Kuala Lumpur

Sadly, Michaela had to return to the real world of work, university and football training, while Lyndal and I continued our travels. We arrived in Kuala Lumpur for a brief stopover. We stayed at the Grand Seasons Hotel, apparently the tallest hotel in Kuala Lumpur. We both had hair cuts (sadly I had to take my braids and beads out) and ate a lot of Indian food, which I was now missing badly. We had time to take in two tours of Kuala Lumpur in our two days there.

We saw the iconic Petronas Towers (photo above), which were once the tallest buildings on the planet but have now slipped to second place after Taipei 101. We then visited a batik factory (photo right). I found this particularly interesting as my father Rod and stepmother Crina used to make batik in their house in the 1970s, after returning from living in Bali for several years. I was pleased to see that the tools and techniques had not changed at all, with the little wax-filled device called a canting looking identical to that used by Rod and Crina.
We also visited a chocolate factory, the king's palace (photo of Lyndal and a palace guard on the left)and a national monument which commemorates the crushing of a communist insurgency during the 1950s and 1960s. Again, I was interested in this because Rod, Crina and I, along with my six-month-old half-sister Gina, had stayed in Kuala Lumpur for several months in 1976.

At that time, the newspaper articles seemed to be full of former communists recanting their past beliefs. Page Two of the newspaper always carried a half-page testimony from either a former drug addict or former communist, as the Malaysian government clearly viewed them all in the same light.


In the afternoon we visited the Royal Selangor Pewter factory, which was fascinating. Although the basic shape of the pewter items is machine-made, many of the intricate designs are hand-made. We tried our hands at beating patterns into the pewter in the same way as the skilled workers, but sadly no-one would have paid for our feeble efforts. I particularly liked these glass-and-pewter goblets, which were 'Lord of the Rings' themed.


The highlight for us was the last stop, which was the Batu Caves. These are amazing rock formations caused by millions of years of water dripping down through limestone. It is simultaneously a place of natural beauty, and a Hindu shrine. There is an enormous gold-clad statue of the Hindu god Murugan outside the caves, then 272 concrete steps ascend to the first cave.
Every year, millions of Hindus from Malaysia and nearby countries descend on this place to worship during Thaipusam. We spent several happy hours in this place, and finished off by enjoying Indian street food yet again. Bliss.



The next day we headed off to the Philippines and we knew that this would be our last spicy food for a while.