Chapter 2
Day 3
Kuala Lumpur - Batu Caves
It was the second day of my trip, the first one in Kuala Lumpur. The sun rose upon a city that was already awaken from long. I think it’s typical of the places of the SEA that people wakes up long before sunrise. I guess that it’s a way to get started when it’s not so hot yet. Once, my dad said that when he was a kid and went to work in the watermelon fields, he woke so early that when was sunrise it was already the time for a break. The same was when I worked as a bricklayer, or better, a “stone breaker” as I never laid a brick, but Mr. Boss gave me a sledgehammer to break big stones, and we always started that it was still dark to avoid the summer heat.
Summer heat memories on a tropical heat sunrise.
I was laying on that bed, soaked in sweat when I decided that it was time to get up and moving. It was 6.30, and I was in that room for only four hours. A strange taste was in my mouth, the taste of such a long sleepless time. But in the other hand, I didn’t feel sleepy at all. I don’t know if it was because I went beyond the one that I call “sleep edge”, or it was a rush of adrenaline as I still didn’t know well where I was. I showered again, wore clean clothes, packed my bag, ate some sweet that I saved from the airplane lunch, which chocolate cover was already molten, and I got on moving again. Once outside the nameless hotel, I made a short search and I discovered that I was in a neighborhood called Chow Kit. It’s at North of Sentral Station, about 3 km far from my hotel, as the crow flies.
In short, I found the Chow Kit Monorail station, I took the train and in a matter of few minutes, I arrived to the Raja Chulan station, near my hotel.
The Hotel, called The Lodge Hotel, was quite nicely looking. Nice architecture and painted in red and white. The staff welcomed me warmly and they took me at my room, even if they said “you can leave your bag here, but you can’t stay there as the check-in is after 14.00”. It sounded weird at me, as the room was clean, empty and, even if I could leave there my bag, I couldn’t take it yet. So, knocking on wood, hoping that all would be fine, I said “Ok” and I left for my first trip of the day, the Batu Caves.
Let’s see if I can do it.
When I was planning my trip, I searched for the main attractions around Kuala Lumpur. One of those that I found more interesting was the Batu Caves, that is actually a Hindu temples complex built all around and inside the Batu Caves. While looking for information on how to get there, I found that there were offerings for “Half Day Trips”, that might cost me over 200 Ringgit, that means about 50 Euro. So, I decided that I could try to get there myself and save some cash. I could pick two ways, the first was the Bus n. 11 from China Town, or a commuter train from Sentral. I decided to take this second way.
So, I packed my small backpack, I made my cameras up, and I was ready to go in the heat of the day. First stop, the Monorail. I think that I fell in love with the Monorail. Ok, it’s a little more expensive than the bus, but it’s faster and, as Tim the Expat was used to say, it’s “A little cute toy”. I took my ticket and when I went inside the car, from the heat of the day to the chilly Air-Con car, I stood next to a window to look at the panorama below. Kuala Lumpur isn’t like the messy Bangkok. Jalan Sultan Ismail isn’t scary like Sukhumvit, where in Bangkok you walk under the monorail. This place is cozy and there’s a lot of green, much less twisted than the Thai capital city. I definitely liked the ride in the monorail and the sight all around.
Once arrived at the Sentral Station, I understood why the previous night I couldn’t find the monorail station. Many works are going on, and if you miss a single board with written “Monorail this way”, you can get easily lost.
Which I did.
The next step was unbelievably easy. As I entered I bumped into the commuter line that goes to the Batu Caves. I had just to buy a ticket and wait, about 30 minutes, for the train. A nice surprise was that I discovered that in the commuters there are cars that are reserved to the women. It looks like it’s a policy against sexual harassment. So, if a local lady or a tourist woman wishes to travel without the risk of being groped, she can stay in those safe cars where men are forbidden.
The ride from the Sentral Station to the Batu caves takes a little bit more than 30 minutes but it feels faster. First the train goes through what looks like a series of tunnels, then some tall building of a neighborhood, and then start to appear a flat land with less and less houses. When you are near the Batu caves, you start to see, first the very mountain where are the caves, and then, you pass by a small lake. The sun was shining and glittering over the surface of the water, and the light haze made the surrounding glooming of a strange white dreamy light. Later, in the morning, the haze went away, revealing a very nice sunny day.
I was there, looking at the landscape outside the train window, covering this short distance that in my imagination, before leaving, would be worth an Half Day Trip, satisfied that I was doing it myself, when my MP3 player started to play the song of the day “New Divide” by the Linkin Park
Give me reason
To fill this hole
Connect this space between
Let it be enough to reach the truth that lies
Across this new divide
Once you arrive there, you find the caves just outside the station. You’ve first to cross a small yard packed of garbage left from earlier tourists, then you go by some vendors, and then make your way into the boundaries of the temples. The first one that I met was the statue of an old friend. In fact, near the gate next the station, there is a huge statue of the God Hunuman, tall 15 meters. I already found many connections with this God in my previous trips both in Thailand and Indonesia. Hunuman is the Monkey King God that helped the God King Rama in the Ramayana tales. Just near the statue of Lord Hunuman, there is a small temple, the Ramayana temple, that depicts the tales of the same Ramayana. The temple is quite new as it was consecrated in November 2001.
Getting closer to the entrance I passed by some small temple, a small Zoo, a pond and several monkeys. Monkeys are everywhere and people look like loving them, taking them food, drinks and picturing them all the time. Ok, I pictured them too.
The main entrance of the cave is something spectacular. For the best view, I suggest to go to the opposite end of the square where is the same cave entrance. I went there, and before me, I had this amazing scene. There was this mountain (a rather small mountain) with their limestone cliffs, the entrance of the cave is clearly visible and a stairway made of 272 steps leads people from the elaborate and colorful gate up to the caves entrance. All this is guarded by a wonderful and huge golden statue of the God Murugan, tall about 42 meters. This statue is also the world tallest statue of Lord Murugan.
Batu Caves Facts
The limestone forming Batu Caves is said to be around 400 million years old. Some of the cave entrances were used as shelters by the indigenous Temuan people (a tribe of Orang Asli).
As early as 1860, Chinese settlers began excavating guano for fertilising their vegetable patches. However, they became famous only after the limestone hills were recorded by colonial authorities including Daly and Syers as well as American Naturalist, William Hornaday in 1878.
Batu Caves was promoted as a place of worship by K. Thamboosamy Pillai, an Indian trader. He was inspired by the 'vel'-shaped entrance of the main cave and was inspired to dedicate a temple to Lord Muruga within the caves. In 1890, Pillai, who also founded the Sri Mahamariamman Temple, Kuala Lumpur, installed the murti (consecrated statue) of Sri Subramania Swamy in what is today known as the Temple Cave. Since 1892, the Thaipusam festival in the Tamil month of Thai (which falls in late January/early February) has been celebrated there.
Wooden steps up to the Temple Cave were built in 1920 and have since been replaced by 272 concrete steps. Of the various cave temples that comprise the site, the largest and best known is the Temple or Cathedral Cave, so named because it houses several Hindu shrines beneath its 100 m vaulted ceiling.
