8 April

After a long nights rest and oversleeping our breakfast (which was toast and coffee as well) we headed to the nearest stall for a muffin and pie. So far we've sticked to local foods as they are much cheaper than western food and after the muffin and pie we decided local food is definitely the way to go! Feeling ready for what lay ahead we headed to the Batu caves just outside KL, on the metro we met two Iraqi's who now live in Switzerland and were also on their way to the Batu caves, we compared methods of making the trip in the cheapest manner - ours was to take a metro to the station and a bus from their to the caves, theirs was a taxi which I thought would be quite expensive but turned out to be only RM 5, we shared the taxi between the four of us but he insisted on paying it himself and wanted no refund.

The Batu caves were quite a sight, these caves were used many centuries ago by Hindu Indians and were sacred. The outside was decorated by Hindu Gods, Sheva with her many arms guarding the entrance. The many hands symbolize that she has much to give, strange when you take into consideration the absolute poverty most Indians live in. The entrance and the caves were very dirty but after climbing the 270 odd steps, dodging monkeys trying to steal whatever they can get their little hands on we were greeted by the snake man, displaying a 2.5 m long python and albino python and an impressive monitor lizard. I stroked the poor snakes head while Leanne was only able to observe from a distance. Not wanting to pay the RM 15 for "as many photos as you want" we continued into the colossal caves. Life size cows, people and other animal statues littered the cave walls; chickens, monkeys and cats were frequently spotted. Hindu ceremonies where being held at the two shrines within the cave and some people had their whole heads painted in a yellow/gold color, don't ask me why.

After descending the steps we passed the outer pond containing coy and other fish which I later was told are Malaysian Paraná, not because they act in the same ferocious scavenging way but because they look similar. We visited two more Hindu temples, the drawings of which we could not understand nor could a Hindu man trying to sleep at the entrance explain them to us. The other temple was maybe of the Monkey god (if there is one) - the temple was built around a huge green king Kong also appearing to pound his chest.

From here we took the bus, only RM 1.2 pp, back to KL. Once more we wandered the streets to find a rain jacket but stopped short and decided to wander through JJ Petaling Street in search for some cheap movies/games which we did not buy in the end. We returned home for a rest after which we set out to find the Chow Kit night market. Wandering through the fresh produce and fish/meat market, everything could be purchased from the strangest of fruits to catfish, chicken legs, fishhhh from everywhere. The smell was not so enticing so we made our way to find something to eat. Here, for the first time, we could only find food which had been precooked - which did not look to appetizing with all the flies in close proximity…. We always ate from the street market if it was prepared in front of us but steered clear of precooked meals. We opted for a desert of Coconut rice with brown sugar, steamed to perfection, known as Pulu.

From here we returned to the golden triangle with the hope of finding somewhere to eat, on our way we met many different reflexology and massage therapists who wanted us to make use of their services, after haggling over the price we got a 40 min foot reflexology treatment and 10 minutes back & neck massage for RM 33 pp, about R75pp for 50 minutes! To be honest Leanne had to ask the woman to be softer on her feet, I stuck it out with Jacky but he almost made me cringe with pain the way he was working my feet. After the treatment we headed back home to slumber in after the long day.