First day there we arrived, and checked into the hotel, had breakfast and then decided to go out for a walking tour. We thought that along the way, we could find the tourist information center and get more info about what to do and see while there. Well we started out on our walk by taking a taxi to our jumpoff point. So far so good. Then I managed to figure out which streets to take to get started, ok so far so good. The street signs are better than in India, but not as good as in Singapore.
We skipped little India, figured we'd seen enough of that by now. Off towards Chinatown. After a couple of blocks, when I'm looking at the map, trying to figure out where the tourist info center is, this nice older guy stops and asks what we're looking for. I tell him and he thinks about it for a minute, then says-'yes I know where it is, I'm going just by it'. Ok we'll follow him. He has two large plastic bags, obviously very heavy. I wasn't sure if they were collected recycling, or his shopping-- I couldn't really tell, but he takes off at a good clip, and I'm trying to keep up with him and still not lose Maya and Cindy trailing behind me. He stops every so far to change hands as they are obviously unbalanced. We go a couple of blocks, and then according to the map, we should turn left, but he says to turn right. Cindy and I confer and decide to go left. He goes off with his bags to the right. Well we wander around a bit, see a mosque and some other nice architecture, but no tourist office. We ask a bus tour operator-not a clue. So we head back the way we came to get back to our walking tour. Then we see City Hall. Ok, we'll ask there. We go in, and the first person at the info counter doesn't know. But the second does. She says to go out, across the street a bit to the left ( which is where the old man went on his way right).
So then we are crossing the street, and there he is, with a very small pamphlet about KL. We thank him, and go on towards the tourist info center, thinking we'll find out more, like we did in Singapore. No such luck, we get there and it is a bit dilapidated looking, and has only 1 pamphlet, and the lady at the counter doesn't seem to be interested or able to suggest much more. So back to the guidebook we were using. That was our key to the city.
Ok back on our walking tour, we saw some more, not much exciting really, and get to the central market which is on the edge of Chinatown. We went in. Fortunately it had air conditioning because we were all beginning to feel the effects of the heat. I was getting grumpy. This place was large, and they had just about everything from antiques which were beautiful, to plastic toys, to saris, to batik, to toiletries. We picked up some gifts for people here, and then had noodles for lunch. Very nice, and relatively cheap compared to Singapore.
By now we were pretty well shopped out, but needed a couple more items which had been requested of us by people in India. So on to Chinatown. Here there were a couple of main streets lined with shops, which then had stalls set up in front of them.
So we were ducking in and out of stalls, avoiding the hawkers of fake purses and watches, looking for rain jackets for Manju. Why he wanted them from KL or Singapore I don't know, but he did, so we were on a quest. The colors were fun. There were some interesting fruit
--which we saw more of during our stay later in Langkawi.
The dragon Fruit, here the ones cut open with the pink centers, we ate in Langkawi, but they must have been a different variety as they were white in the center with black seeds. Nice- not too sweet. The hairy looking things are a varity of Lychee, we have some in India too, but they are not quite so Sea Urchiny looking here. They were really good. This is the first time I've had fresh lychee. I've only had canned inthe past. What a difference.Well we did find the jackets, and then I decided I'd get a fake rolex, just for the fun of it. We found a vendor, and I picked one out. So far so good. Then he proposes one for Anna. So we agree and she gets one too. Well we weren't back at the hotel that evening or it stops running. I managed to get it to wind again, but still 10 mins later, it has stopped again. So much for fake rolexes--they were only about 15-20, I guess you get what you pay for-- at least mine is still running. We figured they were a gamble. The taxi driver the next day just laughed when we told him about Maya's watch.
Ok now it is getting time for us to get back to the hotel. We go to the main street and are asked if we want a taxi--sure, how much? He wants 20 Ringit. We had paid about 8 to get to the start of our walk. So I said, no--put it on the meter. He refused--afterall we were tourists weren't we. So we said no, and walked back to the other end of the shopping street. Again found a taxi, same story. Then there was a taxi letting someone off. We grabbed that one, and he was willing to put it on the meter. He was an older Indian, and drove like he learned to drive in Bangalore, using all of the road. He also wasn't quite sure how to get to our hotel, but found it in the end. Price--4.5 Ringit. He got a decent tip. I don't mind paying a little extra, but I do mind being taken for a ride, so to speak.
Next day, we decided to go 3 places-- Batu Caves, FRIM (Forest Reasearch Institute of Malaysia), and to see the Fireflies. So we negotiated a taxi for the day, hourly rate, nice driver. He asks if we want to go to FRIM first, and we had figured that Batu caves were closer so we would go there first--mistake, but I'll get to that later. We drove to the Batu Caves, probably about 20 mins max. They are these large limestone caves, in which there are Hindu temples. It is magnificent to see. You arrive and there is this very tall statue out front.
and you immediately also see the long staircase going up to the caves. We started climbing up. About half way up, we ran into these macaque monkeys. They have figured out that many people, mostly the Hindus, carry these bags of fruit up for offerings in the temples. The monkeys are very fast, and will steal the bag when someone sets one down for a photo, or sometimes even taking the bag from someone's hand. But they are very camera shy. 
