On one of the days we took a trip to the Batu caves, where Hindu's celebrate Thiapusum, a festival in August. There are 270 steps leading to the caves which I climbed on my own because of Jess's vertigo. When I got to the top the views were breathtaking. The cave was so huge, I felt tiny in comparison. I'm not sure if it was the enormity of the cave or because I had forgotten to take my bottle of water up with me to climb such a long way in the beating sunshine, but the heights of the cave ceiling made me feel slightly dizzy. Walking back down I was a lot faster because I was being watched by some monkeys and we had been warned to keep our distance from them as they sometimes bite. We found the most amazing Indian vegetarian restaurant where we tried a selection of dishes served on a banana leaf.
Our travel book had mentioned a rooftop bar not far from our hostel which sold extremely cheap drinks, so when we got back to the city naturally we decided to find it. I am so glad we did! The manager was a great guy and allowed us to bring in coconuts we had brought in off the street to fill with rum. We stayed up until the morning drinking and chatting, even after he had closed the bar and locked everybody else out.
We visited a Batik shop where we were got to paint our own. I really enjoyed doing something creative, even though mine ended up looking like a piece of art made by a child compared to the ones in the shop made by professionals.
That night we met some people on the rooftop of our own hostel. They were amazing fun, and I hope to keep in contact with a few of them. After copious amounts of vodka we were given salsa dancing lessons by a the lovely Susana and David. I had a glorious time!
The markets around the corner from our hostel were good, and we spent a day eating and shopping. When going out for dinner I had a rather disappointing fish soup, so asked for some chillies to spice it up. Tip: When in Malaysia, homemade chilli sauce is LETHAL. I was too cocky with it and poured in quite a bit before I realised I had now turned by soup into a firey mess. I was not to be defeated though and powered through it, even though my face had turned such a bright red I looked like I was about to explode. People walking past the restaurant were all laughing at me struggling with the chilli, and Jess getting to grips with how to eat rice with chopsticks.
We left Kuala Lumpur to travel to Penang, which was a five hour bus journey. Sounds horrible, but was actually fine as our bus was air conditioned with comfy seats with lots of leg room.
Our hostel was amazing- instead of a backpackers they advertise themselves as a 'flashpackers'. Although we had booked the cheapest room with shared bathrooms, they had made a mistake with the booking and so upgraded us to a nicer room with our own shower and toilet. The difference was probably about a pound, but was still a nice surprise. We met a lovely girl called Becky in our room, and as it was just the three of us in a six bed room it was like we had visited a hotel together. The hostel even provided Ipads for people to use the internet. Again we found a reggae bar with cheap drinks and had an amazing night.
The next day we all visited a snake temple, which had been advertised as having tonnes of snakes all chilling in the surrounding garden and on the steps, but were disappointed to find just two big boa constrictors and some other smaller poisonous snakes. After travelling all the way to see it we had to have our photo taken with one of the huge snakes.
Me and Jess are now in Thailand. Our backpackers seems great with some friendly people and we are extremely excited for the arrival of Madeleine on Sunday!!
The markets around the corner from our hostel were good, and we spent a day eating and shopping. When going out for dinner I had a rather disappointing fish soup, so asked for some chillies to spice it up. Tip: When in Malaysia, homemade chilli sauce is LETHAL. I was too cocky with it and poured in quite a bit before I realised I had now turned by soup into a firey mess. I was not to be defeated though and powered through it, even though my face had turned such a bright red I looked like I was about to explode. People walking past the restaurant were all laughing at me struggling with the chilli, and Jess getting to grips with how to eat rice with chopsticks.
We left Kuala Lumpur to travel to Penang, which was a five hour bus journey. Sounds horrible, but was actually fine as our bus was air conditioned with comfy seats with lots of leg room.
Our hostel was amazing- instead of a backpackers they advertise themselves as a 'flashpackers'. Although we had booked the cheapest room with shared bathrooms, they had made a mistake with the booking and so upgraded us to a nicer room with our own shower and toilet. The difference was probably about a pound, but was still a nice surprise. We met a lovely girl called Becky in our room, and as it was just the three of us in a six bed room it was like we had visited a hotel together. The hostel even provided Ipads for people to use the internet. Again we found a reggae bar with cheap drinks and had an amazing night.
The next day we all visited a snake temple, which had been advertised as having tonnes of snakes all chilling in the surrounding garden and on the steps, but were disappointed to find just two big boa constrictors and some other smaller poisonous snakes. After travelling all the way to see it we had to have our photo taken with one of the huge snakes.
Me and Jess are now in Thailand. Our backpackers seems great with some friendly people and we are extremely excited for the arrival of Madeleine on Sunday!!
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