Oct 20 - Kuala Lumpur and the Batu Caves

First impressions - modern, green, vast. No place for pedestrians where we are staying, all underpasses, overpasses...very reminiscent of Calgary or Vancouver...



Fairytale skyline...from the Petronas towers, the twin towers, in the south of us, the lights twinkle across the whole of downtown. Here the view from the Hilton lounge....

KL is renowned for shopping...we go to Chinatown...a maze of stalls, selling everything from Louis Vuitton to Guess and every label in between...all fake, of course. A festive atmosphere...hawking and haggling, but no desperation, no squalor, no children.

 Strange and wonderful fruit which we get to taste at breakfast every morning in the Hilton:

Street food: a pot in a hole in the table with boiling water...fondue, Chinese style. David and Bibi buy and array of kebobs: quails eggs, meat balls...much like dim sum, we feast on a smorgasbord of delicacies, which we have no name for.

We have to "work" while some just take it easy....

The next day we visited the Batu Caves, a KL must see. My orthopedic surgeon would be happy to know that my knee survived the 272 steps (and that's only the ones to the top!) no problem....up and down.

The venue had a surreal feel to it...part religious temple, part amusement park. It was not what we expected, though interesting none the less. The caves are enormous, opening toward the top, letting in sunlight.

There are several colourful temples, and more collections of deities in the rock wall that appeared like "theme displays".

And did I mention the monkeys that accompany us up and down the stairs?