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Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Today we decided to make our own way to Batu Caves instead of taking an organised tour which cost in the vicinity of 120RM, and included a stop off at batik making and pewter factories. We googled info, checked with the concierge and walked, or rather waded through the thick muggy air 5 minutes down the road and caught the Komuter train for 1rm each – this is about 40 cents.

The journey took about 20 minutes and dropped us at the entrance to the caves. Entry is free and we entered a bustling Indian world with an assortment of gaudy coloured temples, stalls selling jewellery, flowers and other offerings together with tacky souvenirs. Most notable is the huge 42m or 140ft high real gold painted statue of a Hindu Deity Lord Murugan who the caves are dedicated to.

The statue is at the base of 272 very steep steps 100m high up to the actual series of ‘caves’. Wild monkeys scavenge food from pilgrims and you have to be careful they don’t steal things from easy pickings like children’s drinks! The steps were a challenge, mainly as they are not very deep for european feet, and dizzyingly steep. We paced ourselves and I made sure I held the rail. I nearly got peed on by a monkey who also dropped a coconut just missing me. Disgusting smelly critters.

I am trying to refrain from moaning about the humidity but I will just pop in that I was leaking sheets – not trickling or running in streams, just total wet again! Squelch. Its funny that whilst my fitness was ok for the climb, the fact that you are totally wet with sweat makes your brain think that you are having the meanest workout so you feel more tired that what the exercise really is doing for you.

Once we got to the top, the humidity increased which meant that it started to rain a bit. I so wanted to run out into the rain, but that was not practical with the camera…. Didn’t last long in fact in only fed the sauna effect as the sun came back out. If a little breeze (which is rare) happens to flow by you lift your arms and open your mouth like the birds at the park and just try and trap it!

Heading back down was almost more of a challenge than the ascent due to steep nature and 2/3 way down my knee kind of gave up. Never had that problem before but it was really painful and I had to try and descend the balance keeping it as straight as possible. Must be getting old.

I gulped down a whole iced drinking coconut by myself- half the price there than at bird park. They are very refreshing. The toilets at the station were awful and smelly despite having to pay .30rm .The hose thing I have become fond of was lying on the ground amongst fluid (water or something worse) so no way I was touching that ….

Sorry about the toilet stories, but clearly they have made an impression on me, I must get a photo before I depart on Monday. Anyhow feeling brave about the transport system we made our way into the CBD to check out the big shopping malls via a change at sentral station to the mono rail.

Shopping proved a disappointment actually; very busy, dirty, and tiny little shops and way too many people. A lot of security EVERYWHERE. Speaking of which our thoughts on the people here. They are so friendly and happy. Staff at the hotel are looking for ways to help you, serve you, or just smile and great you. Its like having devoted servants everywhere! And best thing is that unlike America they do not want to be tipped. Its for the sheer love of service and being kind. Then the strange thing is that they warn you about your safety and security wherever you go. I don’t get it really – if everyone is so nice, whey are they also so ‘bad’?

We had a snack at the food hall pictured in town, but not the frog or entrail options – we stuck to coffee and an Asian almond pastry thank you. We got the monorail to a suburb called Chow Kit and walked back a bit over 1km to our hotel. Photo is of area which is not the flashiest but very typical of what we have seen, it felt a bit dodgy but ok. We were going to have a swim but caught Lils on Skype instead and had a good chat. Love the technology – free wifi and all.

We finished the evening with a Japanese buffet at the hotel as we both too tired to go out. The meal was not cheap but very delicious, Beautiful views of the towers and too much food to handle. One yummy dessert we had in was in a punch bowl with floating bits of ice, lychees, cola coloured liquid, black jelly almost like liquorice and something called ‘snow fungus’. It was really refreshing and delicious.

Thats us for another day – oh a note on jet lag. We took pills we got from Kathmandu called “No Jet Lag”. They are a herbal formula and we used them for our long haul to America last year with excellent results – no jet lag whatsoever. We are a little tired but more due to heat and exploring then jet lag.

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