KL: A one-night affair

Leony Aurora, The Jakarta Post, Kuala Lumpur

Dragging ourselves away from the plush beds and cozy sofa in our rooms at PNB Darby Park after our afternoon arrival, my companions and I went straight to the nearby Kuala Lumpur City Center mall at the base of the Petronas twin towers, determined to take in the capital overnight.

After I invaded the bookstores and CD shops as fiercely as my wallet allowed, a friend lured me to experience a true Indonesian shopping must: a Vincci shoe outlet.

Decks of beautiful high-heeled shoes amid excited chatters -- mostly in Bahasa Indonesia -- filled the small space, and I ended up walking away with two gorgeous white slippers.

We arrived just before closing at our next stop, the Kuala Lumpur tower, to enjoy the city lights. One thing I learned after gazing through the powerful telescope there was to never leave my windows open.

Our guide then led us to taste a traditional late supper of nasi lemak in Bangsar, one of the major nightlife hubs in the capital, followed by a club-hopping tour and a drive through the nighttime beauty of Malaysia's Merdeka (independence) Square.

But one experience that stood out was being stopped by the police -- not once, not twice, but three times between the hours of midnight to 2 a.m. The authorities' keenness to catch drunks and underage drivers sent a friend tumbling out of the car -- we were not sure whether we could carry six people in a sedan -- for a midnight walk to elude the cops.

Looks like I did take in Kuala Lumpur in a single night.