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Published: March 15th 2012
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I arrived to Kuala Lumpur and hopped onto their super-efficient Aerocity Expres train linking KL International Airport with KL Sentral Station via a short bus trip over from the Low Cost Carrier Terminal. From KL Sentral I had to jump in a taxi to Chinatown. I had hoped to use KL's LRT Metro system but the last train runs at 11pm and I didn't make it on time. I headed to Suzie's Guest House right in the heart of Chinatown and a stone's throw from the Pasar Seni LRT station. I'd seen it on Hostelworld with a good rating although according to the website it was fully booked for the nights I wanted to stay but I took a chance and went there anyway since I'm always a little sceptical as to how up-to-date that information is. It turned out to be a decent decision; there were a couple of available beds and the place had free tea/coffee, water, internet, breakfast and the owners were super nice and chatty although I later found out that they knew sweet FA about Kuala Lumpur! Still, all in all it was a really nice hostel and one of the better ones I've stayed in
so far.
I spent five nights in the city which felt like enough. I was surprised that KL wasn't the sprawling metropolis I had expected it to be and actually a lot of it was seeable on foot. The Petronas Towers for example were easily walkable from Chinatown despite the distance looking huge on the tourist map. That said, the public transport in KL is pretty damn good and cheap and has sweet sweet air conditioning and having previously been in places like Manila and Jakarta it was so nice to be in a city with some semblance of order and common sense! Traffic more or less seemed to respect each other and it was refreshing not to get beeped at by every single taxi that passes or get asked to be in a photo with every other random local that walks by!
I spent some time strolling around Chinatown, Little India and the Bukit Bintang district taking in a handful of the main sights - Central Market, Merdeka Square, Jamek Mosque. Chinatown and Little India were perhaps the more culturally interesting areas of the city whereas Bukit Bintang had all the large shopping centres and
considerably more dining/drinking options. It was here that I splurged slightly on a surprisingly authentic Spanish dinner at "Pichos". Patatas bravas and Pollo al Ajillo… I had a craving! On another day I went to the top of the KL Tower for a really great view of the city. To go to the top was considerably cheaper than going up to the bridge between the two Petronas Towers and given that it's a lot higher too I really can't understand why many people prefer to opt for the Petronas over this. I suppose it's just one of those things that people like to say they've done. I was happy enough with the view from the KL Tower and then seeing the Petronas Towers from the ground, first during the afternoon and then again at nighttime to see them all lit up. They are beautiful buildings and it's always fun seeing something for real after seeing it so many times on TV!
My only other notable excursion was to the nearby Batu Caves about an hour to the north of the city. In total there are three - Temple Cave & Dark Cave at the top of a flight
of 272 steps (it's a good work-out) and the Ramayana Cave that's at the bottom, right outside the entrance/exit of the KTM Komuter train station. Temple Cave was free to get in and at the Ramayana Cave a donation of 1 Ringgit (about 20 pence!) is necessary to enter. The Dark Cave however was more expensive since to enter this one you need to go in a group and with a guide and torches... it's not called the Dark Cave for nothing! So I opted out of that one and went first to the Temple Cave and then to Ramayana. The caves themselves were quite impressive and well worth seeing although for me the entrance is just as eye-catching. At the base of the 272 steps stands the world's tallest statue of Murugan, a Hindu deity, 43 metres high and beautifully painted in 300 litres of gold paint! Inside Temple Cave were a handful of ornate Hindu shrines whilst Ramayana Cave was full of slightly bizarre statues and figures that are supposed to depict the story of Lord Rama and just outside stands a green 15m statue of Hanuman, a monkey devotee and aide of Lord Rama. It was all
a little bit strange but worth the effort nonetheless.
The time seemed to fly by pretty quickly and before I knew it I was getting on a train from KL Sentral up to Butterworth in the northwest of the country. It was a
slow journey but there was a TV and they were showing Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. It's just a shame that it was on a loop. I saw that film a full two and a half times during the trip! From Butterworth I'd catch the ferry across to the island of Penang and the really cool town of Georgetown.
Suerte
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