Kuala Lumpur

Kwai Chai Hong

A Chinatown back lane restored with murals of 1960s KL street life, at the end of an alley almost everyone walks straight past.

Tugu Negara

Seven bronze figures, fifteen metres tall, by Felix de Weldon — the man who sculpted the Iwo Jima memorial. Five standing for the victors, two on the ground for the defeated.

Menara Kuala Lumpur

The 421-metre tower on Bukit Nanas, with an observation deck and a glass sky box cantilevered off the side.

KL Bird Park

Twenty acres and around 3,000 birds under netting in the Lake Gardens, much of it free-flight.

Aquaria KLCC

A 90-metre walk-through tunnel under sharks and rays, beneath the convention centre.

Thean Hou Temple

A six-tiered temple to the sea goddess Mazu on Robson Heights, hung with lanterns and looking back over the skyline.

Sin Sze Si Ya Temple

Kuala Lumpur's oldest Taoist temple, founded by Yap Ah Loy in 1864, still busy with worshippers rather than tourists.

Merdeka Square

Where the Union flag came down in 1957, framed by the Sultan Abdul Samad building's copper domes.

Central Market

A 1888 wet market turned art deco craft hall, now batik, pewter and souvenirs under one roof.

Jalan Alor

The street that becomes a kitchen after dark — grilled seafood, satay and plastic stools for a couple of hundred metres.

Petaling Street Market

The covered market street at the heart of Chinatown, best walked early before the counterfeit stalls open.

Chan She Shu Yuen Clan Ancestral Hall

A 1906 Cantonese clan temple with ceramic roof friezes shipped from Guangdong.

Rumah Penghulu Abu Seman

A chieftain's timber house from the 1910s, dismantled, moved and rebuilt in the city as a museum piece you can walk through.

Perdana Botanical Garden

The city's oldest public garden, laid out in 1888, holding the Bird Park, the Islamic Arts Museum and an orchid garden.

National Museum of Malaysia

Malaysia from prehistory to independence, in a building whose facade carries two large Italian glass mosaic murals.

Zhongshan Building

A row of 1950s shophouses in Kampung Attap turned over to independent studios, a record shop and a bookshop.

Kuala Lumpur Railway Station

A.B. Hubback's Indo-Saracenic station of 1910 — horseshoe arches, chhatris and minarets, still running commuter trains, with a free railway museum.

Sunway Lagoon

Over ninety attractions across seven parks, including what is billed as the world's largest man-made sandy surf beach.

Petrosains

A hands-on science centre inside the Petronas towers, built largely around petroleum geology and unusually good at it.

Masjid Negara

The 1965 national mosque, with a sixteen-pointed folded-concrete roof and a minaret shaped like a furled umbrella.