Batu Caves serves as the focus of the Hindu community's yearly Thaipusam (Tamil: தைபூசம்) festival. It has become a pilgrimage site for not only Malaysian Hindus, but Hindus worldwide from countries such as India, Australia and Singapore.
A procession begins in the wee hours of the morning on Thaipusam from the Sri Mahamariamman Temple, Kuala Lumpur leading up to Batu Caves as a religious undertaking to Lord Muruga lasting eight hours. Devotees carry containers containing milk as offering to Lord Muruga either by hand or in huge decorated carriers on their shoulders called 'kavadi'.
The kavadi may be simple wooden arched semi-circular supports holding a carrier foisted with brass or clay pots of milk or huge, heavy ones which may rise up to two metres, built of bowed metal frames which hold long skewers, the sharpened end of which pierce the skin of the bearers torso. The kavadi is decorated with flowers and peacock feathers imported from India. Some kavadi may weigh as much as a hundred kilograms.
After a bath in the nearby Sungei Batu (Rocky River), the devotees wend their way to the Temple Cave and with remarkable endurance they climb the flights of stairs to the temple in the cave. Devotees use the wider centre staircase while worshippers and onlookers throng up and down those balustrades off on either side.
When the kavadi bearer arrives at the foot of the 272 step stairway leading up to the Temple Cave, the devotee has to make the arduous climb against gravity- against the press of the bustling masses.
Priests attend to the kavadi bearers. Consecrated ash is sprinkled over the hooks and skewers piercing the devotees flesh before they are removed. No blood is shed during the piercing and removal.
In 2007, the festival attracted more than 1.5 million pilgrims, making it one of the largest gatherings in history.
It was time to start the climb. The entrance of the religious site is free, and this is also a reason that makes me like this place more. The elaborate gates lead to the steep stairway. The same stairway is split in two sides by a railing, one to go up, and one to go down. Every now and then, there are some sort of terraces where people can rest and take breath, or just stand to look the panorama. While going up, people has to be very careful at the monkeys as sometimes they can be very aggressive. The main reasons of aggression are:
Lord Murugan
In the Hindu mythology, Lord Murugan is son of the God Shiva and Goddess Parvati. The symbol of Lord Murugan is Goddess is the vel, that was presented by Goddess Parvati as an emobodiment of Her shakti or power in order to vanquish the evil asura Soorapadman.
According to the Skanda Purana and its Tamil version, Kanda Puranam, in the war between Murugan and Soorapadman, Murugan used His Vel to defeat all the evil forces of Soorapadman. When a complete defeat for Soorapadman was imminent, the asura transformed himself in to a huge mango tree to evade detection by Murugan. Murugan, too keen for the deception, hurled his Vel and split the mango tree in to two halves, one becoming Seval (a rooster) and the other Mayil (a peacock). Murugan, henceforth, had the peacock as His vahanam and the rooster became the emblem on His battle flag. The Vel became the symbol of valour, and of the triumph of good over evil.
The going up wasn’t much difficult. The main problem was dodging people and the monkeys that were keeping on jumping and crossing the stairway. Once almost on the top, before the final bend of the stairway there is the best spot for taking the panoramic pictures. After it, just few more steps far, is the entrance of the Cave. Once on the top, I found myself surrounded. On my left there were some shrines, on my right some shops selling religious artifacts. Sometimes I’m skeptic about these shops. It’s an Hindu site, and they were selling Hindu, Christian, Buddhist and Muslim artifacts.
Money is appreciated from every kind of belief.
That was the time to stay still. It was the time to feel the place. Before me, the dome of the cave. The dome is made of an huge room, with stairways on both ends. On this side there was the entrance, while in the opposite end the there was another steep stairway leading to a roofless room surrounded by high vertical limestone cliffs. The sound in the dome was a low long uninterrupted murmuring, that came from the people, both tourists and believers, and echoed around the dome. Above us, huge stalactites, long several meters, were hanging from the 100 meters high vault. That makes you feel very small.
And rises my complex of not being very tall.
I’m not surprised that this place was chosen as a place of worship. The atmosphere that somebody feels while entering the dome is something mystical. The same feeling is boosted by the several small temples and shrines scattered all around and the smell of incense. While I was there, I walked all the way to the opposite side, where there were some ceremonies going on. Near the opposite side of the dome, on the left side, there are some temples. That day there was a huge crowd of people. Most of them were families with small kids. I checked what was going on. There were many offerings made of garlands and flowers. An Hindu priest was doing some sort of ceremony while an helper was ringing a bell. I checked more carefully as at this point I was really curious to know what happened. The ceremony was the Hair Shaving Ceremony. This ceremony is held when the baby is still small. He/she is taken to the priest that shaves the head of the baby and covers it with a yellow paste.
I went up the second stairway and I arrived into the roofless room. Here there were some more shrines, more monkeys and a lot of people, both praying and taking pictures. Among all this variegated multitude of people, my attention was attracted by just a single one. There was an old lady, she was taking care of the shrines. She was cleaning them with love, arranging the flowers and lighting incense sticks. She was wearing yellow robes and staggering she went from a shrine to the other. Then I noticed a thing. She had unbelievably long hair that she kept folded over and over behind her back. I guess that she’s connected with those Hindu sects which precepts impost that girls can have their hair shaved only once when they are little and from that point, they’ll never cut their hair anymore. She looked like somebody very respected, maybe she was a priest herself too, as many Hindu people were asking her for blessings and advice.
At this point, I made my way back, first to the dome, then to the stairway that took me back to the statue of Lord Murugan. On the way back, I had some chance to take some good picture to the monkeys too. I guess that sometimes the monkeys can be funny.
But just some times.
Once I arrived at the base of the stairway, I felt like the breakfast, the small chocolate snack that I had in the nameless hotel, was a far memory. So, I stopped at a shop and I bought one more unhealthy snack, a bottle of water and a cold Mountain Dew. The sun was so strong and the place was so beautiful that I needed to stay a little longer. So, I sat on a block of hot concrete and I spent time just staring and the huge statue of Lord Murugan and the caves, while sipping the cold soft drink.
Then, it was time to come back to the city. The commuter train arrived in perfect time, and the trip, this time, looked like it took so short to come back to Sentral. The Batu Caves were impressive and I’m very happy of having taken the chance to visit them. The cost of the trip was about 6 Euro (monorail and commuter in both ways) against the 50 that I’d have spent with the Half Day Trip. So, I was feeling happy also for having saved all that cash, having done it myself and not being taken around like a puppy by a dog sitter.
Which often is my kind of tripping too.
Summer heat memories on a tropical heat sunrise.
I was laying on that bed, soaked in sweat when I decided that it was time to get up and moving. It was 6.30, and I was in that room for only four hours. A strange taste was in my mouth, the taste of such a long sleepless time. But in the other hand, I didn’t feel sleepy at all. I don’t know if it was because I went beyond the one that I call “sleep edge”, or it was a rush of adrenaline as I still didn’t know well where I was. I showered again, wore clean clothes, packed my bag, ate some sweet that I saved from the airplane lunch, which chocolate cover was already molten, and I got on moving again. Once outside the nameless hotel, I made a short search and I discovered that I was in a neighborhood called Chow Kit. It’s at North of Sentral Station, about 3 km far from my hotel, as the crow flies.
