Nic arrived at the hotel about midnight. We had a chat for awhile til I couldn’t keep awake for any longer. I woke up again at 8am.
Breakfast was at the restaurant on the ground floor. I instantly noticed the difference between an Asian buffet breakfast and those I had in Europe. Gone was the muslie, yoghurt and bacon. Now I had dim sum, cooked asian vegetables and asian fruit. They still had eggs, fruit juice, coffee and toast which was good. Over breakfast Nic and I planned what to do during the day. First stop when we left the hotel was the Malaysian Tourism Centre (MATIC). The girl was really helpful – we arranged a tour of Batu Caves and a trip to see the fire-flies for the next afternoon and evening, and found out where to catch our bus from on Tuesday for the Cameron Highlands.
We then hit the streets to do some site-seeing, heading first to the KL Tower (which is 421 metres high).
Good timing on our part, we arrived as the free shuttle bus pulled in to take people up to the top of the hill to the main entrance. We decided against going to the top of the tower to the observation deck, and instead wandering around the Bukit Nanas forest reserve that surrounds the path uphill to the tower.
We went from here to the Central Market, which was first built in 1888.
It was filled with an amazing array of shops, but the majority of the things on sale were pretty tacky. There were a couple of “antique” shops, art and batik shops that we looked through. I did buy one picture of Malaysian shops that took my eye.
View of KL Tower from 18th floor of our hotel. Great pool hu!! |
We went from here to the Central Market, which was first built in 1888.
It was filled with an amazing array of shops, but the majority of the things on sale were pretty tacky. There were a couple of “antique” shops, art and batik shops that we looked through. I did buy one picture of Malaysian shops that took my eye.
We stopped for lunch in a Malaysian/Indian food stall – nothing flash to look at but the staff were really friendly, the food was really tasty and spicy, and drinks cold. It cost us $7.00 total for our food and drinks – going to take me awhile to get used to how cheap it all is.
We wandered around again after lunch, stopping at a Chinese temple (Sze Ya Temple), a Hindu temple (Sri Maha Mariamman Temple), and an Islamic mosque (Masjid Jamek). For this last one, Nic and I had to wear a full length robe to cover our arms and legs, and a head scarf. Gee it was hot under these extra clothes – it is warm enough in Malaysia, and humid!
By this stage we were hot and a bit weary so caught a taxi back to the hotel for a swim. Cooled us down instantly, and we both fell asleep on the lounges.
We wandered around again after lunch, stopping at a Chinese temple (Sze Ya Temple), a Hindu temple (Sri Maha Mariamman Temple), and an Islamic mosque (Masjid Jamek). For this last one, Nic and I had to wear a full length robe to cover our arms and legs, and a head scarf. Gee it was hot under these extra clothes – it is warm enough in Malaysia, and humid!
By this stage we were hot and a bit weary so caught a taxi back to the hotel for a swim. Cooled us down instantly, and we both fell asleep on the lounges.
After a refreshing gin and snack, we hit the town again, in search of a market we read about. It wasn’t too far away on the map, but somehow, after walking for an hour, we couldn’t find it and not many people knew of it. We ended up coming across a hawkers market, and had a bowl of chicken soup with noodles that was tasty, and fresh lime juice. We knew we were off the beaten track as there weren’t many tourists in the area, and people had limited English. We then started walking back to the hotel but became quite lost. We cut our losses and jumped in a taxi – it was quite late by this stage and some streets were deserted. It was great being back in the hotel and horizontal!
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