Absolutely loving the chaos in KL!

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Kuala Lumpar is crazy, crazy, crazy - sheer utter chaos!!! And we both love it! The entire city is bursting with life and people of all cultures.
The bus trip from Melaka took 3 hours, one hour longer then we expected mainly due to traffic congestion in KL itself. We actually had to join a queue in the street leading to the bus station and then another queue just to enter the station. Once inside we felt like we had arrived in hell… The buses all park underground - it was a real test of driving skills just to position the bus into it’s parking spot. To leave the bus parking area you had to drag your suitcase along narrow pathways between the rows of stationary buses until you reached a narrow footpath leading you up flights of stairs to the arrivals area at ground level. To make it even more difficult there were hundreds of other people trying to do the same thing. And it was dark - even though it was midday outside - and unbelievably hot and humid. I’m talking hundreds of buses and thousands of people - our first real culture shock experience! We were as stunned as most other Western tourists we saw in the bus station - so that made us feel slightly better. Absolute bloody chaos!!!
If the bus station was hell the hotel directly across the road seemed like heaven and we made a spur of the moment decision to book in there regardless of the price. Luckily Tourism Malaysia were doing a promotion starting that day so many hotels had special rates - or so the sign over the door stated. The next challenge we faced in KL was just getting across the road to the hotel - we soon learnt during our time in the city that crossing any road was a feat of bravery or sheer stupidity. A room in the lovely Hotel Kitari was available and at 89 ringuets (2 ringuets to the Aussie dollar) a night including two meals a day was within our budget. It was a very comfortable modern hotel with a/c and cable TV and conveniently close to all the major tourist areas. Also from our window we had a fabulous view - truly amazing after dark - of the Petronas Towers, the twin towers which are on all tourism promos about the city - presently the tallest buildings in the world.
The free meals offered by the hotel were interesting , particularly the breakfasts. Pancakes and honey with a side serve (on the same plate) of cold baked beans. In fact all the meals we ate there included baked beans cold from the can. Asian style bathrooms are also an experience - tiny cubicles with mini sink and a Western toilet, with the hand held shower head above the toilet bowl. All fully tiled and constantly wet - no towels or toilet paper can be left in it. I guess we’ll get used to them.
The city had an obvious Islamic influence, the majority of the women wore headscarves, much of the architecture was in the Moorish style. The buildings are lovely to look at and really are wonderful under floodlights in the evening. The first afternoon there we wandered around the streets to get a feel for the layout of the place. Our hotel was on the very edge of vibrant Chinatown and was within walking distance of many of the sights. When we were planning our time in KL we were very pleased to find that there was a large Tourism Festival on and on our first evening there was a large procession on to celebrate the opening of their promotion. The procession was wonderful, held in front of their Royal family and Prime Minister, and involved hundreds of people dressed in colourful traditional dress. There were many different costumes on display, the streets were hung with rows of fairy lights, lots of noise - we absolutely loved it.
Over the next 2 days we walked kilometres - I’m getting fitter daily and my arms are sooo brown! The most impressive site is the Twin Towers (Petronas). We saw a movie filmed made there last year - the climax scene was filmed on the walkway which joins the two towers - I think the movie was called ‘Entrapment’. In total we spent 3 nights in KL and spent most of our time wandering the streets and watching the local people live their daily lives. The people are really fascinating to watch…. The Hindu Festival of Lights (Deepavali) is on and all the Hindu population are making garlands of gardenias (threaded one by one on string) to take to their temples as offerings. They also light hundreds of tiny oil lamps, as well as smashing coconuts on the ground outside the temples. We were told they smash the coconuts as a form of thanks if something they prayed for previously is granted. There have been many wishes granted as the ground is littered with broken coconuts! Out rickshaw driver in Melaka had explained these customs to us but the people are happy to chat about their customs if you show any interest - if they can speak English, and many of the Hindus can.
We had a lovely meal in Chinatown one night, though admit another evening we ate at Subway again! We’re really missing salads. The food available from the many tiny street stalls does look appetising but we’re playing it a bit carefully at the moment until our digestive systems adjust to all the new bacteria. We really don’t want to get ill from eating bad food.
On our last day in the city we visited the Batu Caves - a large Hindu Temple on the outskirts of KL and really worth the trip out to see it. We caught a local bus to it - once there we had to climb 272 steps just to reach it. The cave was enormous, full of shrines, very busy with people praying and unfortunately also very dirty. It was covered in layers of bird poop! As we walked up the stairs I was attacked by a monkey. Or at least my bag was as it was full of bananas and oranges. He gave me a terrible fright and was last seen peeling one of the bananas prior to enjoying it. The Batu Caves are the site each year of the principal Hindu Festival called the Thaipusam. It is the festival I’m sure most of you have seen on TV where the devotees attach hooks into their skin and then pull weights etc with them. It is used as a form of penance , a cleansing allowing them to maybe be granted something they desire. Our driver from Melaka told us he was involved in it 20 years earlier - he wished for a wife, and got one - though I’m sure it would have happened without the hooks and pain. The devotees go into a trance , probably from hunger as they virtually starve for the 10 days prior, to help cope with the pain. Our driver did tell us he would never do it again - it hurt too much and he showed us the scars on his body from doing it.
Not a lot more news - we’ve really enjoyed KL - and are presently in the small town of Jerentat, a very unnourished low key town halfway along the jungle railway which crosses Malayasia from west to east. We are spending a quiet couple of days here - very peaceful after the chaos of KL - and catching up on the laundry etc. Food is very cheap - Banana pancakes and a couple of coffees each for breakfast this morning for under $2. What more could you want? Tomorrow we are going into Taman Negara National Park which is in the centre of the country in jungle like scenery. After that - who knows???

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