Here it is, the long awaited blog for Malaysia. We ultimately decided the most economic way to get from Phuket to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia would be to take an over night bus. We started off in a small passenger van to Surat Thani, one of the few bordering towns on the Thai side of the border. We were told a VIP passenger bus would pick us up about an hour and a half after getting to the drop off point in Surat Thani. About two hours later another passenger van picked us up and literally drove us about two blocks over and dropped us off at another tourist office. There we were told the VIP bus would depart in about two hours. Eventually it showed up and we were on our way. The border crossing went pretty smoothly and after about six or seven (unnecessary) pit stops we arrived in Kuala Lumpur around 5AM, almost 24 hours after starting the trip.
Fortunately our hostel was within walking distance and we found it with relative ease. They were serving continental breakfast by the time we got there so we grabbed a bite and hit the hay for awhile.
Later that afternoon we mingled with several other hostel guests and meandered around a bit to get our bearings straight. We took it relatively easy that first day and just walked around a weekend market and sampled a wide variety of food and snacks. As we were walking around one guy selling watches told me he could sell me a Rolex for a "boom-shaka-laka price". I was curious to know how low a "boom-shaka-laka price" was but had to resist showing any interest.
The next day we went to the the KL Bird Park. Supposedly it's largest bird atrium in southeast Asia. There were several species of birds free to fly amongst the park visitors. As well as many others caged in smaller atriums. Of all the tropical birds on display the Hornbill and Cassowary were particularly interesting. In addition to the scheduled feedings visitors could buy a handful of sunflower seeds and a small cup of some sugary drink (maybe coconut juice?) to feed the birds. We ended our visit to the bird park with a quick bite to eat in the amazon cafe.
Later that evening we went with a large group of friends we made at the hostel to a sky bar that had a great view of the iconic Petronas Towers. Although the drinks were priced fairly steep the view was definitely worth it. We stuck around long enough to have a drink and some appetizers as well as take in the view.
The next day we made an excursion to Batu caves, one of the most popular Hindu shrines outside of India. Just a couple of weeks earlier the path leading up to the caves would have been swarming with people celebrating the festival of Thaipusam. Although the caves were still relatively crowded a clan of macaque monkeys almost outnumbered the visitors. The monkeys seemed to coexist relatively peacefully (so long as not provoked) with the visitors of the cave and made ample use of discarded food and drinks. Cans of Coca Cola and half eaten fries seemed to be their preferred food source. I personally didn't think the caves were particularly fascinating but it was still worth a visit.
On our last night in KL we went with a group of hostel pals to an area of open air sidewalk restaurants, most of which were buffet style. I couldn't tell you exactly what all the dishes were that we tried but for the most part everything was pretty good. While at the restaurant we met a lady that worked for the KL government tourism agency. She was nice enough to take everyone on a short walking tour around the area, sharing some history and random facts along the way. The late evening turned into the early morning hours chit chatting with our friends back at the hostel before we hopped a cab to the airport. Our month long trip to southeast Asia had come to an end and it was time to head back to Nanjing.
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