KL Day 2

After an amazing night's sleep (bless that air con) we headed out for some sight seeing. We picked up Chinese steamed buns for breakfast, found our way onto a local bus, and headed about an hour out of the main part of the city (though it is so sprawling you could hardly tell the difference) to the Batu Caves. These huge limestone caves are one of the most visited Hindu shrines outside of India, and the crux of the annual Thaipusan festival. During the festival people show their devotion by piercing themselves all over with skewers or hooking heavy carts to themselves and making the steep climb of 272 steps up to the caves and temples. The show of masochism is for Lord Murugan, who's largest statue is in front of the caves.

Unfortunately we were there at the wrong time of year for the festival, but the caves were still pretty impressive. Tom, a guy from England/New Zealand who we had met the night before came with us and showed us his trick of scaring the local monkeys. It backfired when a monkey went after him. I would not mess with those suckers- they look mean as hell and not afraid to bite you. Avoiding all serious injury, we eventually caught the bus and slowly made our way back to the city center. The guy selling tickets on the bus seemed happy to see us back on there, if a little surprised. It is never entirely clear where one gets on and off a bus- I think the rules change every time, but luckily we found some shade to wait in.
Discarded incense holders

Some of the Hindu kitsch they sell inside

monkeys everywhere!

Tiffany and I had another food court meal- this time at a place that had air conditioning (it becomes a theme, when you are sweating 24/7). The food is so good and so cheap! We also decided to give the ubiquitous fish foot treatment a try, going on strong recomendations from Sarah, who said it wasn't exactly fun or enjoyable, but probably the weirdest thing she's ever felt. For 5 ringgit, or about $1.50, you could have fish nibble on your feet for 10 min. In the mall there was a pool set up with chairs around it and these fish that love dead skin... How could this not be gross? Um, well, it is. Tiffany and I had some serious issues getting our feet in the water. The people running the place thought we were pretty funny and took pictures while we made horrible faces and could not stop giggling. Eventually we did get our feet submerged, and the feeling of fish scraping at your soles with their non-teeth was one of the most uncomfortable things I've subjected myself to, both mentally and physically. 10 minutes was more than enough (though really it was closer to 2 after all the squeamishness) but Sarah was right. Definitely an experience!

We met up with her for dinner and meant to make it to an Indian weekend market. Ended up getting food in a real restaurant and had a very pleasant meal. Some of the waiters tried to practice their English on us, but I think the only words they really knew were "hello" and "Michael Jackson" (his untimely death means his music will forever be linked with that part of the world in my head) so needless to say, they were pretty short conversations.

We went back and hung out on the roof, drinking expensive beers and talking for hours until we noticed that there was a man with a monkey wearing a diaper sitting next to us. He let us play with 4 month old Jojo who he got from a pet shop in Chinatown. Apparently it is legal to own a monkey as long as you register it and send it to behavior classes. Jojo had gone to his first month of class, and was scheduled to go for another month soon. Basically, these classes train monkeys not to bite people, an urge they must constantly struggle with. I am not in favor of pet monkeys, but couldn't really pass up the opportunity to hold the baby for a few minutes.

A bunch more people eventually came up to the roof, and we all hung out under the Christmas lights until way past our bedtime. Heard some horrifying stories of robbery on buses and police corruption in Thailand, learned you can live like a king teaching English in Taiwan, and all sorts of other tidbits from more seasoned Asia travelers.

We got a few (very few!) hours of sleep before being picked up by our taxi at 4am (pre-arranged through the hostel so as to avoid major scams) and taken to the airport. We spent our last few ringgit on McDonald's breakfast (noooooooo. But we couldn't stomach spicy fish soup, the only alternative, at that hour) and flew off to Phuket, Thailand!

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

We boarded the early bus for Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of Malaysia, which is only about a 4 hour drive from Singapore. The bus was luxurious with giant reclining seats and wonderful air conditioning! This was the first border we crossed by land, and the bus stopped so we could check out of Singapore and then 20 min later stopped again so we could get stamped into Malaysia. There was a huge crush of people but it was still civilized enough. Once we got into KL though, all bets were off.

The bus didn't actually stop in the terminal as one would expect. We thought we could pick up a map, ask for some directions, no worries. Stepping onto the street was like stepping into a whole new world. Hot, humid, polluted, crowded, loud, FAST. Everything about Kuala Lumpur was in-your-face, including all the people who literally got in your face about taking a taxi, exchanging money, trying to sell you something or take you somewhere. I guess overwhelming would really be the best word to describe it. We trekked around that neighborhood for almost an hour trying to figure out where our guest house was, sweating off a third of our body weight while we hauled around all of our worldly possessions. After asking 20 people and literally walking by the place 3 times, we found our diamond in the rough, Wheeler's Guest House. We couldn't really be blamed for missing it- there was a sign the size of a piece of paper at about the 4th floor level announcing it's name. The front was a little convenience stand you squeeze by, then head up some really dodgy stairs to the 3rd floor where we found reception. The decor was an interesting mix of fake flowers, fish tanks, and twinkle lights, but it worked better than I would have expected.

The entrance to the Guest House- which was hidden behind a convenience store/cartThe pile of bricks holding our bed up on one side
The whole place was heavier on the rustic than the charm- our room had a double bed with one side held up by a pile of bricks. But we did have air con AND a fan, which was heaven on earth. The toilets were down the hall and worked maybe 20% of the time. The showers were in the toilet stalls which is a space saving innovation. They were built on a concrete slab with some plywood slapped up as separators. Shower shoes are a definite must! For all of the griminess the place still had some charm. The rooftop was a deck and they had free catered dinner for everyone on Friday night. The food was good and we were encouraged to eat as much as we could, and ended up meeting some really nice people.

After dinner we wanted to explore the city a bit and set off with Sarah from Australia and two German girls who had just arrived from Europe that day after 4 connecting flights. Sarah had been to KL a few years before, and knew her way around a bit. We took the monorail downtown to see the Petronas Towers all lit up at night. They are gorgeous structures and were the tallest buildings in the world until being surpassed in 2004 (they are still the tallest twin towers!). At night they have lights running up and down and are pretty remarkable. Quite a contrast from other parts of the city! We checked out the ridiculously expensive shopping center located on the first floor, the dancing fountain show out back, and hung out with tons of other tourists for a little while before deciding to take the scenic route, aka walk, back to the hostel.

We were staying in one of the rougher parts of the city it seems, and on the way back passed a long building where one unit had the biohazard sign painted on the front, another was burnt out and you could see KL's other major building, the sky tower, through the windows because there was no roof to obstruct the view of the sky. The units at the end of the building were, of course, occupied.

Returning to the hostel we said goodnight to the other girls and were getting ready to go bed ourselves when we met some guys who were heading across the street for a drink. Somehow or other we wound up at a bar til 3am. Drinks in Malaysia are very expensive because it is a Muslim country and they have very high taxes on alcohol. I guess it all balances out when we paid less than $5 a night for a place to sleep!