Batu Caves & Journey to Singapore

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This morning we decided to make the trip to the Batu Caves, which are about 13km outside the city. We decided just to go independently on the train rather than go on an organised tour. In the end we are pleased we did as the train journey's cost us a grand total of 60p each! The train was very new and beautifully air conditioned and it took us about 30 mins to get there. Luckily, because we had set off so early there were very few people there so we made our way straight along to the entrance. Outside there is a 140ft high statue of Murugan and there is a pungent aroma of incense as a number of Hindu's are praying in the shrines at the bottom of the steps. Thankfully the sun was just coming over the top of the cliff as we started the climb up 272 steps. Any later in the day and it would have been a very uncomfortable climb! As we go up there are a number of macaque monkeys playing on the steps and climbing up the lamps. Eventually we get to the top and again we can smell the incense. The Temple Cave opens out at the top of the stairs and is made from limestone with lots of stalactites hanging from the ceiling. This is one of the most popular Hindu shrines outside India and there are lots of people praying and buying garlands of flowers to put in the shrines. We had a good look round and took lots of photographs before starting the leg wobbling climb back down to the bottom. Once there we had a quick look around some of the shops before getting back on the train and heading back towards Kuala Lumpur again.

It is very hot today (about 35 degrees - although it says it feels more like 40) so we decided to go back to the hostel to cool off and get showered. Because we were moving on the next day we sorted our rucksacks out while we were back at the hostel to save a job later on in the day. Once we get ourselves sorted we go into Kualar Lumpur CC, have a quick look around the shopping centre before taking our place up on a bridge near the fountains in front of the Petronas Towers to wait for them to light up. The park area is packed with tourists and also lots of locals jogging. As we sit and watch and it starts getting dark the towers start to light up. There is no grand 'lighting up' but it happens slowly over a period of time. Lots of people are gathered to take photographs as the sky gets darker and darker. The Kuala Lumpur skyline is very special during the daytime but takes on an altogether different feel as it lights up. We sit and watch for an hour or so and then the fountain display starts with a number of coordinated sequences. Again we watch this for a while before making our way back to the hostel for an early(ish) night as we have to be up at 3.45 on Friday morning to get to the airport to go to Kuala Lumpur.

We do eventually try to get some sleep but it seems that every American and his dog want to talk to us, or rather Neil in particular as I don my eye mask and pretend to be asleep. Eventually the lights go out but it's one of those times when you really know you should get to sleep but for whatever reason you can't. It seems that the other 8 people in the room are conspiring against us and the coming and going goes on until the early our of the morning when we get our own back by having our alarms go off to wake us from a sleep that never really happened!

A quick wash and brush up later, we help ourselves to toast in the hostel kitchen and then get a taxi to take us the Central Station from where we will get the Air Asia bus to the airport. The journey takes about an hour and the roads are very quiet. Once there we get a coffee and start chatting to a nice bloke from Sri Lanka who offers to sort us out an itinerary if we ever decide to go there. Eventually it's time to check in our luggage and then we have about a 30 minute wait before we can go to the gate. The flight took about an hour with a bit of turbulence but nothing too bad. Once landed we catch the train into town to find our new hostel which is an oasis of calm after the hussle and busstle of Kualar Lumpur.

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