Batu Caves

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Hi all,

We're back on the mainland now. No more flights until Boxing Day - the flights aren't that bad, its just the waiting around before and the packing, oh and why are airports always so far out of the city (stupid question - we don't need any smart answers thanks). It's just getting a bus is easier cos they can go right into town - where you want to be.

We first flew from Tawau to Kota Kinabalu on Sunday then from Kota Kinabalu to Kuala Lumpur on Monday. We stayed in Akinabalu Hostel again which was fine and the free internet was a bit quicker this time which was a bonus. We had heard a rumour that Pizza Hut were doing a deal where you could get 2 pizzas, 2 soups and 2 drinks for 18 ringgits (less than 3 quid). Well that turned out to be a load of crap, still the pizza wasn't too bad.

When we got back to Kuala Lumpur we stayed in Mayview Glory again (creatures of habit aren't we). It wasn't great being back in a city - too noisy, too busy, too hot, and too much rain, but we had one more touristy thing to do. So the next day we were off to the Batu Caves.

After being sent to a few different bus stops, we eventually found the bus going to the caves (we are slowly getting used to being given lots of different answers to the same question, it's normal here) and hopped on the bus for about a 45 minute journey. The cave is set in a limestone outcrop and is quite impressive in itself, although the fact that there is a busy highway right across the road is quite strange! This beautiful natural phenomenom alongside busy traffic - seems a bit wrong!

The cave is a Hindu shrine and steps have been carved up to the top, where people worship - there is a big festival once a year which takes place here and apparently a million people descend on the caves!

There are 272 steps to reach the entrance to the main cave (not that many after the mountain!) and there are monkeys everywhere - you are told to keep your belongings close (Marissa took out her earrings quick - they weren't having them!!), Matt found the monkeys more entertaining than the caves, although they are becoming a bit like cats and dogs in England we've seen that many of them!!

There is a huge golden statue of Lord Subramaniam at the foot of the caves, which is really impressive, and lots of really colourful statues and images of the Hindu Gods all the way up to the top - the photos don't do them justice really - and may now not exist.

The caves themselves are pretty big and are worth seeing (Marissa preferred the statues though!). It was worth doing and got us out of KL for a few hours - oh and it was free!

In the shop the nice lady told us there was going to be very heavy rain soon - and she was right! We jumped on the bus and watched the lightening forks, then the heavens opened and the roads turned into rivers! Luckily the bus made it through!

We did some shopping for an outfit so we could play out in Singapore (oh, girls by the way, Topshop is the same price as England over here - what a swizz!), ate at our favourite place, the Hawker Stalls on Jalan Alor then went to bed ready to catch the bus to Melaka in the morning.

As some of you might already know we have had a minor problem with the stupid memory card the photos were stored on. This means we have (hopefully temporarily) lost the photos for the batu caves, Melaka and Singapore. A picture speaks a thousand words - so they say - so be prepared for some really long blogs - ha ha. 😞

Bye for now, lots o' love xx

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