18th – 19th September

The next morning I got my bus and said goodbye to Singapore. We had to stop at Singapore in immigration, get the bridge over to Malaysia and stop again at the Malaysian immigration, then get on another bus. As we stopped for the toilet & breakfast I chatted to the ladies serving me, they were so nice and thought I was so crazy and brave travelling alone on a country I don’t know – after Singapore I was thinking the same thing! 😂 The journey to KL was fine and the bus was a lot more modern than I was expecting!

When we arrived in KL I was fully intending on walking to the hostel, but got lost within 5 mins. So I went back and got stopped by local ladies selling Malaysian SIM cards. As this had been such a good move in Sri Lanka I decided to grab one, after going to take out some Malaysian Ringgit! It took aaaaaaaages and I was worried it was a scam (don’t worry though it’s normal for them to ask for your passport!). They were also really nice and the lady who spoke better English downloaded the app ‘Grab’ for me – like they’re version of uber- to get a cheaper cab. At only RM6 (Malaysian Ringgit, which is about £1.10) this was a pretty cheap option to get to my hostel!

I checked into the Explorer’s Guesthouse and FINALLY booked my bus to Kuala Besut for the next evening. With that done I could relax and think about enjoying a bit of KL sightseeing. Knowing that Anh & Hebe we’re still here we’d agreed to meet for dinner later.

Expecto Petronas! Magical Twin Towers!

Ok, not magical, but it’s what I think of when I hear Petronas Towers (Harry Potter fans will appreciate)

As I had little time in KL I went off to go and see the most famous site, the twin Petronas Towers. I wanted to get a feel for the city so I walked there, which was about half a hour. KL has a totally different vibe from Singapore, it’s has a lot more of the ‘real Asia’ feel. There were cool bars and restaurants everywhere.

The Petronas Towers were once the tallest buildings in the world, they are huge! I went into the building in between the towers and had a look around. It was more expensive than I thought to go up and tbh I wanted to be able to see the towers in the skyline. So instead I went to the nice viewing area and watched the towers light up as it got dark.

Some familiar faces!

I then walked over to meet the girls, getting lost a couple of times on the way. We all wanted to go to the much recommend Jalan Alor – a giant open air street restaurant that comes to life at night! It’s a real treat for the senses. I wandered up and down taking it all in before meeting the girls, it was so cool to see them again!

We chose a spot to eat and shared chilli crab, prawns, Malay spiced Vegas & fried rice 🍛 😋, I was even getting better at using chop sticks!

We then shared a coconut ice cream and Hebe went shopping for some dragon fruit souvenirs for her family. I can’t stand the stuff, I tried some and nearly spat it straight back out! We then said our goodbyes again and headed back to our hostels.

Batu Caves

Another highly recommended thing to go see near KL is the Batu caves. I got up and ready the next morning and got chatting to a Hungarian girl staying in my dorm, Zsanett. It turns out she was also planning to go to the caves, so we decided to go together, plus she kindly offered to let me back into the room later so I couldn’t leave my luggage there, as I was checking out that day.

We had to get a half hour train out of Kl centre to get there (which wasn’t as frequent as we thought and a bit of a wait for). The whole place was amazing, different from anything I’d seen before. A Hindu shrine with a huge gold Hindu god statue stands in front of a large cave structure, which had 272 multicoloured steps leading up to the caves themselves.

There was a tour going through Dark Cave, which we decided we didn’t have time for (although I would have loved a chance to spot the bats!) and the top cave had many colourful Hindu statues inside.

As we had a bit to wait for our train, we sat in a cafe & I grabbed a roti. I then went into Ramayana cave for a quick look. Throughout the cave it told the story of Rama and Sita in colourful statues.

On the way back from the train I had my first experience of SE Asia monsoon season with a huge downpour! It rained until the evening, but was still really warm. We went to grab late lunch and I went to the launderette to do some washing. We spent late afternoon in the hostel researching our next move. Thanks was trying to find decently priced accommodation on the Perhentian Islands, but decided to go and wing it like if read on a forum!

I got a sneaky quick shower then found my way to the big bus station for my night bus to Kuala Besut!