Kuala Lumpar, a Hindu Extravaganza

Today has been the best day yet in KL. We had quite a lazy morning, did not leave the guesthouse until around 10:30, and went straight for breakfast. We went for Roti again as at the minute we just can't turn it down. This time Chelsea had Roti with egg, which she says is similar to an omelette.

After breakfast we went to the 'bus station' to catch the bus to take us to the Batu Caves. We say 'bus station' as really it's a merger of three streets, the buses just seem to pull up and park wherever they can so when we first got there we spent a good ten minutes walking up and down to see if our bus was already here. We couldn't see it so decided to stand where the streets merge until we saw it and then follow it to wherever it parks up. Luckily we only had to wait around another ten minutes.

When you board the bus you don't pay the driver which we can't get used to. You just sit straight down and then another person comes and takes you money and gives you a ticket. Then a third person boards the bus to check everyone has a ticket and puts a little rip to show he has seen it. It's all a lot more complicated than it needs to be.

The journey to the Batu Caves took around 45 mins and took us through some other parts of Kuala Lumpur we would have otherwised missed. The city is vast, there are so many people and on the outskirts there were some quite deprived housing estates.

When we finally reached the Batu Caves we were amazed as we thought it would be slightly more rural, but the city goes right up to it. We got off the bus and walked in through the entrance and the first thing you see is the giant gold Murga statue that guards the caves. It is really impressive. The next thing you notice is the sheer amount of steps, and how steep they are, that take you to the cave system. Another suprise for us was the resturants and gift shops that are within the grounds (there is even a gift shop in the cave).

There are 272 steps on the way upto the caves, what makes it more interesting are the monkeys that hang around and jump up and down the steps after food that people may have brought them. Inside, the caves are well worth the climb. They are huge open spaces and there are several shrines and temples throughout. We had to trust most of the photo taking to Chelsea as Liam's camera battery ran out after we had been there about ten minutes and he had not brought is spare. Once we had navigated our way back down the perilous wet and slippy stairs we went for a much needed drink. We were enjoying relaxing watiching people come and go to the caves until we were attacked by a wasp and so were forced to leave.

Getting back to KL was easy we just caught the same bus from where it dropped us off outside the cave complex once a nice girl informed us we were on the wrong side of the road. We headed staright back to the guesthouse as our plan for the night was to go Little India and see the night market that they have on the first and third Saturday on each month.

The market was manic, there was at least a mile of blue tents leading up one road with other stalls branching off. There were hundreds of people slowing moving throughout looking at all that was on offer. Stalls were selling everyhting from Saris and headscarfes to convincingly good fake football shirts. The food stalls were immense. We were suprised by the variety of food available, aswell as all your indian cuisine there were, kebabs, fried chicken, desert stalls, and countless other things we did not recognise. For tea we finally settled for kebabs with naan breads and salad, followed by a grazing of Inidain nibbles as we made our way through the rest of the stalls. The market was one of the best things we have seen and done since we have been here.

Tomorrow is our last day in KL, we have enjoyed ourseves, probably more than we thought we would after the great time we had in Melaka. We are still not a hundred per cent sure where we are going next before making our way to Georgetown, Penang for Thursday.