Malaysia

What motivated this?

Well, two things. We’re not really fans of large cruise ships and would opt for something smaller and more focused. “Mekong Delta” came up and not having been to SE Asia thought it would be a great introduction. YouTuber Gary, told of his trip on the Indochine II and I stashed this info onto the bucket list.

Then we learned that one of Rose’s nieces is living in Kuala Lumpur (KL) and that tipped the scales to make a go of it. Visit some spots in Malaysia and then join the cruise up in Siem Reap mid December and be home on January 3rd.

Long flight to Hong Kong and then down to KL but very nice to recuperate with Clare & Paddy in their high rise apartment and especially swim in their 50m pool downstairs.

Spent the first day adjusting and finding the local restaurants, pubs & grocery store. Then we plucked up courage and headed out to our first tourist stop, Batu Caves. To get around we signed up with “Grab”, the local equivalent of Uber and trusted them to get us to our destinations.

Wikipedia says: Batu Caves is a mogote that has a series of caves and cave temples. It takes its name from the Malay word batu, meaning ‘rock’. The cave complex is one of the most popular Hindu shrines outside India, and is dedicated to Murugan.

Lots of monkeys around that keep away from you unless you have a bag of food in your hand which they regard as fair game.

At the top you descend a bit into a massive cavern that is open at the top. You are supposed to have your shoulders and knees covered but there is lax enforcement.

Next door is Ramayana Cave,

a much quieter cave, you have to pay a small entrance fee whereas Batu Cave is free, and the sides are lined with dioramas telling their story.

Next day we headed for KL China Town, starting with an audio visual presentation at REXKL , fun but I needed to be in my 20’s and have an hallucinogenic drug in me to be able to trip out.

Next was Petaling Street, supposedly the heart of China Town but in reality it is a chaotic walk street filled with vendors from all over selling a range of wares and as a tourist I had no idea as to the quality or value of the goods. Watches I avoided but would buy a new wallet if I could tell leather from fake leather and find the design I wanted. Needless to say I enjoyed the sights and kept a tight fist on my wallet.

After that we had a Carlsberg beer at a food court and could not help capture a local having his lunch.

Back in the land of expats, and more specifically the GAA club in KL (Kuala Lumpur), they were having a Father Christmas at their local pub, we tagged along for the fun.

Here are our hosts having their moment with Santa: Paddy, Aoife, Clare & Aishling.

Next stop will be the Cameron Highlands and then George Town on Penang Island.