In short, I found the Chow Kit Monorail station, I took the train and in a matter of few minutes, I arrived to the Raja Chulan station, near my hotel.
The Hotel, called The Lodge Hotel, was quite nicely looking. Nice architecture and painted in red and white. The staff welcomed me warmly and they took me at my room, even if they said “you can leave your bag here, but you can’t stay there as the check-in is after 14.00”. It sounded weird at me, as the room was clean, empty and, even if I could leave there my bag, I couldn’t take it yet. So, knocking on wood, hoping that all would be fine, I said “Ok” and I left for my first trip of the day, the Batu Caves.
Let’s see if I can do it.
When I was planning my trip, I searched for the main attractions around Kuala Lumpur. One of those that I found more interesting was the Batu Caves, that is actually a Hindu temples complex built all around and inside the Batu Caves. While looking for information on how to get there, I found that there were offerings for “Half Day Trips”, that might cost me over 200 Ringgit, that means about 50 Euro. So, I decided that I could try to get there myself and save some cash. I could pick two ways, the first was the Bus n. 11 from China Town, or a commuter train from Sentral. I decided to take this second way.
So, I packed my small backpack, I made my cameras up, and I was ready to go in the heat of the day. First stop, the Monorail. I think that I fell in love with the Monorail. Ok, it’s a little more expensive than the bus, but it’s faster and, as Tim the Expat was used to say, it’s “A little cute toy”. I took my ticket and when I went inside the car, from the heat of the day to the chilly Air-Con car, I stood next to a window to look at the panorama below. Kuala Lumpur isn’t like the messy Bangkok. Jalan Sultan Ismail isn’t scary like Sukhumvit, where in Bangkok you walk under the monorail. This place is cozy and there’s a lot of green, much less twisted than the Thai capital city. I definitely liked the ride in the monorail and the sight all around.
Once arrived at the Sentral Station, I understood why the previous night I couldn’t find the monorail station. Many works are going on, and if you miss a single board with written “Monorail this way”, you can get easily lost.
Which I did.
The next step was unbelievably easy. As I entered I bumped into the commuter line that goes to the Batu Caves. I had just to buy a ticket and wait, about 30 minutes, for the train. A nice surprise was that I discovered that in the commuters there are cars that are reserved to the women. It looks like it’s a policy against sexual harassment. So, if a local lady or a tourist woman wishes to travel without the risk of being groped, she can stay in those safe cars where men are forbidden.
The ride from the Sentral Station to the Batu caves takes a little bit more than 30 minutes but it feels faster. First the train goes through what looks like a series of tunnels, then some tall building of a neighborhood, and then start to appear a flat land with less and less houses. When you are near the Batu caves, you start to see, first the very mountain where are the caves, and then, you pass by a small lake. The sun was shining and glittering over the surface of the water, and the light haze made the surrounding glooming of a strange white dreamy light. Later, in the morning, the haze went away, revealing a very nice sunny day.
I was there, looking at the landscape outside the train window, covering this short distance that in my imagination, before leaving, would be worth an Half Day Trip, satisfied that I was doing it myself, when my MP3 player started to play the song of the day “New Divide” by the Linkin Park
Give me reason
To fill this hole
Connect this space between
Let it be enough to reach the truth that lies
Across this new divide
Once you arrive there, you find the caves just outside the station. You’ve first to cross a small yard packed of garbage left from earlier tourists, then you go by some vendors, and then make your way into the boundaries of the temples. The first one that I met was the statue of an old friend. In fact, near the gate next the station, there is a huge statue of the God Hunuman, tall 15 meters. I already found many connections with this God in my previous trips both in Thailand and Indonesia. Hunuman is the Monkey King God that helped the God King Rama in the Ramayana tales. Just near the statue of Lord Hunuman, there is a small temple, the Ramayana temple, that depicts the tales of the same Ramayana. The temple is quite new as it was consecrated in November 2001.
Getting closer to the entrance I passed by some small temple, a small Zoo, a pond and several monkeys. Monkeys are everywhere and people look like loving them, taking them food, drinks and picturing them all the time. Ok, I pictured them too.
The main entrance of the cave is something spectacular. For the best view, I suggest to go to the opposite end of the square where is the same cave entrance. I went there, and before me, I had this amazing scene. There was this mountain (a rather small mountain) with their limestone cliffs, the entrance of the cave is clearly visible and a stairway made of 272 steps leads people from the elaborate and colorful gate up to the caves entrance. All this is guarded by a wonderful and huge golden statue of the God Murugan, tall about 42 meters. This statue is also the world tallest statue of Lord Murugan.
Batu Caves Facts
The limestone forming Batu Caves is said to be around 400 million years old. Some of the cave entrances were used as shelters by the indigenous Temuan people (a tribe of Orang Asli).
As early as 1860, Chinese settlers began excavating guano for fertilising their vegetable patches. However, they became famous only after the limestone hills were recorded by colonial authorities including Daly and Syers as well as American Naturalist, William Hornaday in 1878.
Batu Caves was promoted as a place of worship by K. Thamboosamy Pillai, an Indian trader. He was inspired by the 'vel'-shaped entrance of the main cave and was inspired to dedicate a temple to Lord Muruga within the caves. In 1890, Pillai, who also founded the Sri Mahamariamman Temple, Kuala Lumpur, installed the murti (consecrated statue) of Sri Subramania Swamy in what is today known as the Temple Cave. Since 1892, the Thaipusam festival in the Tamil month of Thai (which falls in late January/early February) has been celebrated there.
Wooden steps up to the Temple Cave were built in 1920 and have since been replaced by 272 concrete steps. Of the various cave temples that comprise the site, the largest and best known is the Temple or Cathedral Cave, so named because it houses several Hindu shrines beneath its 100 m vaulted ceiling.
Batu Caves serves as the focus of the Hindu community's yearly Thaipusam (Tamil: தைபூசம்) festival. It has become a pilgrimage site for not only Malaysian Hindus, but Hindus worldwide from countries such as India, Australia and Singapore.
A procession begins in the wee hours of the morning on Thaipusam from the Sri Mahamariamman Temple, Kuala Lumpur leading up to Batu Caves as a religious undertaking to Lord Muruga lasting eight hours. Devotees carry containers containing milk as offering to Lord Muruga either by hand or in huge decorated carriers on their shoulders called 'kavadi'.
The kavadi may be simple wooden arched semi-circular supports holding a carrier foisted with brass or clay pots of milk or huge, heavy ones which may rise up to two metres, built of bowed metal frames which hold long skewers, the sharpened end of which pierce the skin of the bearers torso. The kavadi is decorated with flowers and peacock feathers imported from India. Some kavadi may weigh as much as a hundred kilograms.
