After THE best coach journey we get dropped off by the side of the road....feeling confused we grabbed our bags and headed towards the bus station where we should have got dropped off at. Heading for the MRT we worked out our route to our hotel, on a mission we made our way through the crowds, 45 mins, 3 trains and a short walk through the market we made it! Dumping our stuff on two single beds and in a room that smelt like something had gone off was not what we had in mind! A quick request of a double bed and we were moved to a not so bad smelling room....yay!
Heading out into the streets of KL was our plan, stepping out of our hotel we were literally in the centre of the bustling market....which consisted of stalls after stalls of all things fake....sunglasses, watches, shoes, perfume, bags....the list goes on! fighting our way through to get onto the main streets was a mission! we were soon experts at it by the end of our 5 days....dodging in and out of the locals...
So our first full day in the city of KL we decided to do our usual self walking tour and explore what it had to offer. After persuasion from Jen that it was a good place to see (according to our bible...the lonely planet guide) we made our way to Mederka Square. It was a pretty impressive sight....and reminded us of England with a full sized cricket pitch....it had been a while since we had seen proper green grass! And on one side there were Tudor style houses....though of course the sun was out which was when we realized we were still in Malaysia. We aimed for a spot in the shade, sitting beneath the tallest flag pole I had ever seen...we admired the view. Submitting to the heat Matt spotted a museum.....'oh yes!....air con!' it was free entry too...bonus!! This is where we learned a bit about malaysians history and Mederka Square.....fact: the union jack was lowered for the last time here and the Malaysian flag replaced it...Mederka was shouted by the people which means freedom! After we had both cooled off and Matts sweat had dried up we headed back out into the sun and towards a huge shopping centre, where we stumbled across a Nandos!! So we thought why not and asked for a table for 2...feeling rather full after stuffing our faces we wandered around and out of the shopping centre thinking we were still yet to see the Petrona Towers....looking around thinking we should be able to see them....on turning to go back in, we looked up and noticed we had only been standing right underneath them!! We had been inside the shopping centre which was in between them without realizing ha!!
Deciding to head out into the dark to see what KL nightlife was about.....it appeared to be not a lot! Chilling and having a beer on the rooftop bar at Reggae Mansion with the Petronas Towers all lit up in front was what our night consisted of...it sure was an awesome sight!
Onto the next day and our self sightseeing tour consisted of visiting the Batu Caves....on arriving we were met by one hell of a statue and over two hundred steps!! Not a good thing when its 30+ degrees....so Picking our starting line, right, middle or left we were off....'the caves had better be worth it after this!' was what we were both thinking. Finally collapsing at the top we were greeted by monkeys....great! Something we both now hated to see, hurrying past them as we watched them pull flowers from someones hair, we were safe within the cave....though not any usual cave as you would imagine, this was a massive open area, with a small stall selling souvenirs and a temple inside....then another set of stairs!.....our legs feeling jellified we decided to go for it.....at the top was another temple which people come to, to worship...they must be mega fit!!
Matt was busy videoing the monkeys and the surrounding cave, when little did he know a plastic bag was lurking by his feet....then it went for the plunge and touched him......hahaha!!! Making him jump half a mile, thinking it was a monkey!! Hilarious....Jen was in stitches, after foreseeing what was going to happen....
After some light entertainment from Matt, we headed back down the never ending steps where at the bottom hundreds of pigeons had congregated....someone had to run towards them making them fly everywhere, not impressed! We made a quick escape and headed back to the train, whilst thinking we knew why the caves were free entry.....
We stocked up on snacks and headed back, as it was a late night to be had for watching England in the Euros!....thank god for the TV in our room! Trying to pass the time and not fall asleep proved difficult for Jen...having stayed awake up until kick off at 2.45am, Matt was supporting England on his own tonight! Thankfully it was worth the lack of sleep!
That night was to be followed by one big lay in....a late start to the day and more walking was to be done!
This was when we discovered how close our hotel was to where we were dropped off at by the bus when we arrived!! Literally 10 minutes round the corner....instead of the 45 minutes travel on 3 trains!.....we could have saved our money and our nearly breaking backs, typical!!
Anyways we headed to Times Square....(another of many shopping centres) we decided to check out the theme park.....yes that's right.....a theme park inside the shopping centre up on the 5th floor....was a full size roller coaster!
The night soon rolled round again after our short day and so we decided to head out to the skybar to experience the best view of the Petronas Towers at night. Happy hour finished at 9.00pm, a quick freshen up and change we left our hotel at 8.40pm....we needed to get on 2 trains then it was a 5 minute walk to the hotel and a lift up to the 33rd floor.....half walking and running we once again turned up feeling hot and sticky....this was a regular feeling for us now! With the bar being at the otherside of the room Matt....trying not to look rushed walked up to the bar alongside the swimming pool in the centre of the room which was tricky to do quickly! Jen had given up at this point.....but with a minute to spare we had made the happy hour!! Grabbing a table we admired the view...which was indeed awesome! Slowly sipping our beer as to not have to buy another one at double the price...we got lucky and acquired one of the cushioned booths that run alongside the window view of the towers. Millions of photos later and our one beer each emptied we made our way towards the towers to see what was on offer, as we thought the night was still young.....at 10pm places were shutting up! It was time to head back then!
Our last day had us walk some more, where we made it to the Botanical Gardens....there were amazing walkways past ponds, lakes, through trees...so peaceful for being in the middle of a bustling city! This was the best place we had been since arriving in KL....
The heat got the better of us so we made our way to the National Museum....museums or shopping centres were the only way to cool off....so we took advantage once again!
An early night was had ready for the early rise to get to the train station 15 minutes before our bus was due to leave at 8.30am...an hour passed and the bus still hadn't turned up.....we could have had an extra hour in bed!! After watching a very impatient man stroll up and down asking how long the bus was going to be we finally found out the bus had broken down....we just waited and watched as refunds were being issued to the annoying impatient people...thankfully as soon as they left it turned up! Ha!!....two hours later than scheduled though....but we were on it and on our way to Melaka!!