Kuala Lumpur, Day 4, 5, ..6, ...and 7, ...and 8?

(Day 4) 1st July 2015...enjoying a few days off in Phnom Penh to catch up on ze blogging.

Kuala Lumpur was difficult to leave. I had a brilliant Couchsurfing host, who introduced me to many of his equally brilliant friends, and brought me to amazing restaurants and sosphisicated (read expensive) bars and clubs. In the daytime, I had figured out public transport (just use Uber cabs) and had found my favourite places for food and coffee. I was settling down, creating a temporary home for myself, which felt amazing after nearly two months of itinerant travelling. As you can see, I spent over a week in one city, which even for me is travelling slowly. But aside from the first few days, I did relatively little. I slept in late, ate at street stalls, and went to bars and parties. These few days were a holiday from a holiday if you like, though few travellers would say that long-term travel is a holiday. It's fun, but it is not restful like a shorter vacation.

But on the first of these five day I want to cover, I still had sights to see, and was still eager to see them. My aim for today were the Batu caves located on the northern outskirts of the city. Over one hundred years agi, Hindu migrant workers brought to Kuala Lumpur as labourers saw the potential of this cave system as a place of worship, and religious attendance at this site, considered the holiest Hindu site in South East Asia, has been increasing ever since.

I think this might be the right KTM stop.

Reaching the caves was surprisingly straightforward. I ordered an Uber to KL Sentral station, and then hopped onto a KTM Komuter train bound north. The train cost just RM2, and terminated at Batu Caves which meant I did not need to keep track of the train's stops. It really could not have been easier.

A short walk through a shopping arcade filled with touts selling tourist souvenirs and religious paraphernalia, I emerged at the foot of a steep limestone hill, which looked solid and uninteresting. But as the wide path slowly curved around the base of the hill, it gradually revealed a huge open square dotted with tourists and Hindu pilgrims, watched over by a gigantic gilded statue of a Hindu deity, which guarded the steps leading into the hill's cave system and its shrines.

I assure you I was more impressed than my face suggests...

But, before I could attempt the steep climb in the humid heat, I needed a solid meal. On the far side of the square, facing the statues, stood a line of vegetarian Indian restaurants. I ducked inside one and had a delicious banana-leaf Thali and an iced tea for just RM12 (£2).

I have never seen a restaurant menu advertising SIM cards before...

Now, for the climb...

In all honesty, the climb was not that bad, as there was a cooling breeze higher up, and the tour groups, with their incessant photography, really slowed the pace and allowed for a more leisurely climb (I'm much more of a hike up, get it done sort of person).


Besides, there were monkeys to distract. I was thankful I did not have any snacks with me, as they could smell it from metres away, and all the monkeys homed in on vulnerable pilgrims carrying food offerings and (edible for monkeys) flowers. One lady, who was trailing a huge bouquet of flowers behind her, was completely unaware that a small troop of monkey were following her pulling out flower stems to eat.

The view from the summit of the steps was impressive, especially with the gilded god seemingly staring wistfully into the distance.

Inside the cave it was much less impressive, and too poorly lit to photograph. One cave had become just a walkway into a deep chasm at the bottom of which sat a squat, small Hindu shrine, which was the focus of the gathered devotees. I was not particularly impressed, and certainly the entrance of the cave held more awe for me than this cramped, dimly lit building. Its setting however was beautiful. 

Inside Batu Caves

Gathered pictures of the Batu Caves.

Underwhelmed, I headed back through the first cave, and began the descent back down the hill. The descent was a little more difficult, as the steps in places were not that wide nor always that even, and when stepping down all you could see was the base of the hill several hundred metres below you.


Luckily monkeys were on hand to distract once more.

So adorable...

At the base of the stairway, I took a few more photos, and after deciding that I did not want to pay to enter any of the other caves in the system, I walked back to the nearby station, and got onboard a blissfully air conditioned train to take me back into the city centre. 

I got off the train at the northern edge of Little India, with the intention of finishing my explorations in that district. However, before that, I took a break in a Starbucks I spotted just outside the station. 

Ninety minutes later (I may have had some cake, and then another tea, whilst I goofed around on my laptop), I headed back into the sunshine, and wandered through Little India for an uneventful thirty minutes before I pressed onto the neighbouring district of Kampong Bahru, an exclusive-Malay enclave of the city with a distinctive character.

They have good greengrocers at least.

The road I was walking along soon became crowded with stalls selling ready-made food and drink, and I soon realised I had stumbled into a Ramadan market, which fasting Muslims visit in the afternoon to purchase food in readiness for the iftar (breaking of the fast at sunset). I decided to copy the locals, and bought my evening meal in the market, eventually settling on a couple of doughnuts and a murtubak (I may be misspelling that): a meat-filled omelette unique to Malaysia. 

