If an encounter with a pimp is a pleasant experience, life on the exuberant street's even more fun. Incredibly, service doesn't suffer because of the crowds. Bars, clubs and stores have so many staff that drinks are ordered and returned in the time it takes to get comfortable in a seat. Even the bouncers show people to tables and stop to chat. It's all a far cry from North America, where doormen are as responsive as a brick and as friendly as a starving pitbull.
Strangers say hello here and white faces prompt genuine affection.
People aside, KL looks good. It has a magnificent new international airport and downtown is dominated by the fourth tallest communication building and Petronas Towers, twin high-rises linked by a glass bridge on the 44th floor. And there's a Canadian link - one of the architects for the buildings was Adamson and Associates, of Oakville. One of the towers, which were featured in the movie Entrapment, starring Sean Connery and Catharine Zeta-Jones, was built by the Japanese, the other by the South Koreans. The Japanese offices are full, the Korean one virtually empty.