So after a 12 hour journey on a very hot and sweaty bus we reached the slightly more dishevilled and dirty city of Kuala Lumpur, checked into our hostel which was lovely (although came with a warning of monkeys scratching on the windows in the night!) and headed out for food. It was while hunting down food that me and Hel realised that we were rather underdressed with head scarves being the order of the day in this 95% muslim capital! We both blame our flowing locks for the fact that two bloody gorillas also known as idiotic locals (or something slightly bluer by myself!) follwed us for an hour until we had to stand next to the local police until they finally got the message that we weren't interested! Fun times! After this we quickly ate and headed back to the hostel vowing to wear head to toe clothes for our remaining time in Malaysia to avoid any more stares and unwanted attention! The next day we woke up and decided to visit the Batu caves, a series of caves which is one of the most popular Hindu shrines outside of India. Before this we tried to do like the locals and eat from one of the mnay hawker markets which littered the side streets. After much debate we tried some noodles and pak choi, avoiding the shark fin soup of fried frog, and were very grateful for the recognisable chicken and the knives and forks we were given!

After trying to save some pennies by taking the bus to the caves we admitted defeat as wandering around in the 40 degree heat was killing us and got a taxi to the site, chatting to the lovely old malaysian man along the way. When we arrived we noticed the 300+ steps that led up to the caves alongside the huge gold Hindu statue. This did not fill me with happiness as after our unwanted attention from the previous night, me and Helen had dressed like nuns and were now after only an hour of trekking were sweating like mad in the sweltering heat! However we followed the huge amount of people going on pilgrimage to the site, clutching pots on their heads as an offering and started up the stairs. After about 50 steps I declared I could do no more and wanted to make a hasty retreat as my legs were like jelly and the giant gibbons jumping around plus the huge crowds of people streaming up the stairs were not helping matters! But Helen pushed me on and we arrived at the top with me running towards the nearest wall away from the view below. When my sea legs vanished we wandered around the caves (pausing to lets some chinese people take a photograph of my pale skin!) looking at the many hindu shrines and watched the hindu people give thanks. After this we wandered back down the stairs, with many locals offering to give me a hand and looked round the markets selling sari's and indian sweets.

Helen did some haggling with the locals and we managed to get a cheap taxi back to the central market to have a look at some souvenir stuff. Helen made a lovely new friend while looking at some scarfes who refused to let go of her hand and was all for declaring marriage while I shopped on regardless! After this I decided to try the infamous fish massage and joined the masses who were sticking their feet in a tank of water as fish bait! The fish were very hungry and my squeals along with those of the bloke next to me caused many a shopper to stop and laugh along with Helen who refusaed to join me but instead took pictures of me in my state of distress! Definately not an experience to be repeated! After this we treked across half of Malyasia looking to book a bus to thailand but failed to do so choosing instead to just rock up at the bus place in the early hours hoping someone would take us to our next destination! Malyaisa in a day, done!