Kuala Lumpur is a city caught in a metropolitan limbo. It aspires to be Singapore, but at times feels more like Bangkok. It is this tension between the clean, clinical efficiency of business-like Singapore, and the raffish rough edges of the Thai capital, that conjures up much of the Malaysian capital's undoubted charm.

In Kuala Lumpur, you can be skimming across town on the monorail past the soaring, record-breaking, Petronas Towers one minute and the next you are dumped at street level amongst the aromatic orgy of hawker stands and the unwelcome reality of traffic chaos.

This is all a far cry from the city's low-key origins, when a huddle of poor tin miners first crowded around the mosquito-ridden banks of the slimy Gombak and Klang rivers in 1857. Little could they have imagined that within a century and a half, Kuala Lumpur would have metamorphosed into one of Asia's most vibrant and compelling cities.

Kuala Lumpur, meaning ‘muddy confluence', has grown with bewildering speed since these early days; a growth that accelerated during the 1980s and early 1990s as the ‘Asian Tiger' economy propelled the ever-changing skyline.

The speed of change has resulted in old Chinese houses and faded colonial mansions idling alongside huge gleaming glass and steel towers, while food hawkers and traditional fortune tellers share the streets with bustling businessmen and guidebook toting tourists.

The city is not so much a melting pot or clichéd contrast between old and new, but rather an ever-evolving jungle of buildings, which seem to have sprouted organically from the sweaty vegetation and murky rivers that still snake through the heart of town.

One of the most admirable aspects of the city is the level of tolerance displayed by its cosmopolitan residents, with ethnic Malays, Chinese, Indians and Europeans all living and working together with few racial problems - certainly far less than those experienced in Western Europe or North America.

For many Malaysians, Kuala Lumpur is quite simply the Ibukota (‘Mother City') and as such it is treated with great reverence and abbreviated fondly to ‘KL'.

Over the last few years a whole swathe of construction and infrastructure projects have seen the city's skyline become crowded with cranes and clanking machinery as entire neighbourhoods have undergone redevelopment.

The emergence of Putrajaya, the new administrative capital, and Cyberjaya, the key section of the new Multimedia Super Corridor, are now steering Malaysia back towards the course set by former Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad with the aim of becoming a fully developed nation by 2020.

One relative constant in Kuala Lumpur is the climate, with consistently warm daytime temperatures, balmy evenings and afternoons that are often punctuated by thunderstorms, usually passing quickly to leave the evenings cool and rain free.

Singapore, known as the Lion City, is a fascinating blend of pan-Asian cultures, ethnicities and cuisines, exquisite natural beauty and fine British colonial architecture. Above all, it is a high-tech modern city where Asian traditions eagerly embrace both the benefits of global tourism and the challenges of tomorrow.

History
This tropical tip of the Malay Peninsula was settled in 1299 bya Malay Sultan, who built a palace at Bukit Larangan (now Fort Canning). Five centuries later, in 1819, globe-trotting adventurer Thomas Stamford Raffles claimed Singapore for the British East India Company, and the foundations of one of the world's most prosperous trading centres were established.

Fusion of cultures
The gleaming skyscrapers that tower over Singapore shield a plethora of Chinese and Hindu temples and Islamic mosques that stud this multicultural city, whose origins were defined by mass immigration from across Asia in the 19th century. A curious blend of ancient and modern, the city is home to an ethnic mix of Chinese, Malays and Indians, as well as expats from all over the world, in a predominantly English-speaking society.

Modern Asian republic
Since becoming an independent Republic in 1965, Singapore has enjoyed a vigorous free trade policy, as introduced by its then Prime Minister (now Minister Mentor) Lee Kuan Yew. This led to an unprecedented rise in the standard of living and exponential economic growth. The economy and tourist industry have enjoyed robust health though Singapore's economy was dented between 2001 and 2003, during the global recession. It rebounded to  grow steadily through the bullish early-21st century. Despite falling into recession in late 2008, many analysts believe Singapore is capable of rebounding once more.

World-class facilities
From its world-beating Changi Airport to its superb museums, tourism facilities, heritage architecture and natural attractions, Singapore is a beacon of efficiency, cleanliness and high-technology. Add in a constant flow of festivals and events in the ethnic quarters of Chinatown, Little India and Kampong Glam (traditionally the home of Singapore's Malay, Arab and Indonesian communities) and the result is one of Asia's most compelling tourism destinations, and one of the most diverse and delicious culinary scenes on the planet.

Jakarta is the ultimate city of contrasts, an intoxicating Asian destination where on one side of the city old sailing schooners trade spices in a scene that has not changed for centuries, while just streets away gleaming new glass and steel skyscrapers reach for the heavens in a skyline that has been transformed beyond all recognition over the last few decades.

Some say the Indonesian capital is an easy city to dislike, but delve below its often smoggy surface and myriad layers await, each revealing more of the character of what is a fascinating home to over eight million people.

Jakarta is a city of both wealth and poverty, with a gaggle of shanty towns clinging to the city limits, while expense account toting expats cut multi-million dollar deals in some of Indonesia's finest restaurants.

This bold, brash and bustling city buzzes along and after a few days it is hard not to get caught up in its palpable energy.

Its growth really began in the 16th century when the Portuguese arrived to find an established port, which they soon made use of to expand their colonial aims. Over the next few centuries the Portuguese vied for control with the British and the Dutch (who named the city Batavia) and it was not until the 20th century that Indonesia finally broke free from the shackles of colonial meddling with Jakarta, which translates fittingly as the ‘Victorious City', its proud capital.

Economic crises, the Bali and Jakarta bombings, the tsunami of Boxing Day 2004 and a recent tragic run of subsequent natural disasters have upset both the country's growing prosperity and tourism, but Jakarta is still the beating heart of Indonesia and one of the most captivating cities in the region.