This is the only photo I got of them both - sorry is so bad! Harjeet also has a nephew...
... KP - another awful photo; sorry I didn't get sorted and get nice photos!
We went back to Harjeet and Pams house, which was very welcoming after Melakka, the bus ride and stinky-hot KL central with our full back/front packs on! We had a proper shower and got a good nights sleep in a nice place - soo much better! The next morning, we went on a drive out to the Batu Caves, an Hindu shrine of sorts.
At the entrance to the caves, is a gold (colored) Buddha that stands very tall, maybe 15 storys? He is visible from miles away, and stands guard at the entrance to the caves...
... which is 260 odd steps up, and very steep! The picture here shows the grade. Its easily 45 degrees, possibly more.
We climbed up slowly, puffing all the way. The view of the city from the top was neat. As always, click on a picture if you want to see the whole set.
From inside you can see the cave itself, a natural limestone formation. There are a handful of shrines, one for each of the deities - Ganesh, Buddha etc. The place is very big inside, like a cathedral. Apparently, the space gets packed out every year by faithful devotes who sing and dance around in there - the thousands of people must make it truly scary up there. Escape down the stairs is slow, and people apparently get crushed due to the numbers up there.
The roof lets light in one half of the space, and is even more impressive in person.
The area is quite awesome (in the classic meaning), but there are lots of cheeky monkeys around to inject humor. They get into the rubbish and swig the drops of fizzy drink left, then go nuts. I assume the sugar-rush is to blame, once they are fired up you better hold on to your stuff, else they might try to get it, especially if you have sweet treats!That night, KP offered to take us around the city and see the sights at night - thanks KP!
This is one of the governmental houses, not sure of its name, but it faces a huge grass field and I have since seen it on TV with their PM outside so it is pretty regal. Also interesting is the white building on the right side, which up close is a lattice work in an Islamic style. Very pretty.
The main road along the front is closed off at night due to gangs on scooters drag racing along it etc. Its the Malay equivalent of boy-racing basically. These guys are nuts on their modified scooters - driving at night with no headlights, pulling wheelies etc and apparently drinking etc. too. Scary to see, mainly for their own sake! Foolish male bravado transcends race, unsurprisingly.
This is the Petronas twin towers. Pam heard them described as "2 syringes full of champagne.." A good description! They are very pretty (and tall). We didn't get to go up to the bridge, as it was too late, but the shopping center at the bottom was open...
So KP and I left Princess to it shopping, while we had a quiet drink at one of the many bars around it.
Petronas support an F1 racing team, and so in the shopping complex there is a speed museum. Unfortunately it was closed, but I got to look in the window...
We saw the nightlife, including the ladyboy areas. Boy, some are really feminine and pretty! KP was well versed at spotting them, but its plain to see how some guys are fooled. Single guys beware!
The next day, Harjeet + Pam also took us for a drive around the city, looking at the Islam-influenced architecture, and some of the city parks in KL. After a days looking around, we ordered a pizza back at their home, and they messed up the details ("I said THICK crust! this is THIN..."). So with a few haggles on the phone, Harjeet managed to get a second round of pizzas free! Thanks Dominos. We chased the pizza with a few* drinks and had an awesome night of talking about NZ vs Malaysia, the makeup of Malayisa and other such things.
* I wasn't counting, but put it this way: no one was out of bed before midday the next day ...
We both really enjoyed our time KL - Good friends make all the difference! After all the cities, we were both craving some good beaches, and so we decided to travel up to Phuket in Thailand next, flying air Asia. Somehow, our packs gained about 3kg each between Singapore and Malaysia, so we were forced to pay extra for overweight baggage. Grrr, we didn't buy anything to add to the pack, where did that weight from? We checked on 2 different scales because we were so surprised!
Stay tuned for the next installment...
The flight itself was fine, and we landed in Thailand for the next step of our exciting adventure ...
1 comment:
You didn't see a monkey with a disposable camera while you were at the Batu Caves, did you? I only had like 5 shots left, and it got my camera!
I hope it eats the film and chokes.
Post a Comment