Selamat datang to Kuala Lumpur - an update from the capital.

After our vigourous decent from Bangkok, via lethally hot curries, suicidal bus drivers and giant man eating spiders (did we mention we'd seen one dismember a buffalo whilst we ran away - they're that big!) we have decided to set up base in KL from Sunday (01/03) until an ungodly early departure on Saturday (07/03) at 07:00 (now we're not working this is considered early so some sympathy wouldn't go amiss!!) to recoup a bit. We're staying in a lovely hostel where once again we've managed to get ourselves a triple room for the price of a double giving us plenty of space to spread out.

However, as like a stay in London, the prices have risen astronomically now we are out of the north and into KL (see, the north is the sensible living option in every country). Gone are the days of meals for 2 including drinks for GBP3 and instead the budget is being severely stretched to a whopping GBP4.50!!!!

KL is a lovely city though, considering its size, it is relatively uncrowded and there are some beautiful parks which are deserted and would provide for a relaxing day with a football and a good book. Unfortunatly we don't own either and if we did, we probably would end up as well roasted as the ducks we keep seeing in restaurants (heads included) before being washed into the gutters from the severe downpours that occur everyday between 6-10PM.

During our exploring we have visited the KL Tower which is the 4th tallest building in the world and the day before our arrival had hosted a race in which the athletes ran 1km up the hill to the tower then had a mere 2,024 steps to climb. This race will have to wait for another day. We have also been up the Petronas towers which are the tallest twin towers in the world and got a great view over the city. We also made a trip to the Batu caves on city's outskirts which hosts a Hindu festival every year where over 1 million people attend over a 3 day period. The caves are impressive, once you've suffered the 272 steps up there and they are inhabited by many monkeys which are very entertaining (although one family had to talk to their daughter about the birds and the bees a little earlier than maybe they wanted to after 2 of them gave a demonstration right infront of her!!). Other than this, we have generally just wandered around taking in the sights and the smells and visiting the many malls here, it is a shoppers paradise (if you have any money available to spend - hint hint Jue needs sympathy as she is finding this partciularly traumatic). We did enquire at the tourist info about whether you could take a tour of the jail, to which they replied it was still in use, ooops. However, it actually turns out it's only in use as a holding cell for pre court appearances and no longer houses death row inmates and only a few years ago was open to the public, so that made us feel feel slightly less silly about our request.

This is all for now and we will be departing for Singapore on Saturday before flying on to Melbourne on Monday.

Selamat tinggal