Home to some great views, nice walks, and interesting wildlife.
In KL I wasn’t too fussed about the Botanical Gardens (long walk to get to and walk around, but little of interest to see), the Bird Park (biggest in the world, but depends on your interest in peacocks, and is pricey), and the National Museum (so dull…)
very good, thank you Jonty. Will give the Museum a miss I think!