Our second day in Kuala Lumpur included a trip to Batu Caves, one of the most popular Hindu shrines outside of India.
Over 400 steps lead up the limestone mountain to a series of caves.
I love the use of color on Hindu shrines.
Also, the colorful and exotic Hindu sari.
There will always be fresh flower leis to present at the shrine, as well.
I had a hard time watching this beautiful child in her darling red dress crawl amongst these gross pigeons. I wondered why her parents were allowing this, then after a quick google search, I learned that pigeons are revered as a sacred animal in the Hindu religion. Ohhhhhh….
But, it still grossed me out!
From pigeons, to monkeys. Wild monkeys freely roamed around this area, and were so fun to watch.
But, be forewarned, they will steal your food and even water bottles, when you least expect it!
I think this little guy was planning to take Matt’s water bottle from his pocket, but grabbed one out of a lady’s hand instead.
He quickly bit a hole in the bottom of the bottle and began to drink. The monkeys were very smart and moved quickly. Watch out!
Taking a breather, about half way up.
The cave at the top, was more like a cove. It contained more shrine statues and there were many people in line to have a blessing from a Hindu priest.
The cave opened up into an open air atrium, of sorts, surrounded on all sides by the limestone. It was really beautiful.
And more monkey fun, we loved watching this mama with her baby.
The air quality in Malaysia was horrible. I guess every year at this time, they do a lot of burning to clear land, resulting in almost unbreathable air! We all had irritated lungs and watery eyes the whole trip.
The train ride back to our hotel.
That afternoon, the girls and I checked out a local mall.
I was stunned. This was one of the biggest, and nicest malls I had ever seen with every top luxury brand you could imagine (and I do consider myself a mall connoisseur). I found it so odd to have such extreme dichotomy in a city, from super impoverished slums, to Prada, Coach and Tiffany. Bizarre!
The mall even had a special area on the top floor called Tokyo Street, it was all things Tokyo.
We enjoyed exploring and discussing whether or not the area was authentic.
They even had our favorite Japanese dollar store, Daiso. There are a few Daisos in the States now, so if you live in California, Washington or Texas, check them out!
And later that night, we had a fabulous view of the Kuala Lumpur Tower, right from our hotel.
Overall, Kuala Lumpur didn’t have the charm of Vietnam, the character of Thailand, or the beauty of Japan, it was just…..average. But, judging from the amount of construction that was taking place, I expect it to be a very different place in 5-10 years. We’ll have to return to check it out!
Interesting. I had heard that about the air quality. Such a shame. I do hope they can pull themselves together to revitalize the country. They have the industry there to support it I understand.
I would love to watch those monkeys!