Hey All

We travelled to Kuala Lumpur by bus from Penang. This was supposed to take about 5 hours which we thought was a long time but not too bad since it was a lot cheaper than flying. Little did we know that it would take about 8 hours in the end, including stopping to pick up more passengers in different bus terminals and getting fuel before we left. We were finally dropped off about 9pm in KL at the side of a road, not as we expected at a bus station! We tried to get our bearings but without a map decided to get a taxi to our hostel. We arrived there and found a lovely homestay with a really friendly man that owned the place. We settled in and decided to go and find food as we were starving. Fortunately there were a load of eating places just down the road so we had a lovely meal and then headed to bed.

On Thursday after a rather late start we headed out to the shopping district, it was just down the road from where we were staying. We looked around for some bits and pieces, there were loads of shops and it seemed that being nearly the end of Ramadan, everyone was there. We soaked up the atmosphere and ended up staying most of the day. One shopping centre we visited was in the process of being renovated. We tried going up in the lift to get across the overpass to the other side of the street. When we came out of the lift we were confronted by simply a building site, although there were no signs indicating so downstairs. We tried getting the lift down but kept stopping at every floor. Eventually we managed to get out and headed for somewhere a bit more built! In the afternoon when we arrived back at the hostel we had our first experience of proper tropical afternoon storms. It poured with rain from about 4pm till after 9pm so we chilled out in the living area and watched TV.

On Friday it was really hot and sunny. We caught the monorail to Chinatown. We walked along the main street, Petaling Road which was a market street, very pretty with lots of chinese lanterns but not much on the shopping front. After visiting China ourselves we weren't very impressed so after a pit stop in an air conditioning mcdonalds to get a drink, we headed on to the Central Markets. The markets were quite interesting, lots of little interesting local stalls and we spent quite a while souvinier shopping. After the Markets we stuck out in the heat again, this time towards Merdeka Square. Its a lovely central square with a large grassed area in the centre which used to be the old english cricket pitch. There are also thousands of malaysian flags as well as a large flagpole, apparently the largest in the world. We spent a bit of time admiring the views and then had to head back to get out of the sun and have a shower, its just so hot! In the evening we just headed out avoiding the rain for dinner and that was pretty much it.

On Saturday we once again boarded the monorail, this time we headed towards the KL Tower. Its the tallest building in Kuala Lumpur, taller than the Petronas towers only due to the fact that its built on a small hill. We got off the monorail and realised we had left the city map at home. We headed off towards the tower but ended up walking a long way round the block to get there, then climbed the hill up to the bottom of the tower. Pete headed up to the top, whilst Hol stayed at the bottom. There were some great views over the city, we could even see our hostel from the top. After a few photos (well lots) Pete returned and we headed back the quick way to our hostel. This was actually not as far as we had walked round the block, which came as somewhat of a surprise. Just after we got back it started absolutely pouring with rain, with thunder and lightning as well. It stayed like that all evening and didn't ease at all so we didnt even have chance to go get dinner. In the end we settled for some of our 'emergency' food, and had a mix of cookies, m and m's and peanut butter for dinner!

On Sunday we got up early and walked to the Petronas Towers, this time with a map. The Petronas towers were formerly the tallest building sin the world, now they are the forth tallest behind somewhere in Dubai and a couple of others. We arrived nice and early as only a certain amount of tickets are released each day. It was then that we found out that it was closed due to being the end of Ramadan, and that it would remain so until after we left for Singapore. We decided to explore the shopping centre at the bottom. After that we popped into Toys'R'Us and bought snakes and ladders/ludo and a drink then headed to the park outside the Towers where we sat on a bench and had a game or 2! After lots of strange looks we returned inside the sanctuary of air conditioning and visited the aquarium. It was interesting, with not just fish but also quite a few local animals. after a few hours (maybe a few pictures as well) we returned to the shopping centre underneath the towers which had become absolutely packed. We headed to get some food and then chilled out in the park, taking in the atmosphere of the public holiday. After that came the usual rain storm in the afternoon, fortunatly it wasnt heavy for so long, then headed back to the hostel. In the evening we decided to go to the cinema. We had a great (and cheap) evening watching G-Force (kids film, U certificate) Easily entertained! :-)

On Monday we travelled to the Batu caves. We caught the monorail to the station where the guidebooks said the buses went from. We spent ages looking but couldn't find them, although the bus stops not having the numbers of buses that stop there didn't help. We eventually decided to get a taxi there. The Batu caves are huge, catherdral size caves in the hills north of KL. They are very important places of Hindu worship and contain many shrines where pilgrims come annually. To get to the caves there are 273 steps up to the entrance, which are quite hard work in the intense heat. After finally getting there we explored the caves and saw the local monkeys which are fed by the tourists. At the entrance there are people who try to get you to take pictures with exotic animals such as snakes, lizards etc One of the guys approached Pete without him noticing with a snake. It gave Pete quite a fright when he turned round! After that we caught the bus back to the city centre and found that the bus did pass the monorail station, but only in the wrong direction on a one way street! After getting back we packed up and prepared for our flight the following morning to Singapore.

See you there.

Pete and Hol

xXx