Kuala Lumpur

Kuala Lumpur

On the 23rd of May Scott and I flew from Kota Kinabalu into Kuala Lumpur. We spent the 24th and 25th there, and left on the 26th for the Cameron Highlands.
Visiting Kuala Lumpur was worthwhile, even if I didn't enjoy it too much. I was feeling a little ill while I was there, so I didn't have a ton of energy, and we walked all the heck over the place. Plus our hostel room was really noisy, as it was right on a busy intersection with jalousie style windows, so I didn't sleep too well. The weather was hot, rainy, and smoggy. Highlights of our stay were visiting the Petronas Towers, touring the National Museum, and exploring the Batu Caves. We didn't actually go up the Petronas Towers, as it was rather expensive and Scott had already done that. So we just hung out at the malls there for a while and saw a movie. I bought a box of Muesli at Cold Storage which lasted me until yesterday (June 8th). A very good snack. I also got some 78% dark chocolate which I had been craving for a while. We went to a couple different chocolate stores while we were in Malaysia, and I must say that I don't like Malaysian chocolate very much at all. Oh well. A least they have a decent cuisine, although it ranks low compared to most of the various countries I've been to so far. The museum was very nice, and had four large galleries of different eras in history. I especially enjoyed the archeology and anthropology sections and the weapons collection. I think Scott enjoyed the hats and costumes most. The Batu caves were amazing. It is a large cavern that is located in the middle of a huge limestone karst. You access it by climbing up 270 or so steps past an immense golden statue. There are several hindu temples about, including a couple in the cave itself. It was pretty quiet there, but you could tell that the place was set up to handle the million or so people that make a pilgrimage there for Thaipusam every year. It was a beautiful sunset, and a good way to end our stay in Kuala Lumpur. The next day, getting to the Cameron Highlands was a bit of an ordeal.

To be continued...