Day 23 – Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

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Today we are going on our trip to the elephant sanctuary and Batu caves booked through the hotel yesterday.

We got picked up from the hotel about 9.30am and find that we are the only ones on this mini bus so have a personal guide for the day. In return for paying for this and our hotel transfer, we have been offered a free trip but alas time is running out. We really like the Malaysians and their relaxed stress free way of life.

First stop was to a pewter factory. Not quite sure why we stopped there as it was not on the agenda. After the five minute tour, we were ushered into their shop where they proceeded to try to sell us anything and everything. Maybe that is why we were there – to make our driver some extra commission. No sales to us though. Too hard sell for us.

Next stop is Batu Caves. This is the most popular Hindu shrine outside of India.

There are 272 steps from the base into the caves. With the heavy haze from the Indonesian fires, we were not sure if it was a good idea to climb the stairs, but we both made it up then down again safely and not out of breath.

The caves and the stairs are home to many cheeky macaque monkeys who are always scavenging for food. They have been known to steel food from people’s bags. There was a man feeding them bananas which they were all enjoying.

There is a lot of renovation work being carried out in the caves at the moment. When we were at the top, we saw lots of carrier bags with pebbles in, but did not think much of it. When we got to the bottom, we saw a gentleman giving these bags to people that were climbing the stairs. He was giving other people one building brick instead. What a very novel way to get building materials to site, but it takes a long time as each person can only carry a small amount.

The area around Batu Caves has several religious temples, and many people were going through these before going up to the caves to continue their prayer, some even in bare feet.

This was top of our list of must see whilst in Kuala Lumpur and we were so glad we not only managed to visit, but managed to get to the caves at the top.

We had a brief stop at a local café for an authentic Malaysian lunch. Very tasty it was too.

Our next stop was at the Kuala Gandah Elephant Orphanage Sanctuary which is about 100 kilometres north of where we are staying.

This sanctuary takes elephants from the wilderness of Malaysia that have been injured, or youngsters that have lost their mothers or been parentally rejected. The also do relocations of elephants if they are in an area not suitable for them where they cannot get to the right area on their own.

First they showed us a film about the works they do regarding relocation of vulnerable elephants. This was very informative and interesting.

Next we went to an area where there were about six elephants of varying ages in pens. We purchased bananas and sugar cane and we were able to feed them and touch them. They appeared to be happy with the attention they were getting. This was altogether an amazing experience.

One elephant here had lost part of his foot when it was caught in a trap. The guy leading our tour said that they have made him a prosthetic foot, but he only wears it when out in the fields. This was sad to see but encouraging to see the good work being conducted here.

Next we went into an arena area and they brought in six of their larger elephants. Again, they all looked well cared for and were not being forced into doing anything they did not want to. In the centre of the arena there was a fine mist of water to keep the elephants cool. They stopped on their way out and we were given the opportunity to feed them fresh papaya fruits. We also helped some of the local children that were on a visit their as the elephants were not taking their fruit as they were holding it wrong. They seemed very surprised that we would do this, but very grateful.

From the arena the elephants went down to the local river for a bath. We were offered the chance to go in with them, but the water looked awful and we did not want to risk catching anything. Some people did go in though.

Having had a very fulfilling day, it was then back to the hotel.

We decided that we enjoyed last night’s visit to TGI Fridays that we would do it again tonight.

We arrived at the bus stop to find a man spread out on the pavement. Not sure if he was worse for drink or drugs, but he was out of it. We waited about 15 minutes for the bus and he was still there when we left.

When we arrived at the restaurant, we were very disappointed to find that they had a private party going on. Things were being celebrated big time. They did have some tables to one side if we still wanted to eat their though. It was really noisy (bordering riotous) as the party was for a five year old so stayed only as long as we had to then caught the bus home.

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