After a bath in the nearby Sungei Batu (Rocky River), the devotees wend their way to the Temple Cave and with remarkable endurance they climb the flights of stairs to the temple in the cave. Devotees use the wider centre staircase while worshippers and onlookers throng up and down those balustrades off on either side.
When the kavadi bearer arrives at the foot of the 272 step stairway leading up to the Temple Cave, the devotee has to make the arduous climb against gravity- against the press of the bustling masses.
Priests attend to the kavadi bearers. Consecrated ash is sprinkled over the hooks and skewers piercing the devotees flesh before they are removed. No blood is shed during the piercing and removal.
In 2007, the festival attracted more than 1.5 million pilgrims, making it one of the largest gatherings in history.
It was time to start the climb. The entrance of the religious site is free, and this is also a reason that makes me like this place more. The elaborate gates lead to the steep stairway. The same stairway is split in two sides by a railing, one to go up, and one to go down. Every now and then, there are some sort of terraces where people can rest and take breath, or just stand to look the panorama. While going up, people has to be very careful at the monkeys as sometimes they can be very aggressive. The main reasons of aggression are:
- If you have food and they want it
- If you have shiny goods and they want them
- If they have babies and feel that they are threatened.
Lord Murugan
In the Hindu mythology, Lord Murugan is son of the God Shiva and Goddess Parvati. The symbol of Lord Murugan is Goddess is the vel, that was presented by Goddess Parvati as an emobodiment of Her shakti or power in order to vanquish the evil asura Soorapadman.
According to the Skanda Purana and its Tamil version, Kanda Puranam, in the war between Murugan and Soorapadman, Murugan used His Vel to defeat all the evil forces of Soorapadman. When a complete defeat for Soorapadman was imminent, the asura transformed himself in to a huge mango tree to evade detection by Murugan. Murugan, too keen for the deception, hurled his Vel and split the mango tree in to two halves, one becoming Seval (a rooster) and the other Mayil (a peacock). Murugan, henceforth, had the peacock as His vahanam and the rooster became the emblem on His battle flag. The Vel became the symbol of valour, and of the triumph of good over evil.
The going up wasn’t much difficult. The main problem was dodging people and the monkeys that were keeping on jumping and crossing the stairway. Once almost on the top, before the final bend of the stairway there is the best spot for taking the panoramic pictures. After it, just few more steps far, is the entrance of the Cave. Once on the top, I found myself surrounded. On my left there were some shrines, on my right some shops selling religious artifacts. Sometimes I’m skeptic about these shops. It’s an Hindu site, and they were selling Hindu, Christian, Buddhist and Muslim artifacts.
Money is appreciated from every kind of belief.
That was the time to stay still. It was the time to feel the place. Before me, the dome of the cave. The dome is made of an huge room, with stairways on both ends. On this side there was the entrance, while in the opposite end the there was another steep stairway leading to a roofless room surrounded by high vertical limestone cliffs. The sound in the dome was a low long uninterrupted murmuring, that came from the people, both tourists and believers, and echoed around the dome. Above us, huge stalactites, long several meters, were hanging from the 100 meters high vault. That makes you feel very small.
And rises my complex of not being very tall.
I’m not surprised that this place was chosen as a place of worship. The atmosphere that somebody feels while entering the dome is something mystical. The same feeling is boosted by the several small temples and shrines scattered all around and the smell of incense. While I was there, I walked all the way to the opposite side, where there were some ceremonies going on. Near the opposite side of the dome, on the left side, there are some temples. That day there was a huge crowd of people. Most of them were families with small kids. I checked what was going on. There were many offerings made of garlands and flowers. An Hindu priest was doing some sort of ceremony while an helper was ringing a bell. I checked more carefully as at this point I was really curious to know what happened. The ceremony was the Hair Shaving Ceremony. This ceremony is held when the baby is still small. He/she is taken to the priest that shaves the head of the baby and covers it with a yellow paste.
I went up the second stairway and I arrived into the roofless room. Here there were some more shrines, more monkeys and a lot of people, both praying and taking pictures. Among all this variegated multitude of people, my attention was attracted by just a single one. There was an old lady, she was taking care of the shrines. She was cleaning them with love, arranging the flowers and lighting incense sticks. She was wearing yellow robes and staggering she went from a shrine to the other. Then I noticed a thing. She had unbelievably long hair that she kept folded over and over behind her back. I guess that she’s connected with those Hindu sects which precepts impost that girls can have their hair shaved only once when they are little and from that point, they’ll never cut their hair anymore. She looked like somebody very respected, maybe she was a priest herself too, as many Hindu people were asking her for blessings and advice.
At this point, I made my way back, first to the dome, then to the stairway that took me back to the statue of Lord Murugan. On the way back, I had some chance to take some good picture to the monkeys too. I guess that sometimes the monkeys can be funny.
But just some times.
Once I arrived at the base of the stairway, I felt like the breakfast, the small chocolate snack that I had in the nameless hotel, was a far memory. So, I stopped at a shop and I bought one more unhealthy snack, a bottle of water and a cold Mountain Dew. The sun was so strong and the place was so beautiful that I needed to stay a little longer. So, I sat on a block of hot concrete and I spent time just staring and the huge statue of Lord Murugan and the caves, while sipping the cold soft drink.
Then, it was time to come back to the city. The commuter train arrived in perfect time, and the trip, this time, looked like it took so short to come back to Sentral. The Batu Caves were impressive and I’m very happy of having taken the chance to visit them. The cost of the trip was about 6 Euro (monorail and commuter in both ways) against the 50 that I’d have spent with the Half Day Trip. So, I was feeling happy also for having saved all that cash, having done it myself and not being taken around like a puppy by a dog sitter.
Which often is my kind of tripping too.
Kuala Lumpur - China Town
The city of Kuala Lumpur is split in many districts, so many that I even didn’t list them in my Red Book. The main ones that I wrote are:
· Bukit Bitang – Suggested for the nightlife
· City Centre
· Chinatown
· Little India
· Merdeka Square area
· With a guest star that is Chow Kit, as I visited it, somehow, even if it wasn’t in my list
Once I arrived in Sentral I went first to the monorail station and I headed to Chinatown. The reason for my trip there? I wasn’t very interested into shopping, but I was very hungry, and I wished to try one of the most suggested restaurants of Kuala Lumpur, the Old China Cafè.
I planned to take the monorail, the Little Cute Toy, from Sentral to the Maharajalela Station. The trip was short and soon, I was into a side of the city that was, for me, still unexplored. As soon as I went off the station, I found myself in front of the Kuan Yin Temple, a Chinese temple. This temple had clean lines and colored in bright red. It was a pleasant quiet spot of the city, even if very small. The temple is for the Goddess Kuan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy.
Kuan Yin
Guanyin is the bodhisattva associated with compassion as venerated by East Asian Buddhists, usually as a female. The name Guanyin is short for Guanshiyin which means "Observing the Sounds (or Cries) of the World".
In Chinese Buddhism, Guanyin/Kuan Yin/Kannon/Kwannon is synonymous with the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, the pinnacle of mercy and compassion.
