Whistle Stop Tour of Kuala Lumpur

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We stood in the lobby of our luxurious hotel in Kuala Lumpur waiting to be picked up for the trip to take in the sights of K.L. After a brief stopover on a beautiful tropical island and 10 days exploring a tiny corner of Australia, it was now time to whiz around the city. We had arrived early in the morning, too early to check into our room, so, after 9 hours of flying and one and a half hours coach travel, we found ourselves waiting to squeeze onto a minibus full of other like minded travellers.

The tour began by driving us past all the Foreign Embassies, given the political climate at the moment I was glad when that bit was over. The promised rubber plantation turned out to be a solitary rubber tree at the side of the main road but it was interesting to see the rubber liquid oozing out none the less. We were also treated to a tour of a Pewter factory which was interesting and a Batique factory which I found facinating the way the designs were all painted on free hand.
The Batu caves were a sight worth seeing despite the evil smell inside created by the wild monkeys who lived there. The 300 or so steps, dwarfing the tallest standing golden statue in Malaysia, proved to be just the thing we needed to overcome travel stiffness!

By 2pm we were back at the hotel cooling off in the pool before setting off to see K.L. on foot. We checked out the bazaars selling cheap electronics, wishing we had more money to snap up a bargain, before sampling a drink and meal on a pavement café. Despite the lack of alcohol there was no shortage of live entertainment including a group sat on the pavement playing didgeree doos! The evening was finished off by travelling on the Monorail from end to end taking way too many photos of the famous Twin Towers.

We finally crashed into bed around midnight, so tired even the 40 or so air-conditioning units whirling outside our bedroom window didn’t keep us awake!

When we arrived home in Britain, what a shock! We had just left temperatures of plus 30 degrees and 12 hours or so later, arrived home to minus 4 degrees! There's nothing like travelling to shock the system!!

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Photos

Giant Pewter Tankard
Stan desperatly trying to lift it up!

Batik Factory
The poor man had to keep a steady hand whilst crowds of tourists looked on

Statue,Batu Caves
The largest Standing Statue at the front of the caves

Batu Caves
Braving the steps after an overnight flight from Australia!

At the Top
Made it! and more statues.

Street Entertainment in Kuala Lumpur
A group playing digerie doos

Busy Street in Kuala Lumpur
Outside our hotel

Snow!!!
This is what we arrived home to!