Hello again everyone. . . . . Well I stayed in Kuala Lumpur a little bit longer and booked my bus up to the north east. . .That night I decided to have a few beer at the bar next door. . . .a reggae place. . . . It seemed quite popular, so I thought I would give it a go. . . . After a while I got chatting to a couple of girls from Jersey and ended up sitting down with them. . . we chatted about travels and played cards. . . They had also been away for 8 months, but had come the other way, so had done India, Thailand, Laos, etc, etc, so I really picked their brains on where to go, etc. . . We met up with some other travelers, an Irish lad in particular was a great laugh along with all the locals that worked there. . . . It ended up being a bit of a mad night. We got to watch some footy on the TV, eat some grub and have a bit of a dance too. . . . It was quite good for me because I didn't have to stagger to far. . . I lived next door!

So as I had an extra day, before I left I went on another little adventure. . . . Now I say adventure, because just going down the street in KL is an adventure. . . You risked life just crossing the street. . . . However, I am getting more used to the crazy atmosphere so decided to head out of town on a bus to the Batu Caves. . . They are huge limestone caves that you see well before you actually get there. . . . They also house many Hindi shrines and are a very popular praying place. . . Supposedly it gets a little mad there in Jan and Feb. . . .

At the base of the caves there are lots of shops and things which lets it down and the place is filthy. . . Well everywhere here is filthy to be honest. . . Anyway, also there are lots of murals and statues, one of which is a huge, and I mean huge gold thing, check out the pics!

So after taking all this in I headed for the 270 odd steps up to the cave entrance. . . I took it steady as it was very hot! Once up there and in the vast caverns the air cooled down a lot. . . . I was disappointed again to actually see a few shops in the caves. . . hhhmmmmm, very religious?!?!

Still, the caves were worth taking the trip to see, very big and interesting. . . . After reading a bit about them in my book, it mentioned there were monkeys and what do you know, there were! Loads of the crazy critters running all over the place looking for food. . . . Now once I had climbed some more steps to the very top part there was another shrine and lots of monkeys about. . . My book mentioned that the monkeys can get quite aggressive if bothered and have been known to steal from you, even from your pockets. . . . Well, all I can say is, I know why they can get aggressive. . . . A bunch of stupid Japanese tourist were throwing things at them, stamping their feet at them and allsorts and then running away screaming when they were attacked. . . . I felt like saying something, but decided against it. . . But what a bunch of ******* idiots!!!

Once the numpties had gone, the place seemed to chill out and you could really appreciate why they saw this place as a shrine. . . . ! I only stayed round there fore an hour or so and then headed back to the city. . . ! Once back I felt a little drained from all the heat and sitting on the bus for an hour each way, so I went back to my room for a lie down. . . . I woke up at around 10pm. . . . So, I don't know what happened there? So, I got up, had a shower and headed next door for some food and a beer. . . . . Turns out I had just missed the girls by a few minutes, which was sort of a shame, but then again, not really, I wanted to chill out. . . .

I had a chat with the regulars and the locals and a few other people I had met the night before and then an American guy came in that I met in Melaka,. . . . How strange? Of all the bars in KL, he wanders in to this one and he wasn't even staying near by. . . The place had been recommended. . ! So I had a chat with him and chatted to a few over people he had met and the evening was going well. . . . . They left after a bit and I decided to have one more beer before hitting the sack, so sat back at the bar and this Danish guy started chatting to me. . . . . At first I thought he was a bit gay, but after the conversation we had I realized he wasn't. . . I think he was just a pervert and was traveling around Asia for the wrong reasons. . . Well, not the same reasons as me anyway. . . . The guy was a bit disgusting really, so I made my getaway pretty quick! I don't think I was only one in there that he bothered that night. . . . I noticed him chatting to 3 Malaysian girls who had been in there most of the night and were having a good time, now I understand why they disappeared so quickly?!? He was a weirdo!

So I got up early and had some breakfast and said goodbye to the very helpful friendly guy at the hostel. . . . He helped me arrange my follow on journey and gave me some good advise. . . I headed to the train station and took it for 4 stops and then walked a bit to one of the cities many bus stations. . . . I checked my bus number and just chilled out until it arrived. . . . My departure was at 10.30 and they are normally pretty punctual. . . . I got on and the driver put me in a nicer seat, basically 2 to myself. . . Well it was an 8 hour journey. . . . ! They trip was fine though. . . We stopped at some dodgy roadside place for 30 minutes on the way and arrived at Kota Bharu just before 6.30pm. . . . They rain cloud had been forming again and it looked like the heavens were about to open so I did a bit of power walking to one of the places in my book. . . . I did get accosted by some locals as soon as I got off the bus, but I quickly shrugged them off and was away!

I got to this crappy hostel and got checked in. . . . The room is big and dirty, pretty much like most of the places I have seen, but hey, I managed to pick up free wireless from somewhere, so that's a bit of a bonus! Gonna head out for some food and a wander around because I am off early in the morning to get the bus to the place where I can go to the islands. . . . I am gonna hopefully chill on a beach for a week or so, do some diving maybe, etc. . .

So. . . Will be in touch again soon. . . . ! Ciao for now!