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A Tale of Two Cities - Singapore and Kuala Lumpur
Hello all,
This instalment reaches you from the humid climes of South East Asia. We have yet to have a day under 33 degrees. To say I'm melting is an understatement.
However! The food is awesome, the people are friendly (and almost too helpful. We have been flagged down and told to stay put by people who want to give us directions) and we have seen many a temple. In a cave. Surrounded by monkeys.
Singapore was hot, bustling and a great introduction to hawker centres, including Gluttons Corner and Lau Pa Sat - basically outdoor food courts/ night markets with many variations of local dishes. Bonus points go to Singapore for smiley hostel staff and a light show with laser beams on the riverside. It happens every night, just because they can.
Other highlights included Super Trees! (cheers for the heads up Ma). Massive metal structures with plants growing up and out of them. You can see in the blog picture how sci-fi they are, which is a good summary of Singapore in general.
Little India and Chinatown also provided some good food and a bit of friendly bustle. Chinatown is also home to Buddha's Tooth Temple - turns out Mike and I share gods, based on the Chinese horoscope, which is nice and economical.
Final few discoveries - the Peranakan Museum was wonderful for an overview of recent Malaysian heritage and culture, and Walter the giant inflatable bunny artwork outside of the main gallery.
Kuala Lumpur - also hot and full of bustle. Also, so insanely noisy. All the time. At all hours.
Very fun though, again with the good eating. Di, I'm sorry, but we ate sting ray and deer.
And many noodles.
Explored the city on a heritage walk with a crazy local, learnt that monkeys only pick coconuts for payment and sweltered in an ankle length kaftan and headscarf at an amazing old mosque.
Stretched our bartering muscles at Chinatown Market - forgot how intense shopping can be! Also discovered the joy of ice tea in a plastic bag. Portable refreshment.
One of the best things in KL was our trip to Batu Caves. Super cheap, air conditioned train took us to the beginning of this temple cave. Worth the trip to be met by a giant turquoise monkey god pulling his chest apart. Awesome. Though the temples were brilliant, the limestone caves they were set into were most impressive, especially the guided tour of the Dark Caves (actual name) home to cave crickets, long legged centipedes and many many bats.
Batu Caves is also the site of man vs. monkey. On our visit, the tally was monkey 2, man 0 when we left. You have a bag of food, it will not be yours for long. You must pay the monkey toll.
No trip to KL is complete without a foray into Beryl's Chocolate Kingdom. Everything here is made from coco trees in deepest darkest Borneo. All super tasty except for durian chocolate. Durian is basically an onion, disguised as a fruit, shoved up a hedgehog. Bleurgh.
Until next time,
Louisa and Mike
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