Feeling tired and hungry, but unwilling to eat food on the street in the sight of fasting Muslims, I caught a metro train back across the city, and then an Uber back to Jonathan's apartment.


There, I bumped into Jonathan's other Couchsurfer: a Frenchman called Nico, who I spent several hours chatting to before heading out to a club to meet Jonathan. 


There was then some drinking, and some more drinking, and some awful attempt made by me to speak French, before we headed home sometime after 3am.



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(Day 5) 2nd July 2015


My fifth day in Kuala Lumpur was very much a lazy day. I don't think I woke up much before 10:00am, and spent much of the next few hours chatting with Nico (Jonathan had many hours previously headed to work: poor Jonathan!). I intended to move out of Jonathan's apartment back into a (better than the last one) dorm, as Nico was now staying, and his mother and sister would also be arriving the next day in time for Jonathan's birthday. Basically, it was getting crowded, so I decided to vacate myself to give everyone more space.


I eventually left the apartment mid-afternoon, and checked into a cheap hostel I had found when I was initially investigating, which cost only RM15 per night for a fan dorm. Sure there were fist fights and drunks in the stairwell every night, and sure one night I found a guy bleeding from his head on the landing: but it was cheap, and had a cafe downstairs which I liked.


After checking in, and enjoying a iced coffee downstairs, I headed out into Chinatown to do some shopping. I had ran out of most of my toiletries, and all of my shorts now had sizeable holes in the crotch: I could put off spending money no longer.

As the evening set in, I headed out to Little India to meet Nico and Jonathan for some bakuteh, which is a Chinese-influence pork hotpot dish. There were a lot of components, and it was all very nice, but as Jonathan kept saying, there was nothing exceptional about what Jonathan's friend Yameen had maintained was the best bakuteh he had found in the city.

After Little India, we caught the monorail to Bukit Bintang, and drank several glasses of wine at a very nice bar the name of which I have forgotten. Then, after a quick stop in Bangsar for some late-night Indian food, we all went our separate ways for the night.



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(Day 6) 3rd July 2015 - woo, only twenty days behind...two less than when I started this blog post though ;)


This day contained my major reason for staying as long in Kuala Lumpur as I had done: it was Jonathan's birthday party, and after he had graciously invited me to it (thank you once again), I could not really skip town and not come along. 

The invitation (sent over WhatsApp) :)

I spent my morning sleeping, and then in the atfernoon I ambled around Chinatown, tracked down a plate of my beloved Special Sauce Noodles, and then strolled through the Merdeka and found a cafe to get on with some blogging. 


In the evening, it was party time. I managed to turn up late, thanks to a very hapless Uber driver: he took two wrong turns resulting in huge detours before he realised he had put my destination into his SatNav erroneously. The party was at a brilliant restaurant located out in KL's suburbs which provides work experience for underprivileged local children, enabling them to earn a wage whilst also gaining valuable skills. 


It was a good cause, and the food was delicious as well.

Midway through the meal, several of the young people gave speeches about what the restaurant and related charity had done for them, and then the restaurant staff came round asking for a donation which I was more than happy to give. 

Soon, we were heading on from the restaurant out to a club. I cannot honestly remember all that much of that night, except that there were great people, great drinks, and that I did not realise for about two hours that the club was hosting a gay night. Sometimes I am so dense. Below are a few photos I took of the night.

Nico and Jonathan showing off their mad dance skills.

Good job guys ;)

After yet another trip to an Indian late-night restaurant in Bangsar, I ended up heading back to Jonathan's, as I did not fancy staying in my sweatbox of a dorm room, and I think Jonathan was sceptical of my ability to get home alone...I was fine...I think...I can't remember...I was drunk.



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(Day 7) 4th July 2015 - nineteen days behind. 


My seventh day was fairly uneventful. Jonathan was an amazing human being, and cooked Nico and I a Filipino breakfast. I am fairly sure he told the name of it, but I forgot. I consisted of rice, a fried egg, and some preserved fish. It sounds gross now when I am writing it, but I remember it being delicious and perfect hangover food. 

I had intended to leave Kuala Lumpur that afternoon, but that...did not happen. I was feeling lazy, my possessions were halfway across the city in Chinatown, and my friend Lex was in the city and wanted to meet up. I accepted fate, and resolved to leave the next day instead. 

I spent most of my early afternoon comparing countries with Nico: we decided that Brittany and Cornwall were essentially identical, except for slightly differently spelt local languages (Breton vs Cornish). Then, as Nico needed to get on with work, I caught an Uber back to Chinatown, had a shower, and then headed to the Petronas Towers to meet up with Lex.

I had originally met Lex in Bangkok, and then bumped into him in Luang Prabang, and then again in Bangkok when I returned there in early June. I was really excited to see him again after a month, as when you are travelling, you are used to making friends who then disappear after a few days, so it is lovely to meet someone you already know, and with whom you can forgo the repetitive introductory conversations. 