Kuan Yin Mantra
Na Mo Kuan Shih Yin Pu Sa
The next step was the Chan See Shu Yuen Temple, on the way to go from the Monorail station to Chinatown. This temple game me the impression to be larger than the previous one. It was rich in decoration and it had an internal yard with statues, incense smoke and altars. The place gave me some kind of a claustrophobic feeling, and in spite here there were many tourists picturing everything with their professional cameras, I went soon outside. I guess that I preferred the previous temple.
The sky soon started to become more and more cloudy, and in a matter of minutes, I even started to hear the loud rumble of thunders over the noise of the cars. It meant that a storm was coming on my way.
The southern part of China Town is around the landmark of Jalan Petaling, or, as I call it, Fake Goods Street. This is heaven for shoppingholics. The southern part is made of old building in Chinese style, with many shop of junk for tourists. The top seller of the moment were gadgets of the “Angry Birds” game. Of course, being a bit shoppingholic myself too, I bought some of that stuff too. When I got out of the place I felt one more thing. I was very hungry. It was already about 16.00 and I definitely wished to buy some food. So, I asked for an advice to a policeman to reach Jalan Balai Polis, where the Old China Café is, to discover that I just passed by it few minutes before. Damn Angry Birds that distracted me!
Never put silly stuff in a shop, when a shoppingholic has to concentrate.
I made a long way around the block to reach the row of building that I was looking for. Absolutely, deliciously decadent old housings. Some, very old, wooden planks were nailed on the arcade before the shop, on which, in white paint, was written “Old China Cafe”, the place that I was looking for.
I entered the old restaurant. I opened the saloon-type swinging doors and I stepped back in time. The inside, the furnishing, everything was wooden. The walls were covered with paintings, old pictures and ancient posters. Everything looked like coming straight from the 1930s. For a moment, I thought I’ve see even Suzie Wong appearing, walking down the staircase. No, it was just the waiter.
The young guy welcomed me with a smile and said “Please, sit… Here… Or where you want”, the restaurant was empty. A low rustle was coming from the kitchens, some loud thunder from outside. I sat at a table in the centre of the restaurant, in a way that I could see the old counter and the kitchen. I liked that spot. Soon arrived the waiter with a lady, probably the owner of the place, that took me the menu. In past I’ve read that people working here were unkind and that the restaurant was packed of strange people, from gamblers to glue-sniffers. It was very empty, somehow even classy, and people working here were extremely friendly.
Even if I wasn’t gambling, nor sniffing glue…
The young guy shown me the menu, while the old lady, a dark skinned Asian lady with pitch black curly hair, a dot in the middle of her forehead, that form far made her look like she had a single, long eye brow, was speaking to me in a mix of Chinese and English. Chinglish? Englinese? She reminded me the character of the book “In nomine rosae” which spoke a multitude of different languages in a unique single one. They left me some time to think and the lady went to speak with the young waiter and the chef, still with her own language of a mix of Chinese and English. So, that means that it was her real own language. She was really surprising, somebody that it’s hard to be forgotten.
The menu was huge, they had so many servings, and it was hard to pick one. So, I searched something that it’s hard to be found in my country, and then I asked even some advice at the waiter. As result, I ordered some Tofu-Skin Pork Rolls, Steamed Rice, Stewed Devil Curry Pork Belly and some Chinese tea to drink. I still didn’t know that the place is also very famous as a Tea House with their own tea blends.
The tea and the Tofu-Skin Pork Rolls arrived together along a very small bowl of a red sauce. I tried the rolls, first without sauce. Lightly crunchy outside with an amazing flavor inside. They were awesome. Then I tried the sauce. I thought it was a spicy sauce, but then, it revealed herself a real masterpiece. It was a sweet-spicy sauce made blending some pepper with sugar and other secret ingredients. The sauce was a secret of the chef. It doesn’t need to say how good those rolls and sauce were. Later came the Stewed Devil Curry Pork Belly. It was made of diced pork belly, first fried and then stewed with vegetables, curry and grains of black pepper. For me, it was a masterpiece. Few times I tasted such a symphony of flavors mixed together. Then the waiter passed by my table, I greeted with him for such a good food, promising to leave a great review on the Tripadvisor website. Then, when it was time to leave that fabulous place, it started to be very dark outside and to rain cats and dogs. I couldn’t go outside. So, the old lady told me to stay there and to not go out, and she even invited me to see the upper floor, where is the tea house. I went up those wooden stairs and once upstairs, the sight was stopped by a wooden partition. I went through the door and around the partition, to find myself in an old Tea House. Many small polished tables were along the walls, each of them with nice and comfy chairs, all ready for the arrival of the customers. It was again a step back in time. It wasn’t hard to imagine some ancient lady sitting there while tasting some tea and talking with a dear friend. The old window panes, which glasses weren’t so clear anymore, shown a street under a heavy storm, with people rushing along it trying to get the less drenched as possible. Then, as it came, in about 30 minutes, the storm went away, and I was free to go outside. I left the Old China Café with the promise to come back there the next time that I’ll be in Kuala Lumpur. It wasn’t just eating, that was making an experience that involved all the senses.
After this awesome lunch break, I walked down the wet street and I reached the new Petaling Street. This part of street is covered and is where all the fake-goods stalls are concentrated. While there it was crazy to walk shoulder-to-shoulder down the street. They had many goods, some of them really crap, while some others really beautiful, even if prices were slightly higher than those that I found Thailand. I guess that this is an attraction good for many kinds of tourists that come to Kuala Lumpur, and it should be experienced at least once, or even two o three times.
Always follow the advice of a shoppingholic.
Up north, when I’ve got out the end of Petaling Street, I reached the Wisma Fui Chiu department store, and I went by it. In this part of the city, the street and buildings are less modern than areas like Jalan Sultan Ismail, but they keep a nice taste of past times. It feels like the remains of a colonials city, and somebody say that people should visit it fast as there are rumors that the city management wants to erase those old historical buildings to make some more modern ones.
The sky was quickly turning dark. The sunset came so fast that all of a sudden I found myself walking in the dark. China Town changed its face one more time, and somehow, it reminded me of the previous night. But just a little bit.
I kept on going northward, and all of a sudden, I arrived on a broad street. It was Leboh Pesar Besar. I turned left, right and, hoping to not being driven over by those headlights that were coming my way from my left, I crossed the street. Once on the other side, I had a far perception. I was there. Where, there? In the middle of nowhere? No, on my map, two thin blue lines were touching each other. They should be there, beyond those buildings, where the street shifts into a bridge. Then, the buildings left place at the river. I couldn’t believe, I was there. That it’s just like that? Sometimes, the important things are more than meets the eye.
But it was, really, just like that? Yes, it was.
I arrived on the bridge. Looking upstream, two small rivers were meeting, the Sungai Gombak on my left was flowing into the Sungai Kelang on my right. And that is the point, where now rise the Mosque Masjid Jamek, that it had begun. The name Kuala Lumpur means “Muddy Junction” and it’s where the two rivers were flowing into a muddy land rich in metals. That point gave the name at the city, Kuala Lumpur. A point so much important and not so much considered by tourists.
