Kuala Lumpur - I Should Have Skipped It

Petronas Towers, Kaula Lumpur
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I left Malaka on the 11am bus to KL which took a little over two hours.  Being a Sunday, I thought that traffic would have been no problem - boy was I wrong.  People started jumping ship realizing that we weren't going anywhere fast, once in the city limits.  Finally, the bus driver gave up, being stacked up behind a series of other buses and so not quite at the bus station, we were told to get off and grab our bags.

Negotiating through the crowded and smelly streets of Chinatown to my hostel, the Backpackers Travellers Inn, which was truely within walking distance, I made it up the steep flight of stairs to the reception room.  My rom was on the second floor of four (thankfully) and was a double with a window and a balcony - moving up in the world!  Well hardly.  Remember I said that I was slightly depressed when I saw the room at the Kencil Guesthouse?  Little did I know back then just how good I had it.  The room was pretty miserable and had this horrible smell (and I believe some fleas or something (don't want to think about the alternative) have eaten up my legs - yuck).  I had originally booked for three nights, but realized I wanted out sooner than later.  I really think I would have turned around and headed straight out of KL if it hadn't been for a few things that I really wanted to see.

Looking up the 272 steps to the Batu Caves, 13km outside of Kaula Lumpur
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When I was checking in I heard the woes of some other travellers who had escaped from a hostel that caught on fire that morning, just down the street (was an option in m LP, good thing I didn't go for that one!).  So, changing hostels and finding something else was going to prove difficult with the placement of all the displaced guests from the Red Dragon Hostel.

One of things I wanted to visit was a light show put on by the fireflies at Kuala Selangor. located north of thie city.  Unfortunately since it was a Sunday night the travel agency located in the hostel was closed.  My attempt then on Monday was also denied given that I seemed to be the only person interested in going and they weren't going to put a trip together just for me.  Oh well.

Really, 272 steps up to the Batu Caves!
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Instead, I decided to head out to check out the night market surrounding the hostel.  Given that it is so early in my trip, I am really not ready to buy anything, so it was more for the experience than anything else - and to kill time so that I didn't have to be in my stinky room.

Monday morning, up early to make it to the twin Petronas Towers as they give away only 1,400 free tickets and it was suggested to get there by 8:30.  Having negotiated the LRT (light rail) during rush hour - that was fun - I had no problem finding the towers (you think?!).  When I got to the entrance there was a sign saying that the towers were closed on Mondays.  Are you kidding me?  Argh.  I then reconsulted my LP and sure enough, I had failed to read that this was indeed true.  So, I had to be happy with just taking pictures out front.

Hindu temple inside the Batus Caves
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Negotiating the LRT back, I decided to get off one stop early as it seemed to be closer to where I was going to catch a local bus to get to my next destination, the Batu Caves, which I did check and appeared to be open.  Getting off at Masjid Jamek instead of my original stop, Pasa Seni, it looked simple enough via my map, just follow the train tracks.  Well, I failed to notice that there were two train tracks and of course, I picked the wrong ones to follow.  I am sensing a theme here, I must pay more attentions to the details!  Oh and BTW, as suggested by another traveller, I have since bought a compass that will hopefully help me start in the right direction in the future.

FInally, I found bus 11 to the Batu Caves for 2RM (approx $.60) and we started on our way.  All was going pretty well until the other two people got off the bus and then the ticket taker decided to try and chat to me, even though he knew no English.  Sitting in the seat in front of me, he had his one arm over the back on his seat, kind of trying to touch my leg.  Needless to say, I moved pretty quickly and was happy that my stop was just a few minutes away.  I must interject here that I have had a lot of looks and comments made, but this was the first attempt at actually touching me.

So, onward to Batu Caves, located 13km north of KL, which are made up of limestone featuring a Hindu temple inside.  Just before reaching the main entrance, I was approached by a man telling me that I couldn't possibly understand what the caves mean unless I took their "Discovery Tour" for 10RM (approx $3).  I politely declined, realizing it was a scam.

Each year, around January/February, about 1 million pilgrims visit the Batu Caves for three days of Thaipusam - a Hindu festival.  I honestly couldn't imagine where they would all fit and how they would all negotiate the 272 steps (yup, the number of the step is painted just to let you know how far you have been and how far you have to go!) up to the entrance of the cave.  Making it up to the top (definitely gave my calves a workout) the cave opens up and you navigate up some more steps to see the temple.

Apparently, there are supposed to be monkeys that scale the walls of the caves, but I didn't see any :(  My tour of the caves was actually much shorter than I had anticipated.  I headed back to find the bus back into KL, hoping that the same bus wouldn't have looped around.  Thankfully it was a different one.

Back in KL I only had a few more hours to kill before I could go to sleep and then get up to catch the 8:30am bus out to the Cameron Highlands which promised cooler weather and hopefully a better destination.  I am sure that there are very nice parts of KL and I assure you, my next posting will be much more positive :)