We met underneath the Petronas towers, and headed to a nearby restaurant to have a sit down and relax over some food. Well, I had food (a delicious lasagne), but Lex restricted himself to just tea, as he was staying with a Muslim fasting, and was fasting alongside them in a gesture of solidarity. I felt bad...and I probably shouldn't have eaten, but meh, I was hungry!

Yum!!!!

I then suggested that we headed over to Chinatown so Lex could try some of the area's amazing street food in that area when the sun set. He readily agreed, and we caught the free GO KL bus over to Chinatown. However, as we were too early for Lex to eat, I instead took him around the Central Market, and to the Merdeka, which he had not seen. 


I knew that the Merdeka was closed in the late afternoons and evenings, but what I did not know is that that the roads around the square are closed because of the many thousands of Malaysians who choose to break their fast on the grassy field and the streets around it. 


We had accidentally stumbled upon an iftar celebration five minutes before sunset. The timing could not have been more perfect. 

After we watched the sunset over the surrounding buildings, and watched as thousands of Muslims broke their fast as an imam sung prayers over loudspeaker, we headed back towards Chinatown so Lex too could eat. 


He ended up with some Chinese noodles, whilst I had Chicken Feet soup.


It was disgusting. Do not try Chicken Feet soup.


Afterwards, we headed for Bukit Bintang for some drinks. He initially tried to head to a gay bar, but were told to come back later as the place was empty, so ended up at a Thai-run bar with cheap draft beer. Several hours later, we paid to get into the gay bar, which was hilariously empty still, and then had to sit through the (blissfully-short) worst drag show I have ever seen. About the only entertaining part of it was when one of the drag queens threw her prosthetic penis at someone (and you know that when penis jokes are a highlight,  how bad everything else was that night). We then headed for a better club across the city, but by the time we arrived there my previous few nights of excess were catching up on me, and after we had a mediocre Indian meal, and I had shown Lex the wonders of Uber in KL, we each headed our separate ways home.

There was time for a casual Petronas tower selfie en route to the club.

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(Day 8) 5th July 2015 - only eighteen days behind now!!!!


As I woke up on my eighth day in the same city, I was starting to feel cabin fever. I needed to start moving and start travelling once more.


But first, breakfast.

By around midday, I was ready to leave: I had packed, I had procrastinated with food and several coffees, but I could put it off no longer.

I ordered my last Uber ride out to the southern bus terminal (which is so south it was halfway to Malacca, my next destination), booked a bus ticket, quickly skyped my parents whilst I waited for my bus, and then left a city I had grown to love, and whose people I had bonded with.

Bye-bye Kuala Lumpur.

DSP


PS: Apologies for the amount of food pictures here. I had not realised I was so food obsessed.


Well...I'd realised. I had no realised I was quite so obvious about it.

Kuala Lumpur, Day 3: Lake Gardens

(Day 3) 30th June 2015

Kuala Lumpur, for all of its many attractions and assets, is not easily navigable, especially on foot. It is bisected by multi-lane highways, overground train and metro lines, and several murky-looking rivers. Those same highways are snarled with traffic almost twenty-four hours a day, and queues for MRT and KTM tickets snake out of the stations. Apart from the necessary Uber cab ride into and out of the city from Jonathan’s apartment each morning and afternoon, I avoided as much as possible public transport and running in traffic.

I feel the above needs to be stated in explanation for my eclectic choice of attractions on my second day, when I focused on the area of KL known as the Lake Gardens. Originally the site of a sprawling botanical garden (Taman Tasik Perdana) and park during colonial rule, it has gradually included more and more non-botanical gardens. So while I did plan to visit the Taman Orkid (Orchid Park), I also wanted to visit the Islamic Arts Museum in the south of what was the gardens, and also the KL Bird Park, situated at its centre. It was an eclectic to-do list, but nevertheless an enjoyable day.

After a brilliant night’s sleep thanks to my generous Couchsurfing host, I arranged for an Uber to pick me up and drop me outside my first stop for the day: the Islamic Arts Museum.

For those among you who did not know, I do have a slight interest in Islamic Art, thanks to a paper I took in my final year of university which looked at Islamic Art (and Architecture, which in Islam is one and the same) which I thoroughly enjoyed. I was looking forward to seeing some familiar Arabic scripts, coins and art forms, and to expand my knowledge on the subject.

The museum, whilst relatively expensive, was exceedingly comprehensive and informative. There was a temporary photography and weaponry exhibitions on the first floor, and then upstairs holds the main exhibitions on ceramics, calligraphy, textiles, and architecture. 

The many collections of the Islamic Arts Musuem.

The ceramics were particularly beautiful, as much of the collection came from regions of the Islamic World famous for their pottery, often in shades of blue and turquoise contrasted with white, which are colour combinations I appreciate greatly. 

