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Published: March 26th 2010
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The Petronas Towers
This photo was as far back as we could get to fit them in without standing in the middle of a busy intersection! Hi guys,
Well, we have had a lovely week here in KL, really don't want to leave this amazing hotel and re-enter the backpacking world but needs must!
Adam mentioned in the last blog update that this hotel really is a palace, but you might be thinking "what a strange name for such a place?", well it is located right next to the Malaysian Race Course and they are mad about the sport, so the name 'Golden Horses' isnt quite as strange as it seems. They are really proud of this association too, as everywhere you look there are horses; big gold horse statues, pictures on the walls, graphics on menus, tile seahorses in the swimming pool area, frosted horses on the shower door, shampoo bottle shaped like horses, horseshoes in the carpet and tile designs, I even saw a horse shape made with a stencil in the sand inside an ashtray!!!
The hotel is in the middle of a place called 'Mines Resort' - incidently an old tin mine converted into flash hotels and the suburb to live in for Malaysias rich & elite, I think we look very out of place and arent the usual custom
Petronas close-up
A bit of a tryhard arty shot they get here. Anyway we made the most of the free shuttle service into the city (about 20minute drive) most days, and explored what we could of the city.
We would get dropped off at the base of the Petronas towers - and they are even more impressive than we thought they would be. Even though they are no longer the tallest buildings in the world Malaysians still pride themselves that they are the tallest twin towers in the world! They are fantastically designed buildings that are very shiny and very huge! We unfortunately never got to go up to the skyview bridge (the 'viewing' link between the 2 buildings halfway up - the highest tourists can go) as on Monday it was closed and the next day we tried they only had tickets for 4.45 and our shuttle was booked for 5pm, and then the next day we though we would get there nice and early to get our pick of times - but even turning up at 9am there was a queue of over 200 people. Apparantly you need to queue up from about 6.30am as the tickets are free and they only have a limited amount
Formula One Car
Inside the atrium of the Petronas Towers of tickets each day. So we gave up and figured it wasnt meant to be. We are kinda glad we didnt though, as most days were overcast and the last day we tried there was a massive storm where lightning was hitting the towers themselves! We were watching the storm from below as we waited to be collected by the shuttle, and it was a little bit scary even with our feet planted safely on the ground. There were strong winds blowing branches off trees and road pylons across the street, enormous thunder that sounded like buildings collapsing around us not to mention the incredible lightning strikes right above our heads!
Most of the time here we have spent swimming in the pool at the hotel or hanging out in airconditioned malls. I never thought I would be sick of malls - but I am definately over them now, its just not the same when you have no money to spend. Everything is so ridiculously cheap here and so I am proud to have been reasonably restrained. In fact the only money we really spent was on Adam getting a 'mini-makeover' so to speak (hes gonna hate me for
Fish Spa
I guess Adams feet were tastier than mine! wording it that way! LOL). But he was sick of his long hair and having to tie it back all the time due to the heat so he decided to get it sut off...yes, you read right - the long locks are gone!!! His glasses also broke so we found a super cheap deal at an optometrist and got frame, lenses and eyetest, all done in an hour, for RM129 (about US$40)!
We did get out of airconditioned comfort and headed to Chinatown earlier in the week to check it out and visit the famous 'Reggae Guesthouse' to have an afternoon beer (yep - I've been properly converted now) and also ended up having a fish-spa, a very weird experience - strangely relaxing once you get over the ticklish feeling! We got here via the monorail system which is a really quick and effecient way to get around the main tourist spots in KL city centre. For only RM1.20 one way(US40cents) its cheap too!
Yesterday we headed to the AMAZING Batu caves - about 45minute drive north of KL. They are amazing Hindu temples, up 200-sopmething stairs, inside enormous limestone caves. It was really beautiful there (but also
2010 Formula1 trophies
Sneaky picture during trophy official photoshoot friggin hot), and I got the opportunity to hold a snake! It felt nothing like the slimmey wet thing I thought it would, in fact it was the opposite, smooth but dry and warm. An amazing experience, I'm really glad I did it, I didnt even I realsied I was shaking until I haded it back!
On the way to the Batu caves the tour also took us to the Royal Selangar pewter factory - which sounded boring, but was actually really cool. I recognised the brand as we sold it at David Jones, but didnt realise how long it had been around and what a reputation it had. They also happen to produce the formula 1 trophies - and as that is happening here in Malaysia this month, they were doing an official photoshoot of this years Malaysian leg trophies. So Adam and I got our best puppydog eyes out and snuck around at the end of the tour when the rest of our fellow tourists were shopping and got a sneaky pic with them up close and personal! Very cool :-)
Anyway, I better go and enjoy our last night in this palace... tomorrow we are off
Entrance to the Batu Caves
Thats a lot of stairs in Malaysian heat.... to the Cameron Highlands in the centre of Malaysia, its about a 4 hour bus ride away and we have booked into a hostel called 'Fathers GuestHouse' in these crazy shacks for jus RM32 (US$10) per night - yep back to shared bathrooms and the backpacker lifestyle......sigh.........
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