writing lots because my feet don't want to walk all the way home...
well it's the last night in KL and i'm exhausted. too much walking, too much pollution, too much too much too much!
we went to our first malaysian bar while here- they are insanely expensive to get into and drinks aren't cheap either. not sure if this is due to the muslim influence or not... so we opted on buying beers from the gas station and drinking them in a bus shelter before going to dance. yes, i manage to ghetto drink even here! if danielle reads my blog, this reminded me of you... such good times in the southcentre parking lot.
the next day we went to the batu caves. they are huge natural caves that have been converted into a humongous hindu shrine. it was pretty empty when we were there and hard to imagine it filling up with a million people for thaipusam. thaipusam is a hindu festival held to thank Duruga for prayers met in the past year. people carry silver jugs filled with milk and big spikey cages that are attached to them with hooks through their skin up the 200-something steps. other people put tridents and mini swords through their faces. couples who have had chldren carry the babies on their shoulders in saffron coloured cradles. the pictures are hard to look at. monkeys like the shrine too and leap through the air and climb to dizzying heights. i kept trying to take their pictures but i would freak out when i got close to them and then run away, sure they would snatch my camera and use it as their very expensive chew toy. no pictures of the minkeys.
while eating in a chinese vegetarian restaurant a monk in saffron came up to us with a begging bowl. when i made a donation he gave me a bracelet of brightly coloured string. can anyone tell me what this means?
last night i wandered for hours- made my way to the petronas towers. they don't look that big... but there is a water fountain display in front of them that has jets of water that you can jump over and crawl under without getting wet. it was awesome, although i think i scared a pair of german? tourists who happened to witness my leaping about.
today i also wandered for hours- endlessly frustrating. trying to walk in KL is like trying to run back and forth across a freeway. i saw some great things- orchid gardens, diving birds that are bright green and blue, big huge lizards, the national art gallery and theatre- but mix ups and mistakes of mine and HORRIBLE maps made things a little too epic for my liking. KL has its moments but overall i don't know if i could stand being here longer. there are too many people trying to sell me dvds and watches. i'm sure there must be lots of good things here but i just have no idea how to find them. it's hard to make yourself run across 6 lanes of traffic on a giant overpass in hopes of finding something on the other side that isn't just another huge road. i probably would have been happier just sitting in a street cafe rather than searching endlessly for nothing in particular. who knows. indian sweet shops, a crazy chinese lady doing strange traditional looking hand gestures and saluting us, frangipani falling on the sidewalks, the singing of two imams lofting at me from distant mosques as a flock of cranes flies overhead...who knows who knows.
we went to our first malaysian bar while here- they are insanely expensive to get into and drinks aren't cheap either. not sure if this is due to the muslim influence or not... so we opted on buying beers from the gas station and drinking them in a bus shelter before going to dance. yes, i manage to ghetto drink even here! if danielle reads my blog, this reminded me of you... such good times in the southcentre parking lot.
the next day we went to the batu caves. they are huge natural caves that have been converted into a humongous hindu shrine. it was pretty empty when we were there and hard to imagine it filling up with a million people for thaipusam. thaipusam is a hindu festival held to thank Duruga for prayers met in the past year. people carry silver jugs filled with milk and big spikey cages that are attached to them with hooks through their skin up the 200-something steps. other people put tridents and mini swords through their faces. couples who have had chldren carry the babies on their shoulders in saffron coloured cradles. the pictures are hard to look at. monkeys like the shrine too and leap through the air and climb to dizzying heights. i kept trying to take their pictures but i would freak out when i got close to them and then run away, sure they would snatch my camera and use it as their very expensive chew toy. no pictures of the minkeys.
while eating in a chinese vegetarian restaurant a monk in saffron came up to us with a begging bowl. when i made a donation he gave me a bracelet of brightly coloured string. can anyone tell me what this means?
last night i wandered for hours- made my way to the petronas towers. they don't look that big... but there is a water fountain display in front of them that has jets of water that you can jump over and crawl under without getting wet. it was awesome, although i think i scared a pair of german? tourists who happened to witness my leaping about.
today i also wandered for hours- endlessly frustrating. trying to walk in KL is like trying to run back and forth across a freeway. i saw some great things- orchid gardens, diving birds that are bright green and blue, big huge lizards, the national art gallery and theatre- but mix ups and mistakes of mine and HORRIBLE maps made things a little too epic for my liking. KL has its moments but overall i don't know if i could stand being here longer. there are too many people trying to sell me dvds and watches. i'm sure there must be lots of good things here but i just have no idea how to find them. it's hard to make yourself run across 6 lanes of traffic on a giant overpass in hopes of finding something on the other side that isn't just another huge road. i probably would have been happier just sitting in a street cafe rather than searching endlessly for nothing in particular. who knows. indian sweet shops, a crazy chinese lady doing strange traditional looking hand gestures and saluting us, frangipani falling on the sidewalks, the singing of two imams lofting at me from distant mosques as a flock of cranes flies overhead...who knows who knows.
posted by natalie at 4:46 AM
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