Kuala Lumpur 1 and the Cameron Highlands

---

Hi again! Sorry it's been so long since my last update, things seem to happen at super speed when you're constantly moving from place to place! Having said that, after my last post we did actually stay in Kuala Lumpur for another 3 weeks before I ventured south to Malacca! But things inevitably get in the way, so as I have so much to write about, I'll do 3 seperate posts - one on the rest of Kualar Lumpur, one on Malacca and Singapore, and one on Indonesia. <br style="font-size: 13px; color:𛈇 font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17.9200000762939px;" /><br style="font-size: 13px; color:𛈇 font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17.9200000762939px;" />Kuala Lumpur - one of our favourite cities so far, is a very, big and modern city with a brilliant transport system connecting all points within it, along with an amazing skyline and numerous skyscrapers and shopping malls. However, it also has various cultural areas, historic buildings and temples dotted throughout the city, as well as being within easy reach of the Cameron Highlands which we wanted to visit. So lots for us to stay for! After saying bye to our generous couchsurfing host Hasan, we stayed in Chow Kit, a residential area on the outskirts for a few days. We explored the city a lot more and wandered to Independence Square where there's the Malaysian flag flying high, commemorating Malaysia's independence from the British in 1957, however a number of buildings around here still exist from the colonial era, such as the Secretariat Building which is architecturally interesting with Islamic influences, and the current textile museum which was built in a similar way. The Majid Jamek, one of the main mosques in KL is also an amazing building, with an LRT train stop dedicated to it - while I'm talking about the transport, most of the trains run overground so on any of the journeys you take you can get a really nice view of the city and its buildings, with the Petronas Towers and KL Towers dominating the skyline. We also stayed in China town (the Chinese being one of the first major populations to move to KL when tin was being produced in the 19th century) which was a sea of red lanterns at that time of year due to it being Chinese New year, and Petaling street which is where the main market stalls are in China town, full of street hawkers selling everything from tops to gadgets, and of course lots of food stalls cooking up all sorts of Chinese foods. We found a lovely little old tea shop (complete with swinging doors and feng shui mirrors) which serves Chinese tea as well as a variety of other teas. I had the Cameron highlands tea, and was naively surprised that it tasted like English tea!!!! Around China town there are also lots of brightly coloured, incense fumed Chinese temples dedicated to various gods and goddesses with amazingly intricate carvings depicting stories and legends from the Taoist religion, that I enjoyed visiting. These temples are still very much in use, with offerings of food being brought and incense sticks being lit and put in front of the deities being prayed to. On the other side of town, there is also a little India, which we walked around - memories! However, although there was 2 major Hindu temples within the area, there were also many churches, Buddhist temples and mosques, as this was the main settling place for religious/clerical workers. When we moved accommodation again, we stayed in capsules with room only for a bed, which was interesting, the first time we booked 'two separate rooms'! Here we were within a stone's throw of Times Square, an absolutely massive shopping mall with a theme park inside!!! And although we didn't go on it, when we return to KL we probably will - come on, it's a rollercoaster in a shopping mall!!! The Petronas Towers are the two tallest buildings in KL, and have a really nice park underneath them which I went to twice. As well as getting really good pictures of the towers, the park feels so nice compared to the heavy traffic and pollution not far from it, with a running track, a big children's play area and pool, as well as a large lake and fountain. We were also very lucky to be told about an infinity pool on top of one of the hotels we could use - so we went and spent an afternoon up there! From the same guy - Kevin, a couchsurfer we met on one of the pub crawls we went on, we heard about the heli lounge, a disused helicopter pad which is now used as a bar, so we went up there one evening to see the sunset over the city and take some pictures of the towers and skyline, an amazing place to be!! Whilst we were in Kuala Lumpur we took the opportunity to go to Cameron Highlands which is only a couple hours drive, which is where many tea plantations were created in the late 19th century. It's a beautiful place and makes a welcome change from the heat of the city as its much cooler due to its location in the mountains. We decided to do some hiking in the jungles and hills surrounding the town which we stayed, called Tanah Rata, on the first day which was brilliant. Unfortunately I slipped near the end of the route and sprained my ankle, which was extremely painful. Luckily there were some very helpful local people who gave us a lift to the local hospital. After an X-ray and painkillers they told me it was soft tissue damage and told me to rest it for a week. So that was the end of our highland exploring!!! As I couldn't do much for the following few days, we decided it would be a good idea to had back to KL and put ourselves up in a slightly nicer place than usual - Citrus Hotel, in the executive suite with lounge access, pool and DVD player for an incredibly reasonable 75 ringgit (£15) per night! So we enjoyed our stay there! My ankle has been recovering well 😊 I'm finally leaving KL on the 4th Feb, heading down to Malacca for a few days on my own before Mj joins me again and we continue to the south coast and Singapore! I'll update again soon!

---