I only got this one in the shot because he had turned away from Cindy who was trying to take his picture.I think for many people the monkeys were more interesting than the caves and temples, but anyways. We continued on to climb the remainder of the 272 steps to the caves. They are huge inside, like a natural cathedral.
My camera didn't really capture the inside very well, except for the furthest parts where the cave is again open to the sky. 
Inside it is too dark, and the flash on the point& shoot is too weak to get a good photo. If we had a better camera with us at that time it might have been possible. You can get a sense of the scale a bit better, and the absolute beauty of the caves themselves from this. For more pictures, you can peruse my Flickr or google Batu Caves and find many better photos.The temples themselves inside are interesting, but not remembering my Hindu gods, I don't know which was for whom. About 20% seemed to be manned by a priest. Many people were going in and making offerings and prayers. After we came down,
Cindy and I went into the gift shop while Maya got an ice cream. We were tempted to get a miniature of the statue out front, but decided we have enough nick nacks. Then we wandered around the outside and found more temples, and what looked like an entrance to another cave, but it was locked up. One interesting thing we found was the statue of Hanuman who was keeping his parents in his heart.
From the Batu Caves, we went to FRIM to go on the canopy walk. Unfortunately we arrived at 1:00 on a day when they were having some sort of training for the employees, so we couldn't get into the info center to buy tickets till after 2 and they only sell tickets till 1:30. So that was off, now I understood why the driver suggested to go there first, but since he didn't explain, we didn't know. Ok so we had lunch at their cafeteria which was sort of fun. It was buffet, and then they charged by what you took. It had been sort of picked over by the time we got there, but still good. The one thing of interest that I noticed was that everyone left their shoes off outside the buildings before going in (except the cafeteria for some reason).
We then had to decide what to do next. We opted to not go to the fireflies as they don't come out when it is raining, and it was threatening pretty much, also it was an hour's drive and we weren't sure we wanted to go that far with a risk of not seeing them, so we'll have to save that for another time. That afternoon it poured steadily for about 1/2 hour in KL, but I don't know about where the fireflies are--it is closer to the ocean there.
We went back into KL, and went to the shopping center under the Petronas Towers,
to look for some books Anna wanted, and some clothing for Cindy. She has trouble finding western clothes that fit her here in India. Better luck there. Oh, and thought that the shopping malls in Singapore were large, this was enormous. For those who know it, I think you could have fit Valley Fair inside at least 3 or 4 times. We enjoyed a nice dinner there and made it an early night.The next day, I was determined to go on the canopy walk, but Maya wasn't feeling too well, so I went back by myself to FRIM. The walk through the rainforest (after getting tickets) took about an hour to get to the canopy walk structure. Beautiful, wet, green, dense forest, and did I say wet. My shirt was totally soaked by the time I got to the top. I read the brochure on the way up, and they said to bring a small towel and a clean shirt. Now I know why. I met a nice British couple on the way up the hill, and we had a nice chat about how different the forests are etc. The canopy walk is 5 walkways and 3 stations.
The couple I met took a picture of me on one of the bridges. They were built of aluminum ladders, tied firmly together, and then supported by the cables/ropes you can see in the picture. It was fairly sturdy, but would bounce when you were walking. There was a limit to the number of people allowed on the bridges and platforms at any time, 2 per bridge, and 3-5 per platform depending on the size. The canopy walk was originally built for a research study, and when the research was done, they opened it to the public. Unfortunately I found out when I got there, that if you want to see the animals, you have to come very early in the morning (probably even before they open), but if you get there when they open at 9:30, you have a better chance than at 11 like I did. I did see a few birds and squirrels though.That afternoon while Anna stayed back at the hotel (she was really feeling sick by now), Cindy and I went to the world famous bird park. The park was about 50% open aviary--large areas with netting, but the birds were free to wander and fly, and about 50% caged, particularly the raptors who probably would have cut down on the rest of the population very quickly.
I think my favorite part was feeding the lories. Someone from the park came in with a bucket of fruit, and we were allowed to feed them bananas. The interesting part was that there were two men and two women, aside from the park worker. The birds would flock to us men, and the women were left with just one or none, despite the fact that they had as many bananas as we did. But I must say, they had a lot of different kinds of birds. They had many very colorful birds, and from all continents. The only ones I don't remember seeing is Penguins. Oh well, we dis see birds doing Yoga.
and 
They also had very colorful water birds. 
It was just fun to wander around and see them all without having to figure out what each one is. We could have spent many more hours wandering around there.That evening we went to a dinner/show. They had traditional Malay dancing, and a huge buffet. We really enjoyed the food, and we enjoyed the show when the other audience members were not standing in front of us. I had to get up 3 or 4 times to ask people to sit down or move so we could see too.
Well that was KL. Next I'll describe Langkawi.
No comments:
Post a Comment