Back in Kuala Lumpur. Our last stop...

Trip Start Apr 20, 2008
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Trip End Ongoing


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Wednesday, July 9, 2008

We arrived back into KL yesterday. We are staying in a guest house very near to the hotel we stayed in on our first two nights. It is very strange to come back and stay in KL again after having been in Malaysia for so long. It has made me realise how much we have learnt and done since we were here last! Its crazy really, it has given me a whole different perspective on the city.

I have been determined to make the most of these last few days in Malaysia by eating lots of the local food we have had over our travels. Char kuay teow (lovely flat rice noodles cooked with chicken, prawns etc in a dark sauce), Nasi Lemak (a breakfast dish of coconut rice, curry, egg, peanuts and dried anchovies...very nice!), roti telur (another breakfast dish - flaky flat bread with an egg in it and some hot curry sauce to dip it in) and nasi goreng kampung (fried rice with anchovies, lots of chillies, chicken and veg). The list could go on and on and on. I find it strange how quickly we have got used to and come to really enjoy our new diet, especially regarding breakfast, which consists of hot curry, noodles or rice. It now feels completely normal, whereas I am pretty sure that it would have seemed really strange when we were in the UK.

We went out to the market today and bought some infamous (it is banned from most of the hotels in Malaysia) but incredibly popular Malaysian fruit, which we have had once before, but thought we would try again. It is called Durian and is like nothing I have ever tasted or smelt before. It tastes a bit like creamy raw onion or garlic and smells really quite terrible. Kind of hard to explain, but think of a very pungent eggy/onion. Anyway, despite the smell I actually quite liked it. It certainly takes a bit of getting used to, but there is something quite nice about it.

The hostel we are staying in is right in the centre of Chinatown and surrounded by the night market and lots of lovely old buildings, as well as the odd sky scraper or two. It has a brilliant roof garden where you can sit and drink a couple of beers. The view over the city roof tops is amazing, especially at sunset when the city lights start coming on. It is surprisingly peaceful up there, above the traffic fumes and hectic comings and goings on the streets.

We made a trip out to the Batu Caves, which we didnt have time to go to on our first visit here. They were pretty spectacular, you had to walk up 370 very steep steps to get to the main cave which was absolutely enormous but had several holes up through the roof so that natural light lit up the whole of inside. The whole place is a Hindu religious site and was decorated with loads of Hindu shrines. They were also home to hundreds of monkeys, who were happily running about stealing people's food and belongings and then climbing up the vertical cave walls with them.

For our last day in Malaysia (we fly out at 10 this evening) we went for lunch in the revolving restaurant at the top of the KL Tower. It is the fourth tallest building in the world- the restaurant itself is 420 meteres high! The views were absolutely fantastic, you could see for miles, right across KL, it was a really lovely way to spend our last day in Malaysia!

We will definitely both miss being in Malaysia and would really recommend people to come here and sample it all for themselves. Anyway, off to Australia now and onto the next stage of our adventure...catch you later!
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