Just a little further after the bridge there was a block of buildings that shown no particular attracting points, and still a little further, on the other side of the street, there was a really nice building. It looked very beautiful and, somehow, quite Arabian. It was colored in orange and white stripes and decorated with small arches. I decided to come to visit it another day, as it was already dark, to enjoy it better with the sun light. So, I thought “Let’s pass by here when I’ll visit Merdeka Square” as it was exactly on the edge of that square. Later, looking at the map in better light, I discovered that this building is the Textiles Museum.
It was time to make my way back to the hotel as I wished to get showered and to get a bite. I turned around and after a short stop at a “Seven Eleven” on the “Muddy Junction” I made my way back to the Maharajalela Station, first crossing the broad street, dodging those speedy cars, then the way back through the not-so-well-lit Chinatown streets, another stop at the “Seven Eleven” to buy some unknown-brand sweets and candies that I forgot to buy before, one more stroll along Petaling street with its tempting junk shop and nice smelling food stalls, and in short I was at the station.
I took the monorail and four stops later, I was back in Raya Chulan Station. The city was under the cover of the night and the commercial neighborhoods were sparkling of lights, neons and swarming of an endless flow of people.
· Bukit Bitang – Suggested for the nightlife
· City Centre
· Chinatown
· Little India
· Merdeka Square area
· With a guest star that is Chow Kit, as I visited it, somehow, even if it wasn’t in my list
Once I arrived in Sentral I went first to the monorail station and I headed to Chinatown. The reason for my trip there? I wasn’t very interested into shopping, but I was very hungry, and I wished to try one of the most suggested restaurants of Kuala Lumpur, the Old China Cafè.
I planned to take the monorail, the Little Cute Toy, from Sentral to the Maharajalela Station. The trip was short and soon, I was into a side of the city that was, for me, still unexplored. As soon as I went off the station, I found myself in front of the Kuan Yin Temple, a Chinese temple. This temple had clean lines and colored in bright red. It was a pleasant quiet spot of the city, even if very small. The temple is for the Goddess Kuan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy.
Kuan Yin
Guanyin is the bodhisattva associated with compassion as venerated by East Asian Buddhists, usually as a female. The name Guanyin is short for Guanshiyin which means "Observing the Sounds (or Cries) of the World".
In Chinese Buddhism, Guanyin/Kuan Yin/Kannon/Kwannon is synonymous with the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, the pinnacle of mercy and compassion.
Kuan Yin Mantra
Na Mo Kuan Shih Yin Pu Sa
The next step was the Chan See Shu Yuen Temple, on the way to go from the Monorail station to Chinatown. This temple game me the impression to be larger than the previous one. It was rich in decoration and it had an internal yard with statues, incense smoke and altars. The place gave me some kind of a claustrophobic feeling, and in spite here there were many tourists picturing everything with their professional cameras, I went soon outside. I guess that I preferred the previous temple.
The sky soon started to become more and more cloudy, and in a matter of minutes, I even started to hear the loud rumble of thunders over the noise of the cars. It meant that a storm was coming on my way.
The southern part of China Town is around the landmark of Jalan Petaling, or, as I call it, Fake Goods Street. This is heaven for shoppingholics. The southern part is made of old building in Chinese style, with many shop of junk for tourists. The top seller of the moment were gadgets of the “Angry Birds” game. Of course, being a bit shoppingholic myself too, I bought some of that stuff too. When I got out of the place I felt one more thing. I was very hungry. It was already about 16.00 and I definitely wished to buy some food. So, I asked for an advice to a policeman to reach Jalan Balai Polis, where the Old China Café is, to discover that I just passed by it few minutes before. Damn Angry Birds that distracted me!
Never put silly stuff in a shop, when a shoppingholic has to concentrate.
I made a long way around the block to reach the row of building that I was looking for. Absolutely, deliciously decadent old housings. Some, very old, wooden planks were nailed on the arcade before the shop, on which, in white paint, was written “Old China Cafe”, the place that I was looking for.
I entered the old restaurant. I opened the saloon-type swinging doors and I stepped back in time. The inside, the furnishing, everything was wooden. The walls were covered with paintings, old pictures and ancient posters. Everything looked like coming straight from the 1930s. For a moment, I thought I’ve see even Suzie Wong appearing, walking down the staircase. No, it was just the waiter.
The young guy welcomed me with a smile and said “Please, sit… Here… Or where you want”, the restaurant was empty. A low rustle was coming from the kitchens, some loud thunder from outside. I sat at a table in the centre of the restaurant, in a way that I could see the old counter and the kitchen. I liked that spot. Soon arrived the waiter with a lady, probably the owner of the place, that took me the menu. In past I’ve read that people working here were unkind and that the restaurant was packed of strange people, from gamblers to glue-sniffers. It was very empty, somehow even classy, and people working here were extremely friendly.
Even if I wasn’t gambling, nor sniffing glue…
The young guy shown me the menu, while the old lady, a dark skinned Asian lady with pitch black curly hair, a dot in the middle of her forehead, that form far made her look like she had a single, long eye brow, was speaking to me in a mix of Chinese and English. Chinglish? Englinese? She reminded me the character of the book “In nomine rosae” which spoke a multitude of different languages in a unique single one. They left me some time to think and the lady went to speak with the young waiter and the chef, still with her own language of a mix of Chinese and English. So, that means that it was her real own language. She was really surprising, somebody that it’s hard to be forgotten.
The menu was huge, they had so many servings, and it was hard to pick one. So, I searched something that it’s hard to be found in my country, and then I asked even some advice at the waiter. As result, I ordered some Tofu-Skin Pork Rolls, Steamed Rice, Stewed Devil Curry Pork Belly and some Chinese tea to drink. I still didn’t know that the place is also very famous as a Tea House with their own tea blends.
The tea and the Tofu-Skin Pork Rolls arrived together along a very small bowl of a red sauce. I tried the rolls, first without sauce. Lightly crunchy outside with an amazing flavor inside. They were awesome. Then I tried the sauce. I thought it was a spicy sauce, but then, it revealed herself a real masterpiece. It was a sweet-spicy sauce made blending some pepper with sugar and other secret ingredients. The sauce was a secret of the chef. It doesn’t need to say how good those rolls and sauce were. Later came the Stewed Devil Curry Pork Belly. It was made of diced pork belly, first fried and then stewed with vegetables, curry and grains of black pepper. For me, it was a masterpiece. Few times I tasted such a symphony of flavors mixed together. Then the waiter passed by my table, I greeted with him for such a good food, promising to leave a great review on the Tripadvisor website. Then, when it was time to leave that fabulous place, it started to be very dark outside and to rain cats and dogs. I couldn’t go outside. So, the old lady told me to stay there and to not go out, and she even invited me to see the upper floor, where is the tea house. I went up those wooden stairs and once upstairs, the sight was stopped by a wooden partition. I went through the door and around the partition, to find myself in an old Tea House. Many small polished tables were along the walls, each of them with nice and comfy chairs, all ready for the arrival of the customers. It was again a step back in time. It wasn’t hard to imagine some ancient lady sitting there while tasting some tea and talking with a dear friend. The old window panes, which glasses weren’t so clear anymore, shown a street under a heavy storm, with people rushing along it trying to get the less drenched as possible. Then, as it came, in about 30 minutes, the storm went away, and I was free to go outside. I left the Old China Café with the promise to come back there the next time that I’ll be in Kuala Lumpur. It wasn’t just eating, that was making an experience that involved all the senses.
