Day 3 in KL - Batu Caves, Thean Hou Temple and Chinatown
Today we were up and out by 7am so we could reach the Batu Caves before the crowds. After some interesting (incorrect) train timetables and a McDonalds Nasi Lemak, we arrived to a beautiful temple and a lot of pigeons and monkeys. We felt extremely lucky to be finally here after seeing so many photos, and it really lived up to the hype! After a few hours, we got a train and Grab (taxi) to Thean Hou Temple, celebrating Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism. Having recently been Chinese New Year, the decorations were still up from the celebrations and we could only imagine how bustling it would have been last week. We then continued our Chinese adventure into Chinatown, sharing a Grab with some other backpackers back into the city. Bustling streets of fake designer goods, plastic tat and food stalls. We grabbed lunch from a hawker and when looking for a loo in a mall, stumbled across loud drums and a dragon parade! Dan found a restaurant with amazing beef noodle soup so we had a bowl of that and headed back for a rest and nighttime swim. At around 9pm we headed back out for some dinner - chicken satay with rice and mango sticky rice from two stalls on Jalan Alor - and to see the Petronas Towers at night. We have loved Kuala Lumpur, would really recommend it as a stopover to anyone visiting Southeast Asia and can't wait to visit again one day! Next stop, Singapore...
Entrance to the Batu Caves
Glad we came early as it was fairly quiet on the way up but as we started to make our way down, it got a lot busier and the monkeys became much cheekier!
Lots of monkeys, pigeons and cockerels
Here you had to take your shoes off to see the more religious part of the cave where people were being blessed and praying.
The view from the top!
Thean Hou Temple
Chinese New Year wishing tree
Inside the temple. People were praying to the gods and burning incense sticks.
Outside the temple there were 24 statues of the Chinese sons with different virtues - they were quite weird eg. He Cried and the Bamboo Sprouted.
BBQ pork belly with rice from a stall in the market in Chinatown 15RM+15RM for drinks ~ £5 total. Beer seems relatively expensive in KL.
Lion parade in mall... you could hear them before you could see them!
Beef noodle soup which had good reviews! 12RM (£2)
Dinner was chicken satay (11RM/£1.80) and mango sticky rice (15RM/£2.50) from stalls on Jalan Alor. Even better than when we've had them in the UK! I don't think it'll be the last time we get these!
We wanted to see the Petronas Towers up close at night before we left KL and it was worth the walk!
