We arrived late at the mansion, hot and sticky and clutching at shopping bags as we tumbled out of the van. Some of us were even dripping wet and covered in sand. You could have forgiven the staff of the Carcosa Seri Negara for taking one look at our shambolic group and sending us packing.

Luckily, general manager Carla Petzold-Beck was made of sterner (and classier) stuff. She welcomed us to the hotel, rescheduled our plans for the evening to make up for our tardiness, and promised to meet us for dinner shortly before leaving us to get settled into our accommodation.

And what accommodation! The hotel consists of two colonial mansions called Carcosa and Seri Negara, built on two hills inside a park in KL. It's owned by the Malaysian Government and is the official residence for royalty and influential people when they stay in the country. Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, Kofi Annan and the like have all bedded down there - and now me.

We were staying in Seri Negara, and were shown by a bevy of butlers past the drawing room downstairs (with a harp at its entrance) and up the curving staircase to our suites. Each of the 13 suites - seven in one mansion, six in the other - is unique and named after one of the Malaysian states.

I was given the key to Seri Sarawak. As the butler showed me in I couldn't help gasping - this wasn't a suite, it was a house! A lushly decorated, elegant house. And it was all for me. The first (enormous) room housed a sideboard for all my entertaining needs, a lounge area and TV and an ornate antique writing desk. Through the door at the end was a dressing room on one side, and my bathroom on the other. The last door opened onto my bedroom - massive again, and about a minute's walk from the entrance.

The picture at right shows the view from the suite's door. You can just see my bedroom far away at the end.

I'd only just finished marvelling at my luck when there was a knock on the door - it was some of my friends, wanting to take a squiz at my digs for the night. The next ten minutes were spent rampaging around the second floor, running through everyone's rooms and remarking on the sheer size of them all, as well as the little touches and designs that made each suite different.

Amid the excitement we somehow managed to grow up and refresh ourselves in time for dinner, which was a very elegant affair out on the verandah which encircles the house.

That night we ate delicious Malaysian specialties like hot and sour fish, purple rice and stir-fried veges, while Carla regaled us with tales of her jet-setting life and her years spent managing hotels all over the world. She also spoke of a darker side to the beauty of Carcosa Seri Negara, hinting at tales of ghosts and spirits. Luckily she left those til the morning - as I lay in bed in my gigantic suite right at the end of the corridor, the furthest from my companions, I definitely didn't need to worry that I wasn't alone!

The next day we reconvened at our table outside to peruse the expansive breakfast menu and sip fresh-squeezed juices in the early morning sunshine. Carla and her assistant arrived as we were eating and told us some of the spooky stories of the hotel. Apparently it's absolutely dripping with spirits, mainly friendly, who have appeared to guests and workers alike over the years. They professed to be believers now, although they weren't when they arrived at the Carcosa.

Once a year a witch doctor is brought in to the hotels to perform a ritual which banishes any wayward ghosts hanging round through a hole into the spirit world. The location of that hole turned out to be none other than my room, Seri Sarawak. Now I was really glad I hadn't heard all this last night.

After breakfast we embarked on a tour through the lush tropical grounds to visit the Carcosa mansion. It's grander and more formal than Seri Negara, with a stately stone staircase dominating the entrance hall. Downstairs is an elegant French dining room, and upstairs are the suites, including the ones where "Liz and Phil" stayed. The suites are even larger and more luxurious than those in the Seri Negara.

Downstairs in an anteroom is the official photograph commemorating the royal visit in 1989. Strangely, Her Royal Highness looks incredibly peevish. As I looked out past the verandah at the gardens outside, I really couldn't understand why she could have been so cross in such surroundings. Maybe it was taken just before she had to leave.

In my next blog: I might have experienced the best of colonial Malaysia, but there's plenty of culture shock to be had in such a diverse country, meaning some hilarious communication breakdowns.

Amy Williams travelled to Malaysia courtesy of Malaysia Airlines and Tourism Malaysia.

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