Batu Caves and KL, Kuching

I'm sitting at the Kuala Lumpur airport at the LCCT waiting for my flight to Borneo.  We are delayed by 45 minutes.  Reminds me of last Wednesday when I was here.  Figured that since I had some extra time I would write about yesterday.

I was awake on the earlier side, but by the time I got ready, had breakfast, skyped and chatted with the people at my hostel it was 9:45am.  There was a French girl I spoke with for a while who'd been traveling around SE Asia and I was looking for more tips.  Based on the hostel's recommendation, I headed out to Batu Caves.  The bus journey was a chilly 45 minutes. The Temple Cave contains a Hindu shrine, after about 270 steps, which is guarded by a 43-meter high Murga statue (the highest in the world).  I spent about an hour wandering around the cave.  There were so many monkeys climbing around all over the place, up and down the steps, on the rocks, on cables, very entertaining. As one might expect, the cave also had some bats and pigeons.  When I got back to KL, the bus dropped me in a slightly different street and it took me some time to figure out which way to head.

My lunch stop was a vegetarian Indian restaurant recommended in both my books where I got thail.  When I started eating, one of the servers came over to help me because I was eating it incorrectly.  You are supposed to removed the small dishes from the tray, dump out some rice in the middle and then pour the dishes over the rice.  I'm not exactly sure what I ate, but it was tasty with a bit of a kick.  To ease the fire I ordered a banana lassi.

After lunch, I took a stroll to Merdeka Square.  (more later, our flight is boarding)  I'm back.  Now in Kuching on the island of Borneo.  Just feel asleep with my computer on my lap and getting up in less than seven hours so I'm just going to write some bullet points so that I don't forget what I've done.

Merdeka Square.  Met two Americans.  Walked along the main road to Lake Gardens (very hot) and past the butterfly farm.  Stopped at Bird Park to relax and met a British girl, Louise.  We both chose not to go in and decided to meet at Nomad hostel in Kuching today.  Went to the Islamic Arts Museum (people let me in as a student because they didn't have the correct change).  Lots of religious art, models of about 15 different mosques and a special wall on Palestine which ended with Israel declaring independence.  Met a nice older couple from Boston.  Left the museum to find my way back to Chinatown and met an New Zealand couple going the same direction.  Got back to Pasar Seni LRT station and got on the crowded train full of locals to KLCC to see the Petronas towers.

First walked through the enormous mall (with every store you could want including CPK) before going outside to view the Towers.  At Towers met a German couple from Munich, Simon and Lena.  Hung out with them as we watched the sunset around the Towers and saw them light up in the darkness.  Grabbed a pretzel from Auntie Anne's for dinner since lunch was filling and headed back to the hostel.  Chatted with Valerie from Los Angeles area who is currently living in Oman after spending three years in Colombia.  Very interesting woman. 

Got about seven hours of sleep before waking up to re-pack my backpack and eat breakfast before leaving for the airport.  Spent the morning talking to Stephanie.  Took the LRT to central station where I picked up the skybus to the LCCT.  Arrived in plenty of time.  Checked in, walked around, went to gate.  Flight was delayed a bit.  Met a couple British girls before getting on the plane.  Charlotte and Anna are traveling around together for about five weeks and have done a ton already.  We shared a taxi to Nomad hostel.  I wasn't thrilled with my selection when we checked in- people were smoking in the living room, the dorm had ants and the showers were in the same stall as the toilets.  The place wasn't very nice, but we were all going to stay there together.  We went out to wander around at 5pm, and I decided to check out the other hostel I'd read about which was supposed to be very nice.  It is so much better and I felt I'd be more comfortable if I moved.  So, here I am, at the new hostel with a 10-bed dorm to myself (at least for tonight).  It's more expensive (about $3 more per night).  Went to get my stuff at Nomad and ran into Louise!  She had actually got a flight to Kuching and booked at Nomad like we planned.

After I moved my stuff, Louise joined me for a drink and then we walked around the waterfront.  Ended up getting a boat across to the other side, which a local woman with her two boys kindly paid for.  Came back at 8:30pm to meet with Charlotte and Anna for dinner at James Brooke which serves a mixture of Western and local dishes.  I ordered the Sarawak Laksa, and spicy broth with chicken, rice noodles and prawns.  A short stroll later I was at the hostel and in the clean, warm shower.  Time for bed.  Meeting Louise at 7:30am to go to Bako National Park.