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Published: June 12th 2008
Canopy Walk
After hiking to 100m above sea level at the Forestry Research Institute of Malaysia (FRIM), time to go for a little walk.As we pass the one week point in the trip, I reflect on the fact that we are half way around the world...and, astoundingly, still talking to each other. Even after spending every waking (and often stressful) hour together.
Forestry Research Institute of Malaysia After seeing the sites in KL for a day, we figured it was 'bout time to head out of the city for a bit. The trip to Forestry Research...(FRIM for short) requires only a short monorail ride to KL Sentral, train transfer, and then a short taxi ride. Public transportation is quite good here...reliable and easy to use. Most people speak at least some English so of course that helps. I've been trying to use some Malay after a short crash course at the hostel but must be doing something wrong b/c I've gotten nothing but looks of confusion, and occasionally, pity. Anyways, back to FRIM. The canopy walk costs 5 RM and requires a fairly rigorous 45 minute trail hike to about 100m above sea level. The canopy walk itself is fairly short but provides some pretty cool views of both the city and the forest in which it resides. The waterfall they promised
Batu Caves
272 stairs to the top while dodging monkeys the whole time we would see on the hike down turned out to be more like a stream but the rest of the scenery was cool. We lunched on our trusty Cliff Bars and caught a cab to Batu Caves.
Batu Caves Hindus from around the world make a pilgrimage to this shrine once a year for for Thaipusam festival in January/February (at least according to Wikipedia). For us, it consisted of a lunch at the base of something other than Cliff bars as you can see from the pictures. Although we ordered fried rice and the mysterious sounding "mutton meal", we were served steamed rice and several mysterious (but quite good) dishes on a banana leaf plate. I think no matter what we had ordered, we would have been served exactly what we were.
Properly fortified, we began our 272 stair journey to the caves. Christine fended off the fearless monkeys using only a scowl while I saved face by pretending to "admire the view" every 10 steps or so while catching my breath. The caves were nice but didn't require much time to explore and before long it was time to head back down. We caught a bus
My Favorite Past Time
Eating before climbing the stairs at Batu Caves. back to the city which afforded the opportunity to see some of the "suburbs" of KL.
Karaoke[/b}
Red Box. All you can eat buffet including sushi, beer, and private karaoke booth with all my favorite guilty pleasures. Enough said. In fact, I'm even a bit hoarse today.
Midvalley Mega Mall
How I let myself get talked into a day of mall shopping, I'll never know. Mega mall, however, only barely described this palce about 30 minutes of monorail/train riding from the hostel. Every store you could imagine and lots you couldn't. We did find these amazing pastries (see pic) at a place called The Bread Company (I think) that made the whole thing worthwhile. That and the ice cold a/c (which someone turned off at the hostel last night, making for one hot night of attempted sleep) kept me happy despite looking at way too many pairs of earrings...
Off to a Malay restaurant for dinner before boarding a plane in the morning for Penang in the north of Malaysia.
Selamat tinggal,
Adam
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Kate
non-member comment
That canopy walk looks like something from an Indiana Jones movie....scary!!