Mosques:
We had trouble visiting the mosques in Kuala Lumpur because of the extra prayer sessions being held during the holy month of Ramadan. We got turned away twice from the very modern looking National Mosque due to these extra prayers and when we were finally allowed inside we still couldn't enter its massive prayer hall. We were also turned away twice from the much older Jame Mosque and we unfortunately ran out of time so we only got to see it from the outside.
 Masjid Negara (The National Mosque) - just after a torrential monsoon shower. |
 Masjid Jamek (The Jame Mosque) The oldest Mosque in Kuala Lumpur. |
The Batu Caves
One of the most popular excursions from Kuala Lumpur is a visit to the Hindu
shrines and temples in the Batu Caves located approximately 8 miles north of the city. No doubt there are plenty of
organised tours that visit these caves but we followed the instructions in our
Rough Guide and hopped on the
number 11D bus that stopped near to our hotel (opposite the Pertama Compleks shopping centre). The journey only cost us 15p each
and took less than the scheduled 40 minutes to get there. It gave us a chance to see the rural outskirts of the city as we drove
along roads lined with tropical fruit trees.  A monkey sat on one of the Hindu statues above the gateway leading to the Batu Caves |
The caves were at the top of a long, wide flight of (272) steps which were being diligently patrolled by macaque monkeys dedicated to preventing any food from being smuggled in to the temples. The monkeys were mostly bag snatchers but some of them were much bolder and could become quite aggressive if resisted. We were particularly careful while we ascended the steps as we wanted to keep possession of our cameras, etc. However, the monkeys didn't seem interested in us at all as they knew exactly which people to target - the Hindu visitors taking carrier bags containing food offerings up to the temple! Most people didn't resist their assault - possibly because the monkeys might have been their reincarnated ancestors.
 One of the Hindu temples deep inside the Batu Caves |
 One of the many colourful Hindu dioramas from the "art gallery" caves at the base of the Batu Caves. These portray scenes from the Hindu scriptures. |
 The ornate entrance way into the Hindu Sri Mahamariamman Temple in the Chinatown area of Kuala Lumpur |
One of the main attractions when visiting Kuala Lumpur has to be its cheap shopping and we spent quite a lot of our time browsing around its many shopping centres and markets, being tempted by the many bargains they had on offer. We ended up buying a large, hard suitcase (for £45) and quite a few audio compact discs (as they were particularly cheap at around £5-6 each).
We resisted the many computer bargains that filled the Imbi Plaza shopping centre and we just managed to stay on the right side of the law when we visited the Jalan Petaling night market in Chinatown where we saw fairly professional looking pirate copies of all of the latest computer games and utilities being openly sold for the unbelievably low price of just over £1.50 per CD (their prices reflected the number of discs needed for the copy and bore no relation to the value of the original).
 We found that the people in Kuala Lumpur were really friendly including these two on a Chow Kit Market stall who insisted that we take their picture. The population is mostly a mixture of Malay, Chinese and Indian and there are currently very few tourists - but this is likely to change as the other popular Far Eastern destinations become more expensive. |
Word of our celebrity status must have spread as a few days later we were approached again. This time in our hotel where we were asked if we would pose for some photographs in front of the reception desk for a hotel promotional brochure. This time, however, we received a modelling fee - an all expenses paid meal in the hotel's restaurant that evening!
