Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
We've now moved on from KL and headed to Melaka for a the R&R we need before flying to Melbourne. Although i enjoyed my time there, Kuala Lumpur was not the chilled out start to the trip that i needed after the mind numbing tedium of work and redundancy. In hindsight we stayed too long - four nights when two or three would have been sufficient.
If you're gonna visit Malaysia's capital ensure you go to the amazing aquarium. In the shadows of the Petronas Towers and seemingly in the basement of a conference centre, it's one of the best i've ever visited. A perspex tunnel under a giant tank allows you amazing access to sharks of various shapes and sizes, as well as turtles, rays and myriad other forms of sealife.
Continuing the nature based theme, Taman Rama Rama butterfly park is well worth a visit. Unlike similar UK-based places, this butterfly zoo is almost open air, with only netting stopping the insects escaping. There's also an amazing display of beatles, spiders and other bugs - many of which are native to Malaysia. The Islamic Arts Centre nearby is also worth a visit if you're in the area - a beautiful building stuffed to the gills with Islamic art and artifacts from many different Muslim countries.
There are numerous markets in Malaysia, most of which offer stall after stall of fake Levis, Adidas trainers, watches and bags. Slightly more interesting is the Central Market in Chinatown - an old art-deco building crammed with Malay arts and crafts. This is also where we had our feet cleaned by dozens of hungry fish.
The highlight of KL for me was catching the bus to Batu Caves: an amazing Islamic place of worship. An enormous gold statue immediately dominates your vision before you realise that it guards a massive flight of stairs (272 of them) into the mountainside. After running the gauntlet of monkeys and fellow tourists the steps lead into enormous cave chambers dripping with moisture and stalactites and full of temples and statues. Breathtaking stuff (literally after the hike up those stairs).
- comments