I haven't spent much time in KL recently, so I really enjoyed my day out yesterday. It was looking great. I always love that bit by the old railway station -- you cross the road, and there's the amazing blue umbrella roof of the National Mosque, and the wooded hills of the Lake Gardens behind. But generally, I was struck again by how green it actually is, and by the character of the older streets, which nicely counterbalance the glitz of the mall-zones.

Our first destination was the Islamic Arts Museum. This was the second visit for both of us, but we still managed to spend several hours gazing at the treasures.

It's all fabulous. But certain things stood out -- the amazing cultural fusion of Chinese Islamic expression, for example. And the amazing array of textiles and furnishings. Wonderful combinations of colours and textures. If I were a clothes designer, I'd be majorly inspired.

I now really want a mother-of-pearl box full of tiny little drawers. And I can't wait to go to Turkey and Central Asia...

We had lunch at the Central Market food court. Then we walked up Petaling Street to the monorail, and rode (with thousands of others) to Bukit Bintang, which is famous for its malls (famous for other things, too, but I'm going to talk about the malls). We walked past the quirkily shaped Starhill Gallery and on to the Pavilion KL. All we bought was a drink from Chatime, but others were clearly having much more exciting retail experiences. Back to the tried and tested Plaza Low Yat, to (eventually) track down a case for our new super-enabled mobile phone, and then to Berjaya Times Square to scout out a copy of Lonely Planet Thailand.

Exhausted by this commercial extravaganza, we picked up the monorail again (not so crowded now, so we were better able to enjoy what are probably KL's best public-transport views), and then caught the bus home.

There's really lots to like about KL.