There's absolutely nothing to see in KL!"
This wasn't exactly what I wanted to hear on my first morning in Kuala Lumpur, but my friend's words actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise. You see, he was only exaggerating slightly, but more importantly, his
comments meant that my partner and I felt
absolutely no obligation to spend our weekend traipsing from one "must-see" attraction to another. Instead, we simply wandered off and got lost in Malaysia's capital city.
Doing this on foot was sticky, and sometimes tricky, with KL's climate hot and humid, and some of its street layouts seemingly designed to deliberately
confound pedestrians. Nevertheless, alongside occasional taxi, train and monorail rides for longer journeys, pounding the pavements was still a great way of getting to know the place and its laidback inhabitants.
At every turn we were confronted by the sights, sounds (and smells) that give KL its intoxicating multicultural character. We strolled to a soundtrack of soaring Bollywood melodies drifting from shop fronts, the calls to prayer echoing from the minarets of the city's mosques, and overheard conversations in English, Malay, and several Chinese and Indian dialects. Within the space of a single afternoon, we meandered past the manicured lawns of colonial Merdeka Square, the colourful wooden houses of Kampung Baru, and the hip hangouts of Asian Heritage Row, with no other plan than to get under KL's skin.
Admittedly, there was one landmark we had to see – although at more than 450m high, the Petronas Towers were often visible whether we were searching for them or not. As we were more
interested in looking up at the towers than
looking down from the 41st floor "Skybridge" that links them, we headed to the swanky Sky Bar on level 33 of the Traders Hotel. We hadn't booked, but as an earlier rainstorm had deterred some people who had, we were able to tiptoe along a precarious walkway by the bar's swimming pool to a great table. The service was so slow it was almost stationary, but at least this gave us longer to take in the towers, glowing like a pair of giant syringes against the tropical night sky.
Back at ground level, the one other "attraction" we visited was the Islamic Arts Museum, where, in the course of a couple of hours, we traversed centuries and continents, perusing grandiose architecture, the beautifully intricate work of Ottoman miniaturists, and everything in between.
But while the museum was a reminder of KL's Islamic side, the city's diversity was apparent everywhere – most deliciously at mealtimes. Faced with South Indian feasts laid out on banana leaves, Malaysian satay and Chinese steamed crab along Jalan Alor, and the international
eateries lining trendy Changkat Bukit Bintang, it was difficult to know where to start eating, let alone where to stop.
In many cases, this diversity made it onto the same plate; in KL, even plain old congee is given a spicy Southeast Asian kick. A particularly
heady mix awaited us at the Old China Café on Jalan Balai Polis, where the menu centres on the "Nonya" cuisine of the Straits-born Chinese, whose culture and cooking fuse European and Malay influences
with Chinese traditions. The combination of exotic ingredients that went into our lunch of fragrant laksa, Portuguese-inspired "Devil's Curry", blue-tinted coconut rice, and a sago dessert sweetened with rich palm sugar, made for a very tasty history lesson.
The restaurant also served up a generous helping of nostalgia on the side, courtesy of its sepia photographs and traditional furniture. It may have been laid on for us tourists, but it was not without a certain
poignancy. A number of nearby buildings had already been bulldozed,
and it wasn't hard to imagine a time when the Old China Café is itself a thing of the past.
For now though, KL seems to be maintaining a reasonable balance
between conserving its relatively short history and developing its potential, and it was nice to see cool new bars, boutiques and
galleries opening in old buildings which might otherwise have been demolished. There is real confidence in the air, and if KL is not quite Bangkok or Singapore, then that suits the locals just fine. It suited us too, for even if there's "nothing to see" in Kuala Lumpur, that meant we had even more time to actually enjoy the city proper.

GETTING THERE
AirAsia flies to KL daily from Guangzhou and twice daily from Shenzhen (www.airasia.com), with return fares hovering around 1,500RMB after taxes. Guangzhou residents might want to fly back to Shenzhen, or even Macau, to avoid the hideously early
5.45am departure return flight to GZ.

WHERE TO STAY

Number Eight is a stylish little guesthouse located in a converted Chinese shop on Tengkat Tong Shin, right by Jalan Alor and Changkat Bukit Bintang's great wining and dining.
Book early (www.numbereight.com.my) to secure
one of their 135MYR en-suite double rooms.