With much of the ceramic collection, I found myself wondering why it looked so similar to Victorian and Edwardian ceramics from Europe. Eventually, I felt guilty as what had been my Eurocentrism: Europe had copied the exotic styles of Middle Eastern and Asian Islamic pottery. 

Even as a history graduate, I make rookie errors in history at times.

Immaturely posing in the kid's discovery zone.

After several hours, I was growing tired of standing and starting to shiver from the fierce air conditioning, so I quickly skimmed through what I had not yet looked at, and after a quick peruse of the gift shop, I headed out of the museum and deeper into the Botanical Gardens. 

Are we still in a city here?

The Taman Orkid and KL Bird Park were situated opposite to each other across one of the many winding roads within the park. I had intended to do the KL Bird Park first, but I initially baulked at the RM50 entrance cost. After enjoying a few fried snacks in the cafe outside of the park, I resolved to do the (free) Taman Orkid first, and make a decision about the Bird Park whilst enjoying the gardens. 

Orchids are again a slightly unusual interest for a now 23 year old man, but I again have a very good reason for wanting to see them, namely that my grandma (Nana) was an orchid (and plant in general) enthusiast and as I spent much of my holidays when I was young visiting her, it was a hobby that I had picked up. 

The orchid garden was fairly small, but that made little difference to me as I had not paid anything for it. There were however many thousands of orchid plants tightly packed into the small garden. They were growing from the walls and hung down from the ceiling, and grew out of every available spot of dirt. The very abundance of orchids was unusual, coming from somewhere where orchids are (perhaps less so in the last few years) sold as a luxury present.

Of course I stopped to take photos of a few individual blooms that I liked. There was not the greatest variety of orchids in the garden, though that may have been because of the time of year, or because the garden only grew native Malaysian species.

When I had exhausted the adorable, small orchid garden, I walked back to the entrance, and crossed over to the Bird Park entrance, having decided that it was worth the RM50 (£9), which even in Malaysia could have gone a long way. 

What hides in those open-air enclosures??

It started well, as the entrance lead straight into a enclosure containing parakeets.

Cute, but no match for Monty's charms.

Argh....I've been caged!!!

In the next enclosure, there were larger water birds: herons, storks, and (for some unknown reason) hundreds of peacocks.

The bird had even colonised a cafe within their exclosure.


By colonised, I mean that they shit on enough of the tables that no one else wanted to go near them.

My kingdom...stay out!

By far the best aspect of the bird park was the parrot enclosure, where you could feed the birds sugary syrup out of small beakers. After some initial hesitancy, a somewhat orderly queue was soon formed:

This queue soon dissolved into squabbling and bickering for the best spots, but I nevertheless enjoyed spending time with some parakeets, albeit ones that are far bigger and more aggressive than my own parakeet at home. 

After I had spent a little more time with the parrots, and explored the final few enclosures, which contained yet more storks and peacocks, I headed towards the exit. In total, I spent less than two hours in the park, and found it in many ways to not be worth the money. The parrot enclosures were for me brilliant, but then that is more because of my love of small parrots than because of the park. It was overcrowded and poorly maintained, and as a result the health of some of the animals suffered. Several of the parrots had feather conditions which are easily treatable, which made me feel sorry for them. So while I did enjoy my trip, I am far from able to recommend the Bird Park, especially at the price it demands of its guests.


I had afterwards wanted to find a cafe nearby to get on with some blogging, but there was a distinct lack of food and drink options in the area, so instead I walked south towards the main road, and caught a free GO KL bus north to Little India where I enjoyed some a snack and some coffee before organising my Uber ride back to my host's apartment.


This evening, Jonathan decided we should do Bukit Bintang, the main entertainment district of the city. We got out of the taxi at the top of the road photographed below, and had an amazing meal at one of the many restaurants lining the road. The prawns cooked in honey and oats were especially delicious. 

Then we tried to make it to the foot of the Petronas towers for the 22:00pm sound-and-light show at the fountains beneath it, but unfortunately missed it, so I had to just settle for taking a few pictures of the Petronas towers by night instead, before heading back to sleep.

Pretty...

DSP



Useful Information:

• Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia costs RM14.85 (£2.50) to enter (they don't mention the tax online). Be sure to check out the temporary displays on the first floor, and the architectural models tucked away on the second floor.
• Taman Orkid is free on weekdays, and only RM1 on weekends and public holidays. It is fairly small, but the orchids were impressive (though nothing compared to Gardens by the Bay in Singapore).
• KL Bird Park was a pricey RM50, and not really worth it in my opinion, as within the park, EVERYTHING was extra. Furthermore, the health of some of the animals was far from brilliant, and they had too many birds in certain exclosures, which lead to poor health, and wading through bird shit in exposed footwear.