After this awesome lunch break, I walked down the wet street and I reached the new Petaling Street. This part of street is covered and is where all the fake-goods stalls are concentrated. While there it was crazy to walk shoulder-to-shoulder down the street. They had many goods, some of them really crap, while some others really beautiful, even if prices were slightly higher than those that I found Thailand. I guess that this is an attraction good for many kinds of tourists that come to Kuala Lumpur, and it should be experienced at least once, or even two o three times.
Always follow the advice of a shoppingholic.
Up north, when I’ve got out the end of Petaling Street, I reached the Wisma Fui Chiu department store, and I went by it. In this part of the city, the street and buildings are less modern than areas like Jalan Sultan Ismail, but they keep a nice taste of past times. It feels like the remains of a colonials city, and somebody say that people should visit it fast as there are rumors that the city management wants to erase those old historical buildings to make some more modern ones.
The sky was quickly turning dark. The sunset came so fast that all of a sudden I found myself walking in the dark. China Town changed its face one more time, and somehow, it reminded me of the previous night. But just a little bit.
I kept on going northward, and all of a sudden, I arrived on a broad street. It was Leboh Pesar Besar. I turned left, right and, hoping to not being driven over by those headlights that were coming my way from my left, I crossed the street. Once on the other side, I had a far perception. I was there. Where, there? In the middle of nowhere? No, on my map, two thin blue lines were touching each other. They should be there, beyond those buildings, where the street shifts into a bridge. Then, the buildings left place at the river. I couldn’t believe, I was there. That it’s just like that? Sometimes, the important things are more than meets the eye.
But it was, really, just like that? Yes, it was.
I arrived on the bridge. Looking upstream, two small rivers were meeting, the Sungai Gombak on my left was flowing into the Sungai Kelang on my right. And that is the point, where now rise the Mosque Masjid Jamek, that it had begun. The name Kuala Lumpur means “Muddy Junction” and it’s where the two rivers were flowing into a muddy land rich in metals. That point gave the name at the city, Kuala Lumpur. A point so much important and not so much considered by tourists.
Just a little further after the bridge there was a block of buildings that shown no particular attracting points, and still a little further, on the other side of the street, there was a really nice building. It looked very beautiful and, somehow, quite Arabian. It was colored in orange and white stripes and decorated with small arches. I decided to come to visit it another day, as it was already dark, to enjoy it better with the sun light. So, I thought “Let’s pass by here when I’ll visit Merdeka Square” as it was exactly on the edge of that square. Later, looking at the map in better light, I discovered that this building is the Textiles Museum.
It was time to make my way back to the hotel as I wished to get showered and to get a bite. I turned around and after a short stop at a “Seven Eleven” on the “Muddy Junction” I made my way back to the Maharajalela Station, first crossing the broad street, dodging those speedy cars, then the way back through the not-so-well-lit Chinatown streets, another stop at the “Seven Eleven” to buy some unknown-brand sweets and candies that I forgot to buy before, one more stroll along Petaling street with its tempting junk shop and nice smelling food stalls, and in short I was at the station.
I took the monorail and four stops later, I was back in Raya Chulan Station. The city was under the cover of the night and the commercial neighborhoods were sparkling of lights, neons and swarming of an endless flow of people.
Kuala Lumpur - First night out in Kuala Lumpur
It was just evening when I arrived at the hotel. My room was finally available and I entered it. It was large and nice. In the beginning, I was afraid that all those Air-Con boxes that were out of the building could make noise, but they were imperceptible. I decided to take it slow and take my time. It had been a very long and intense day, moreover, I was after a sleepless night. So, I took a shower and I decided to relax on the bed for few minutes. As a result, I collapsed on it.
I woke up that it was about 21.00, I got dressed, and I headed out to see the Kuala Lumpur nightlife. First stop Ain Arabia. The Bukit Bitang neighborhood was about 10 minutes on foot from my hotel. That area is packed with shopping malls, restaurants and small clubs. Here I found a nice internet point where I had, finally, the chance to send mails to my friends and back home. Writing back home felt surreal. Somehow, I was feeling like I just left the previous day, a three-days-long uninterrupted day. This was a short stop that I couldn’t miss, and soon, I was back in the streets. A lot of people, from every country, were around, looking at the small shops and restaurants scattered along the streets.. I decided to visit Ain Arabia, the Arabian Square, as I found it named on many websites and I wished to eat some Arabian food. I searched for the place, as every now and then there were boards showing the direction, but after having walked on the same spot 2-3 times following a circular path, I decided to ask. Of course, nobody knew where it was. I felt for a moment like I were still in Japan, where I was asking to people how to reach a an important landmark, like a castle just 100 meters from their homes and they didn’t know where it was. In the end, combining the directions on the boards and the map that I made before coming to Malaysia, I found the place. It was deserted. A dark square with some concrete wall in the middle and a statue of a coffee pot. The so called Sanctuary of Arabian Food, the place that should reply a Moroccan Suq, the Mecca of the Arabian food lovers, was just a dark, dirty empty square with a decadent look. By the way, Ain Arabia is next Jalan Berangan, a side street of Jalan Sultan Ismail.
I headed back to the more trafficked Jalan Sultan Ismail looking forward to see a mall that I spotted while looking for Ain Arabia. It was the Pavillion Shopping Mall. I was walking around, more and more twisted for the lack of sleep and again hunger. Looking back, I felt like, in those moments, I was quite irrational. Irrational without having touch a beer for long, that sounds weird.
Weird lately looked normal indeed.
I arrived in front of the Pavillion Mall, with its beautiful fountain. I walked toward the sliding doors when an armed guardian wearing a bullet-proof jacket stopped me “Where are you going Sir?”, “I’m going inside, can’t I?” he smiled and said “Oh, no-no-no!” swinging his hands half way between me and him. To cut short the conversation with him I asked if the mall was closing and he said “You can’t enter… The Mall is closing, you can come back tomorrow, from 10.00 a.m. to 10.00 p.m.”, he looked like a kid repeating a poetry learnt at school, a kid with a 9 mm gun and a bullet proof vest. I checked my wristwatch, it was 22.05, my good luck. Damn, Ain Arabia.
I left the glittering golden sheer lights of the mall, to head back to Jalan Sultan Ismail and ignoring the restaurants, I went toward the street that I’ve read as the core of the Kuala Lumpur Nightlife, Jalan Ramlee. The street itself isn't very far from Bukit Bitang, but to arrive there, I had to walk for a short distance along a part of Jalan Sultan Ismail without any club, but just big hotels. Along the street, I noticed some weird looking guy, some hooker going to work, probably in a club in Bukit Bitang, and some terribly looking Malay ladyboy.
