Back so soon,
11/5
Today we were up at 4.30am to be ready for the taxi booked at 5.15am. We had to catch a 8.15 flight which only lasted about an hour. The flight was with Air Asia, but this time there was no free meal like with Lao Airlines. Arrived in KL mid morning and got the bus to the train station where we got on the monorail. So cool to get that. Wandered around in the afternoon and first impressions of KL are good. It's really nice. It looks extra cool with the monorail. Walked over to the Petronas Towers in the evening, was awesome to see them lit up, they look so much better at night than they do in the day. They appear white against the black night sky. There is a massive 5 story shopping centre in between the two towers which I wasn't expecting. It is a really easy city to get around with lots of shopping plazas and cheap food courts. Some of the shopping plazas are out of this world. 5 or 6 stories of just camera and electronic shops. Even if you knew what you wanted you would not know where to begin trying to choose which shop to get it from!
12/5
Woke up at 9.45 in the morning but as there was no window in the room, I thought the clock was wrong as it was pitch black in there still! After getting up really quickly, having only 15mins left to get the free breakfast, hopped on the monorail and made our way to the Sky Tower. They provide a free shuttle bus up the hill the tower is on which was a pleasant surprise. The view from the top of the tower was amazing, you get to see how big KL really is, it seems to stretch on forever. There was also some other stuff included in the tower ticket. There is an animal zone, where I held a snake (some kind of python). I didn't realise how strong they were, it was like holding just muscle. There was also a F1 simulator and a winter park which looked like something they couldn't be bothered to take down from Christmas! Tiredness caught up so went for a lay down at 5.30 and then woke up at half nine and thought it was about time for dinner.
13/5
Back to the Petronas Towers again, that's everyday since we arrived! This time though we had a purpose and went across the Sky Bridge- 41 floors up. That was acool. Better views from the Sky Tower though. After that we went up to Chinatown. There was an almighty downpour and even though there was a "roof" we still got wet.
14/5
No monorail to the destination today (Batu Caves) so we had to catch the bus (after finally finding the right bus stop). Climbed the 272 steps to the top, littered with monkeys and reached the Hindu shrine. There was a 43m high "gold" Murga statue at the bottom of the stairs. Another good view from the top. Took the long bus ride back to the city and went to the Petronas Towers for lunch. Late lunch so no dinner but instead we headed out for a nice cheap McDonalds ice cream.
15/5
Up early today to get the bus (4 hours) then another half hour ride on a different bus before 2 half hours on a boat to finally arrive at Taman Negara, the oldest rainforest in the world. Had to carry the bags in the heat for a long way until we found somewhere to stay. Sweatiest day ever! Probably should burn those clothes! Went on a night safari. It was a 4x4 so we assumed that it would be inside the car, oh how we were wrong. It was a pick up truck and we had to sit in the back. It absolutely bucketed it down and we had no coats with us but luckily someone had a spare poncho which we covered ourselves with. We saw a snake and some birds and what we were told were some leopards, 3 adults and 2 babies. All separate sightings. We now think they may have been clouded leopards, but who knows!
16/5
Took advantage of the late check out (12) and packed the day bag for a trek and night in the jungle, we were staying in a jungle hide for only 1 pound. Got the boat across the river and had lunch at a nice restaurant before stocking up on food and water for the trek and night ahead. The trek to the hide took an hour and a half. Arrived to find the beds were nothing more than wooden bunk frames. The loo was full of maggots and other unidentifiable stuff, going to the loo in the jungle it is then! Turns out the otehr 10 beds were not being used and we were just sharing with the 3 bats living on the ceiling! Only saw the bats and some fire flies before calling it a night. We are sure that we heard some creatures out there though but could not see them.
17/5
Woke up this morning and there was a rat dropping on my bag which had been right next to my head all night, yuk! I hope it fell through the slats in the bunk above rather than a rat being that close to my face. Got up at dawn and managed to see a deer, then there was some "barking." Not sure what in the jungle barks though. Had the trek back, had some lunch and then had another half hour trek to the canopy walkway. 45m high on ropes and ladders with wooden planks across them. On the way back we saw a monitor lizard (we think that was what it was, well it was a lizard of some kind!) Fell over twice in the jungle on the way back through.
18/5
Back to KL today. It was a quicker boat ride as we were going with the current. After two more bus rides we finally arrived back in KL at 4ish. Got back on the beloved monorail again and made our way back to where we stayed before. Promptly gave in the biggest and smelliest bag of laundry yet. One set of smelly clothes, one set of wet clothes from the night safari and one set of dirty clothes from the jungle trek, hide stay. Went for a local Chinese meal and was disappointed, rubbish service, rude staff and expensive food for what it was and it wasn't even cooked properly-should have gone to McDonalds!
19/5
Got up had the free breakfast and then set about repacking as the laundry was back. What a fun task, not! Rung home and sorted out the flights for the rest of the trip, wonder if they will change again (they have already) there goes another 50 quid. 75mins on the phone to Qantas to sort it all out. Got the monorail to the train station for dinner as there was a lovely smelling Indian on the corner. It was a local set up again and much better than the Chinese from yesterday. Only a few days left in Asia now...
xxx
