The Journey's End is Nigh

Kuala Lumpur and Malakka

After the last few days in Sumatra with temperatures of mid-twenties in KL we are back to 33C feels like 39C with high humidity. The apartment we are sharing whilst being a bit shabby does have good air-conditioning which is needed.

On our first day we took a trip to Melaka. It seems to have several spellings and is an old historic town. Another one which since 1500s has been controlled by the Portuguese, Dutch then us. The town is basically to main street with a canal. It is very colourful and lots of history with some nice churches and temples. There is a hill we went up for a great look over the city and out to sea. There is the remains of an old church where St Francis Xavier was buried and our guide told us the story of this saint, he is now buried in Goa but the grave in Melaka can still be seen. The other interesting story of the church is that the Portuguese and Dutch maintained it, even though a new church was built in the town. When the British took over rather than restoring the church, they put a cannon and armoury there. As it is was the top of the hill felt a good defensive position this greatly amused an Aussie chap we were chatting to.

In the evening we went to the local Hard Rock Cafe, it wasn't my first choice of places to go! But it was nearby and I was out voted, however the food and drinks were nice.

Batu Caves

The following day myself and James we to the Batu Caves, a series of caves with Hindu temples. The statues and caves are fantastic, with waterfalls mixing with the temples. There is the also a series of 20 scenes with statues telling the story of Rama and Ravana.

Lots of steps as usual at the temple but impressive, especially at the top where the cave is hollow so you can see the sky. At the caves people seem to actively feed the macaque monkeys so they happily mingle with the crowds. As we came down the stairs everyone had stopped as we looked across we saw that one monkey had stolen someone's wallet and had gone to the top of a pole to investigate if it contained food. You could sense the monkey's annoyance when he opened the wallet to see no food just lots of bank notes which were soon falling to the floor. Apparently the monkey would usually, need to be tempted with food before giving wallet or phones back, but despite nothing being offered he eventually dropped it and the guy's son was sent into the bushes to reclaim the money and wallet.

An Evening Out

In the evening we had a small bar crawl curated by El. We started at Taps a craft beer bar we visited in 2019 and then went on to 3 more for cocktails. We finished in a bar at the top of a hotel with incredible views of their twin towers. It was a great night and all finished relatively merry. MacDs at the end for three of us. It was a great night and we got in past midnight which was a change for me and Karen!

Creating Unforgettable Memories

We are getting towards the end of our trip which is sad and over the last few days we've had, my foot hurt on the coral, my pride and joy, my samsung flip 5, has stopped working with the main screen no longer responding to any touches, one pair of my shorts were thrown away as a big and revealing hole in the back and Karen has a dodgy stomach. Maybe everything realises this adventure is nearly over.