I arrived in the so called core of Kuala Lumpur nightlife. The street was before me. The restaurants and bars on both sides and in the middle, far, at the end of the street, a great view on the Petronas Towers. They were amazing.
I walked up the street, but, the core of Kuala Lumpur nightlife, was the sleeping hearth of the city. A bunch of clubs with low music and sky high prices. The only one that looked crowded was the Beach Club, but as far as I’ve read it’s only good to get ripped-off both by the bar and the hookers inside. So, a good idea would be leaving the place behind.
I walked the street up, looking for a low-cost place for a bite, but in the end, I bumped into the Tower themselves. They were fantastic. Two twin towers, shining like crystal pinnacles were in front of me. All around was almost empty. Just few tourists were taking pictures from far. I sat down on the stairway in front of the towers and I spent some times looking up to them. The time stopped flowing in front of those beauties. Then, it was time to get moving again.
I made my way back down Jalan Ramlee. On the way, finally I found a restaurant offering a good deal for Sis Kebab. So, somehow, I had my Arabian food. The restaurant was quite empty and most of the peoplr were on the porch where I was sitting too. Next to me there were only tourist, except of a couple of native people. I looked at them. The boy was dressed like a pimp, she was dressed like a hooker. He was finishing eating something and drinking something pink, while she had something into a Martini glass. Then, they left and entered the club nearby, which looked like a GoGo Bar. Perhaps, my supposition wasn't so far from the truth. When, I finished it, very happy for the food that I had just eaten, I discovered that nearby had just opened an hawker selling skewers. Too bad that I missed it.
After dinner, I made my way back at the hotel. While on the street, I planned what to do the next day. I didn’t have to plan, it was a thing that I was thinking over for a long time. I’d have to try to go to Melaka. This meant that I had to wake up early, and again, a short sleeping night. So, as soon I arrived at the hotel I had time for another shower, setting my alarm clock, wearing my Little Miss Sunshine T-Shirt and to fall asleep.
But this time, in my nice hotel under the tropical sky of Kuala Lumpur.
I woke up that it was about 21.00, I got dressed, and I headed out to see the Kuala Lumpur nightlife. First stop Ain Arabia. The Bukit Bitang neighborhood was about 10 minutes on foot from my hotel. That area is packed with shopping malls, restaurants and small clubs. Here I found a nice internet point where I had, finally, the chance to send mails to my friends and back home. Writing back home felt surreal. Somehow, I was feeling like I just left the previous day, a three-days-long uninterrupted day. This was a short stop that I couldn’t miss, and soon, I was back in the streets. A lot of people, from every country, were around, looking at the small shops and restaurants scattered along the streets.. I decided to visit Ain Arabia, the Arabian Square, as I found it named on many websites and I wished to eat some Arabian food. I searched for the place, as every now and then there were boards showing the direction, but after having walked on the same spot 2-3 times following a circular path, I decided to ask. Of course, nobody knew where it was. I felt for a moment like I were still in Japan, where I was asking to people how to reach a an important landmark, like a castle just 100 meters from their homes and they didn’t know where it was. In the end, combining the directions on the boards and the map that I made before coming to Malaysia, I found the place. It was deserted. A dark square with some concrete wall in the middle and a statue of a coffee pot. The so called Sanctuary of Arabian Food, the place that should reply a Moroccan Suq, the Mecca of the Arabian food lovers, was just a dark, dirty empty square with a decadent look. By the way, Ain Arabia is next Jalan Berangan, a side street of Jalan Sultan Ismail.
I headed back to the more trafficked Jalan Sultan Ismail looking forward to see a mall that I spotted while looking for Ain Arabia. It was the Pavillion Shopping Mall. I was walking around, more and more twisted for the lack of sleep and again hunger. Looking back, I felt like, in those moments, I was quite irrational. Irrational without having touch a beer for long, that sounds weird.
Weird lately looked normal indeed.
I arrived in front of the Pavillion Mall, with its beautiful fountain. I walked toward the sliding doors when an armed guardian wearing a bullet-proof jacket stopped me “Where are you going Sir?”, “I’m going inside, can’t I?” he smiled and said “Oh, no-no-no!” swinging his hands half way between me and him. To cut short the conversation with him I asked if the mall was closing and he said “You can’t enter… The Mall is closing, you can come back tomorrow, from 10.00 a.m. to 10.00 p.m.”, he looked like a kid repeating a poetry learnt at school, a kid with a 9 mm gun and a bullet proof vest. I checked my wristwatch, it was 22.05, my good luck. Damn, Ain Arabia.
I left the glittering golden sheer lights of the mall, to head back to Jalan Sultan Ismail and ignoring the restaurants, I went toward the street that I’ve read as the core of the Kuala Lumpur Nightlife, Jalan Ramlee. The street itself isn't very far from Bukit Bitang, but to arrive there, I had to walk for a short distance along a part of Jalan Sultan Ismail without any club, but just big hotels. Along the street, I noticed some weird looking guy, some hooker going to work, probably in a club in Bukit Bitang, and some terribly looking Malay ladyboy.
I arrived in the so called core of Kuala Lumpur nightlife. The street was before me. The restaurants and bars on both sides and in the middle, far, at the end of the street, a great view on the Petronas Towers. They were amazing.
I walked up the street, but, the core of Kuala Lumpur nightlife, was the sleeping hearth of the city. A bunch of clubs with low music and sky high prices. The only one that looked crowded was the Beach Club, but as far as I’ve read it’s only good to get ripped-off both by the bar and the hookers inside. So, a good idea would be leaving the place behind.
I walked the street up, looking for a low-cost place for a bite, but in the end, I bumped into the Tower themselves. They were fantastic. Two twin towers, shining like crystal pinnacles were in front of me. All around was almost empty. Just few tourists were taking pictures from far. I sat down on the stairway in front of the towers and I spent some times looking up to them. The time stopped flowing in front of those beauties. Then, it was time to get moving again.
I made my way back down Jalan Ramlee. On the way, finally I found a restaurant offering a good deal for Sis Kebab. So, somehow, I had my Arabian food. The restaurant was quite empty and most of the peoplr were on the porch where I was sitting too. Next to me there were only tourist, except of a couple of native people. I looked at them. The boy was dressed like a pimp, she was dressed like a hooker. He was finishing eating something and drinking something pink, while she had something into a Martini glass. Then, they left and entered the club nearby, which looked like a GoGo Bar. Perhaps, my supposition wasn't so far from the truth. When, I finished it, very happy for the food that I had just eaten, I discovered that nearby had just opened an hawker selling skewers. Too bad that I missed it.
After dinner, I made my way back at the hotel. While on the street, I planned what to do the next day. I didn’t have to plan, it was a thing that I was thinking over for a long time. I’d have to try to go to Melaka. This meant that I had to wake up early, and again, a short sleeping night. So, as soon I arrived at the hotel I had time for another shower, setting my alarm clock, wearing my Little Miss Sunshine T-Shirt and to fall asleep.
But this time, in my nice hotel under the tropical sky of Kuala Lumpur.