Malaysia Kuala Lumpur
The train from Singapore was OK. I didn't bother paying for a first class ticket and my seat was fine.
The border crossings were a bit weird though - You got your Malaysia immigration paperwork at Singapore station (to fill in on the train I thought). Everyone had to get off the train at the last stop in Singapore and get stamped out of Singapore however there was no checkpoint for getting into Malaysia - I expected a check at Kuala Lumpur station but there was nothing.
My first hostel was OK too although you had to take your shoes off at the door (I've since leaned this is quite common) and there was no hot water. The room was clean though and at only 6 pound a night I can't complain too much.
On the first day I walked around to get my barings. As soon as I walked out the door though people started hassling you - It was a bit like South America but I'd forgotten what that had been like. Every time I got my guide book out some weirdo would come up to me. Anyway things improved once I could find my way around a bit.
Next day I was up early and headed to the Petronas Towers to go up to the Sky Bridge between the two towers on 41st and 42nd floors - it's a shame you can't go to the top. It's free but there are only a limited number of tickets given out each day but I managed to get one. The tour starts with a video about building the towers (The Worlds highest twin towers, once the Worlds tallest building). Then you go up 170 metres to the skybridge for some photos.
After the towers I decided to check out the Minara Tower. The viewing platform was much higher than the Petronas skybridge at 276 metres. You had to pay for this but there were much better 360 views - you even got an MP4 player which showed you a video clip at each window highlighting the sights.
From there next to the tower is a place called Forest in the City. It was a nice walk and you did feel you were getting away from the city. There were even monkeys running around.
Unfortunately although I didn't realise it at the time I was getting bitten to death by mosquitos!
Next stop was Pudraya bus station to find out about bus tickets for the next leg - it was mayhem all round the bus station. Inside was worse there were people with radios trying to look like security who blatently worked for one of the hundereds of bus companies inside.
Next to the bus station I checked out a hostel in the Lonely Planet (Pudu Hostel) it seemed a bit better tham where I was staying so I decided to move there. At least I could catch a bus from the front door.
The hostel was pretty strange as was the guy who was always on the desk but I had no real problems there. However since then I've read a lot of horror stories about people getting stuff stolen from their rooms - luckily I was OK.
Next day I moved hostels and booked a ticket for the Cameron Highlands. As I had some time to spare I decided to check out Batu Caves.
Batu Caves is a limestone hill in the Gombak district about 13 kilometres north of Kuala Lumpur which has a series of caves and cave temples. It takes its name from the Sungai Batu or Batu River, which flows past the hill. Batu Caves is also the name of the nearby village.
Finding the bus to the caves was half the adventure. The bus stopped right outside the caves. I walked passed the huge gold statue at the base of the steps leading up to the caves. There are 272 steps that a visitor has to climb in order to access the temple at the summit of the hill.
As well as the temple at the top there were a lot of macaque monkeys running around scaring children - it was entertaining to watch them.
I went to start snapping some photos only to realise I'd taken the memory card out of the camera to upload some photos. Fortunately I'd got chatting to a lad from Hawaii and he let me copy the photos he took. We headed down from the main cave into another cave which was a kind of art gallery with a lot of religious statues.
The 2nd cave was interesting but there were no descriptions of what you were looking at.
There was a lot of activity going on to set things up for the Thaipusam festival which happens at the caves every year. (I'd miss out on this but check my Georgetown entry for more details and pics on this festival).
The border crossings were a bit weird though - You got your Malaysia immigration paperwork at Singapore station (to fill in on the train I thought). Everyone had to get off the train at the last stop in Singapore and get stamped out of Singapore however there was no checkpoint for getting into Malaysia - I expected a check at Kuala Lumpur station but there was nothing.
My first hostel was OK too although you had to take your shoes off at the door (I've since leaned this is quite common) and there was no hot water. The room was clean though and at only 6 pound a night I can't complain too much.
On the first day I walked around to get my barings. As soon as I walked out the door though people started hassling you - It was a bit like South America but I'd forgotten what that had been like. Every time I got my guide book out some weirdo would come up to me. Anyway things improved once I could find my way around a bit.
Next day I was up early and headed to the Petronas Towers to go up to the Sky Bridge between the two towers on 41st and 42nd floors - it's a shame you can't go to the top. It's free but there are only a limited number of tickets given out each day but I managed to get one. The tour starts with a video about building the towers (The Worlds highest twin towers, once the Worlds tallest building). Then you go up 170 metres to the skybridge for some photos.
After the towers I decided to check out the Minara Tower. The viewing platform was much higher than the Petronas skybridge at 276 metres. You had to pay for this but there were much better 360 views - you even got an MP4 player which showed you a video clip at each window highlighting the sights.
From there next to the tower is a place called Forest in the City. It was a nice walk and you did feel you were getting away from the city. There were even monkeys running around.
Unfortunately although I didn't realise it at the time I was getting bitten to death by mosquitos!
Next stop was Pudraya bus station to find out about bus tickets for the next leg - it was mayhem all round the bus station. Inside was worse there were people with radios trying to look like security who blatently worked for one of the hundereds of bus companies inside.
Next to the bus station I checked out a hostel in the Lonely Planet (Pudu Hostel) it seemed a bit better tham where I was staying so I decided to move there. At least I could catch a bus from the front door.
The hostel was pretty strange as was the guy who was always on the desk but I had no real problems there. However since then I've read a lot of horror stories about people getting stuff stolen from their rooms - luckily I was OK.
Next day I moved hostels and booked a ticket for the Cameron Highlands. As I had some time to spare I decided to check out Batu Caves.
Batu Caves is a limestone hill in the Gombak district about 13 kilometres north of Kuala Lumpur which has a series of caves and cave temples. It takes its name from the Sungai Batu or Batu River, which flows past the hill. Batu Caves is also the name of the nearby village.
Finding the bus to the caves was half the adventure. The bus stopped right outside the caves. I walked passed the huge gold statue at the base of the steps leading up to the caves. There are 272 steps that a visitor has to climb in order to access the temple at the summit of the hill.
As well as the temple at the top there were a lot of macaque monkeys running around scaring children - it was entertaining to watch them.
I went to start snapping some photos only to realise I'd taken the memory card out of the camera to upload some photos. Fortunately I'd got chatting to a lad from Hawaii and he let me copy the photos he took. We headed down from the main cave into another cave which was a kind of art gallery with a lot of religious statues.
The 2nd cave was interesting but there were no descriptions of what you were looking at.
There was a lot of activity going on to set things up for the Thaipusam festival which happens at the caves every year. (I'd miss out on this but check my Georgetown entry for more details and pics on this festival).
posted by Phil at 8:12 AM
1 Comments:
I love the gold statue - wouldn't want to clean it though!
Love
Jen
xxx
Post a Comment
<< Home