Batu Caves
I woke up slightly early today to take the subway/monorail to get a ticket to go up the Petronas towers. The subway was quite fast and while not especially clean, it wasn't dirty- certainly better than New York's subway. I got a ticket for 6:15 that evening in the hopes that I'd be able to see the city by sunset. From there, I took the subway out to Gombak, the last stop on the line, to reduce the cost of a taxi to the Batu caves. Outside the complex were pop-up stalls selling Hindu wreaths of flowers meant as offerings for the shrines inside, but the bright yellow and red and purple flowers and jasmine buds looked so enticing, I bought one just to wear around my neck so I could enjoy the smell, and it was only RM2.
The caves were reached by walking past a huge golden Hindu deity and up nearly 300 stairs. At the entrance, hawkers offered pythons, including an albino, for tourists to pay to take pictures with them wrapped around the contours of their waists, hips or necks. The jagged halls of limestone were inlaid with various tableaux of gods and stories I didn't know. It was a bit cooler inside the caves, but not the refreshing dampness I'd anticipated. Near the next set of stairs, probably just three flights, I saw my first monkey, posing for pictures patiently. Looking up, several criss-crossed another set of stairs I had to walk up. I was at the top level, leaning down slightly to take pictures of the monkeys on the rocks when I felt a hard tug at my neck. A monkey was mugging me, trying to steal my flower necklace. I yelped and backed away, but he kept coming at me.
"I'm backing attacked!" I yelled, looking around to see that while no one was making the slightest effort to help me in any way, a tourist was videotaping me and nearly everyone else was watching in amusement.
He kept grabbing at me, so I had to do my best to quickly tear the necklace off over my ridiculously large sun hat. I handed it over, and he ran away. I composed myself then went to get a picture of the jerk.
Monkey Mugger
After that, I left the cave, taking a taxi and then the subway again, down to see the train station and National Mosque. Neither was particularly fascinating, and I couldn't go inside the mosque since it was closed to tourists at that time, so I went up to the Islamic Arts Museum. It was quite a nice museum, and they had a photography exhibit by the guy who took the famous National Geographic photo of the woman in red with the stunning green eyes. After an hour there, I left the lovely and air conditioned building to walk up in the blazing wet heat to the Orchid and Hibiscus Garden. The Hibiscus is Malaysia's national flower. It wasn't nearly as impressive as Singapore's but it was calm and there was a quiet area with beautiful hanging white flowers. Walking back, I tried to see the Hindu temple but it was under construction, so I couldn't really see the carved tower as it was covered in scaffolding.
Orchid and Hibiscus Garden
I took the subway again to go up to the Petronas skybridge, but before my group was allowed up, we were led into a room to watch a fifteen minute advertisement for Petronas (a petrol company). It would have been terribly boring, but it was in 3-D which always makes me happy, even when I'm not lucky enough to have pickaxes thrown and blood splattered at me.
View from the Skybridge
Since I'd skipped it in Singapore, I was determined to get some night walk pictures in KL. I just took a short walk (yes, along well-lit, main roads, Mom) over to Merdeka Square, and while the buildings weren't lit up as well as I would've liked, it was still interesting to see what was, and to see the large groups of families and friends congregating, playing soccer and watching a soccer game on a huge screen in the park.
Lit-up Mosque
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