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I cant sleep so i thought i'd give you a little up date on our 3rd day in Kuala Lumpur.
We woke up at a reasonable time today mainly because I had been bitten within an inch of my life. The mossies had a good feeding last night. That'll teach me for not using bug spray!
Anyway, we had another day packed full of sightseeing. We visited the patronus towers, which were pretty awsome. We had already seen them from another massive tower but felt the need to actually go inside and take snaps from the viewing deck like proper tourists. and anyway it was free!
Looking out from the 41st floor showed the city in all it's smoggy glory, although there was a nice park which i had a little nap in. I've found I can sleep literally anywhere, I slept most of the 13 hour flight, on the coach, on a bench and even on the death bus that took us to the batu caves.
According to lonely planet (our refrence guide for anything and everything) the bus would take 30 minutes to the Batu Caves 15km outside the city. An hour later we were still in stop start traffic out of the city centre, the bus driver had clearly gone insane after years of sitting in this hurrendous traffic, I could tell he was mad by the rocking and involuntary swearing, we decided to just 'roll with it' An hour and a half later we were dropped at the 'bus stop' (actually the slip road onto the motorway) there were 250 + steps we had to climb before witnessing the cave and the temples inside. this was a bit of an effort after sitting on a bus for what seemed like an age, but hey the visit was free so we went with it. (FYI we like free stuff!)It was pretty cool and it's hard to relay the sheer size of it, I did my best though by taking hundreds of pix.
A massive gold statue guarded the entrance and inside was 3 gift shops!! but also some pretty statues and shrines and stuff. The best part though was seeing a monkey. moments before we spotted it, the cheeky thing had nabbed a women's burger right out of her hands and then proceeded to have a picnic on the floor. obviously we took loads of pix and Dean was giddy with excitement!
Due to the strict budget we've given ourselves we took the advice of the hostel staff and sort dinner from a local street vender. For 10 of there finest malaysian riggits (less than 2 squid) we got a delicious meal of food (that ones for you gary) the cheapest and one of the most delicious of the trip so far. In the coming months I plan to throw caution to the wind and always eat food that is cooked on the street.
I've learnt some invaluable traveling tips in the last 3 days, sadly I learnt them too late........
1. Take toilet paper with you were've you go. 2. if you want to get somewhere on time do not take the bus and 3. use bug spray at all times coz the moment you dont, that's when they'll get you!
Over the last three days our opinion of Kuala Lupur has completely changed. Yes it's a smog filled, crazy traffic nightmare, and the pavements and not just for pedestrians but scooters and buses too, and it also doesn't seem to have any real identity. But what it does have are 2 massive towers, excellent public transport (apart from the death bus) and a variety of cultures living next to one another. As you walk through the streets one moment you are in China, the next India, and then you're surrounded by sky scrapers in what could be any big city in the world.
The diversity and hecticness of it all at first seemed daunting to us but then we turned a corner, spotted mcdonalds and realise its really just like home.
Off to Thailand in a few hours so will update you from there.
lots of love
Katie and Dean (who's currently catching some zzz's)
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