The Malaysian capital has gone from down-and-out to up-and-coming. Exploring one of the city’s oldest neighbourhoods while the Petronas Twin Towers loom beyond. Visitors to the towers, in Kuala Lumpur City Centre (known as KCC), can whizz to the 86th floor in a lift that zooms skywards at five metres per second. As of July, the best views of the towers are from the Banyan Tree, which has the city’s highest hotel rooftop bar. Some of the best independent bars, however, can be found in Bukit Bintang, KL’s nightlife district. Trec is a huge bar-filled complex that has the city’s largest nightclub, Zouk; while nearby Changkat, a heritage building-filled stretch of road, is a magnet for hipsters. Other businesses breathing new life into old buildings can be found in Kampung Attap, where various creative types have set up shop in the Zhongshan Building, once owned by a frozen foods distributor. Tenants include Bogus Merchandise, known for its silkscreen-printed merchandise, and Design Union, which hosts regular film screenings and art exhibitions. Over in the up-and-coming neighbourhood of Bangsar, a row of ancient shop houses in the enclave of Lorong Kurau has some of the city’s hottest restaurants, including Baba Low’s, famous for authentic Nyonya food. Bangsar is also the location for my hotel, the new Alila Bangsar. There’s a gorgeous infinity pool, spa-inspired bathrooms and, more importantly, not an open sewer or cockroach in sight.