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Had to create new blog as the old one didn't let me log in for some reason ...
Hi all , so it's been a few days since I last blogged , have been really busy ..
KL, Malaysia was awesome , our Hotel was located centrally, so we were able to explore around easily.
First few days we just lazed around hotel and went out in the evenings enjoying local food ( which was really good ) . We ventured out into
The street markets , which reminded me of the small street bazaars in India , the same broken pavements , the smell of street food, but the difference being there's no wondering cows, streets are a lot cleaner and a lot less people!
Most of the stalls had eager looking Bangladeshi originated 'salesmen' trying to flog their fake imitation handbags to Annie ... I did offer to buy her one ..
It is really a hagglers paradise , on the first trip I nearly bought a watch which was in local terms ' a genuine fake ' still baffles me what that actually meant. I haggled down from Myr 750 to Myr 300 thinking that was a good deal , but having jags as our human calculator I quickly realised this was still £60 ..I walked away !
We found a local food vendor on one of the side streets of the main strip , it smelt good , looked clean .. Our order consisted of noodles, 'aloo roti' which is almost a mix between a paronta and a pastry, and topped off with spicy sauce.
During the day Annie had made a freind at the hotel swimming pool , she suggested to check out a 'zook club' we rocked up in shorts and t shirts and showed our uk passports as ID which entitled us to Free entry .. We were not complaining !!
After the night , jags was a little worse for wear .. So we decided that he needed to be wheeled home .. A shopping trolly would do the trick .. A distant cry from Annie ' Chet, he ' ll get whiplash' could be heard !
The next day we decided that one trip to the market was not enough .. I felt that I hadn't bargained hard enough ..and Annie and jags had scoped out a Malaysian massage place they wanted to visit and I wanted to return to the food place we had eaten the day before. So we ventured out , it had been raining all day , but escaped the hotel just as the rain slowed down, thinking it was to end , however as we exited the taxi , we found ourselves caught in a torrential downpour. Our first port of call to escape the rain ... A friendly looking restaurant with overhead makeshift covers and seating, whence sat down we quickly realised that we were expected to order food , after glancing through the menu , we realised that it wasn't really to our taste and what we really craved was the street food we had had yesterday , so we ordered some drinks and bought us some time.
The rain eventually slowed down and we were able to escape the pestering Chinese waiters , where already we had been approached at least 5 times , by a different member of staff, to take a order for food!
I had noticed the stall opposite selling umbrellas , I was convinced that although the rain had slowed down more was yet to come and thus began my bargaining , £3 for a umbrella , in the rain , not a bad deal I guess .. Although I did never get any use out of it! After food , we set a time and meeting point and we split up , I left the other two to enjoy their massage, while I sought out my 'watch man'. It had become a bit busier and cooler now the rain had stopped and I enjoyed my own company for this half hour , I realised for the first time on the trip, the watch man sprung on me , but I had been taught well ( thanks dad) never seem to keen. He showed me all sorts of sales tricks , even put his knife to the watch to prove that it was scratch resistant .. Which I'm sure is some type of optical illusion ! I chatted to him a bit found out that he was working for his boss , as his boss couldn't speak English , I ended up offering h a fraction if the price with a little tip for him for accepting the offer and the watch was mine . That evening we decided to ' dress up' Annie made us wear shirts and trousers , and we ventured out to sample KL most exclusive.. Sultan lounge , entrance fee was extortionate , even for London prices, the decor was nice , but we soon realised it was all just a little to pretentious for us.. We soon left and opted for the next on the list ' sky lounge ' a bar with a swimming pool. The place was a lot more lively and more suited, a lot of international presence, and good music!
The next day we had organised a day trip through the hotel, ' canopy walk' and then the famous 'batu caves'we arrived at the nature park , with our full gear , with walking boots etc expecting a long hike , and hour and half later, very sweaty, mosquito bitten and thirsty we had finished the '4 hour trail', we came to the conclusion that we were above average height for the first time in our lives .. We must have had larger strides!! The canopy walk, around 40 mins drive from our hotel in a neighbouring city , offered beautiful sites , we felt like we really were in a jungle , it involved climbing up onto a tree house like structure and walking single file on wooden planks held together with nothing other than plastic cable ties and some nylon netting underneath!!
Next stop Batu caves , a short taxi drive on the outskirts of KL , we found ourselves at the bottom of a lot of steps, looking up we saw Hindu statues peering down at us , with hundreds of other visitors either on their way down or way up. We felt secretly confident that it wouldn't be too hard as we noticed older looking and much unhealthier looking people comfortably on their way down .
Here follows the story of how I was mugged on the steps if batu caves
Half way up I lagged behind a little , I noticed a monkey carrying it's newly born child on its front , I thought this would be a good photo opportunity.
After a ' near death' experience in agra a month ago with a angry monkey .. My dad had only one piece advice to give me before we left Birmingham ' don't go too close to monkeys ' it seemed very odd advice at the time but at this point it rang home a little , through the viewing lens of the camera I noticed the monkey darting forwards towards me , shocked I edged away, it appeared that it had spotted a banana in the side pocket if my rucksack that Annie had kept for a snack, it reached for the bag , swiftly swiped the banns out the pocket and left everyone watching laughing at the spectacle.
We reached the top , with my bag a little lighter, and the temple had been built by the ancient Hindus that had arrived in Malaysia , writhing the rock formations, we were able to take a tour into the deeper sections if the cave with a very enthusiastic 'caveoligist'.
The Stay in KL had been really relaxing we hadn't planned a lot to do , other than just rest up and enjoy our time 'off' or as it became known .. 'A holiday in a holiday'
- comments
Krishma kapoor Haha Chetan, I love this. You're story at the end -,- it's so funny because dad actually if say not to go near monkeys And also, thank god you finally found a watch!