MALAYSIA 2015 PART 2: BATU CAVES

Located in Selangor, Batu Caves is a limestone hill that has a series of caves and cave temples and is an iconic, popular tourist attraction in Kuala Lumpur. This is just a 30-minute train ride from KL Sentral Station. Talk about convenience.

View from the train station.

Without seeing the mountains on the left side, the place looks just like a normal city.

Everyday wear.

Keen to details.

I failed at having a picture with all these doves around me. Maybe next time!

Landscape in front of the first cave called...

Art Gallery.

Me taking a photograph of my friend who's taking a photograph of our friends. #photographception

Colorful lights on the entrance hallway.

There's no way for history geeks not to appreciate this exhibit.

#emojisinthewild

There are a few animals freely moving in the area:

I wanted to take this dog home!

CAVE VILLA. At the end of this cave is a mini zoo that's home for a number of mostly reptiles.

The dim light and lack of fresh air make this place creepy and suffocating. I had a weird feeling a snake might suddenly flash anywhere and eat us all alive. In fact, the aquarium of the biggest snake was open because it was being cleaned-- my level of paranoia was incomparable. Nevertheless, I enjoyed our mini adventure!

Hey, croc.

Black and Gold, never gets old.

Panda-colored bunnies.

Just one of the maaany snakes in the zoo. I was able to carry one in Palawan but that wasn't enough to lessen my fear of this reptile.

I used to catch lizards when I was young...

Batu Cave's main attraction: The 140-feet tall statue of a Hindu God standing beside the 272-step stairs (I only counted 271 steps!) going to yet another cave.

Wikipedia told me it costed approximately 24 million rupees, is made of 1550 cubic metres of concrete, 250 tonnes of steel bars and 300 litres of gold paint brought in from Thailand.

You know they are your real friends when they ruin your souvenir photo.

Steepest staircase I ever climbed. Be careful to set your foot right on each level, unless you wanna roll down like a boulder.

There are monkeys wandering on the stairs which makes the climbing even harder, haha. I mean, the last thing you want is for this creature to cling on you. One of the monkeys successfully stole my friend's soda. What a first class snatcher.

This one is carrying a baby with her while munching on a coconut! I wonder if she stole that from other tourists?

I was already catching my breath at this point. *heavy breathing*

I made it on top! Congratulations, self.

City skyline.

This is what the cave looks like from the inside. There was an ongoing ritual of sorts when we arrived.

The only activity to do here is to appreciate the natural rock formations...

and do some photoshoot. What my friend can do to have the perfect angle. Symmetry is the key, right Bernard?

Singapore post is up next! Keep posted!

MALAYSIA 2015 PART 1

From eating halo-halo x palabok after our Friday class and casual slumber parties back in high school, once in a blue moon get-together during our college days, and Friday night-outs post-college, to finally living our dream of travelling abroad all together!

We’ve been planning this trip for the longest time. It was not pushing through mainly because 1) All of us are too lazy to look for a seat sale 2) We cannot decide which destination to go to 3) WE DON’T HAVE ENOUGH MONEY TO FINANCE OUR TRAVEL NEEDS (most of us only started working in 2014). Until one day, my friend Nikka surprised us that she is booking a trip already. Like, we only have less than a day to decide. It was our group’s unanimous decision to visit Kuala Lumpur and have a side trip to Singapore.

Fast forward to the day we arrived in Kuala Lumpur.

First thing's first: airport OOTD!

We arrived in time for lunch. Grabbed our food from Quizinn, a food court inside NU Sentral mall, located at KL Sentral Station. This is called Fried Kuay Teow.

Fried Kuay Teow is a flat rice noodles stir-fried with shrimp (but mine has nothing on it because I’m allergic to most of seafood with hard and/or soft shells), bloody cockles, Chinese lap cheong (sausage), eggs, bean sprouts, and chives in a mix of soy sauce. This dish is considered a national favourite in Malaysia and Singapore. You ordered the right food, Ralph.

HOTEL LOBBY SITUATION. We headed to our hotel after having lunch to drop our luggages. After resting for a while, we started touring the city on our own. My friends Ted and Nikka made our itinerary- no booked city tours and what not. Actual, physical city map and commoners were our friend during the entire trip.

Meet my high school squad! Ted, Nikka, Bernard, Karmina and me. (L-R) We ♥ KL!

Tower clock

Clean roads

Not sure what this establishment is called...

I just have a deep fascination on buildings with beautiful architecture.

Central Market 

According to the city's tourism site-- located in the heart of Kuala Lumpur, a few minutes away from Petaling Street, Central Market is a famous landmark for Malaysian culture and heritage.

Tourists flock to Central Market for its variety of handicrafts, art, kebaya, songket, batik and authentic Malaysian souvenirs. A Batik Emporium houses well-known designer labels, with the best Malaysian-made batik items ranging from clothes, shoes, bags to home furnishing.

I have two shirts with almost the same design as these. Print game too strong!

The Central Market Outdoor Stage is where visitors can catch colourful arts and cultural events. During the country’s main festivals, the area will be lit up in theme, reflecting the multiracial diversity of Malaysians.

When in a foreign country, eat all the local food! This one is their local version of our Puto and is made of bamboo.

Flatiron building?

Chinese school in vibrant red paint.

We cannot miss a photo with this graffiti wall. So much hipster element.

Worship place for the locals.

They sure know how to give attention to details.

China town! Binondo feels. One of the food vendors here easily recognized us to be Pinoys. There must've been a lot of Filipino tourists here.

Kuala Lumpur Tower. Too bad the lights weren't on yet the time we visited.

It is the 7th tallest freestanding tower in the world. The rest of the tower below has a stairwell and an elevator to reach the upper area, which also contains a revolving restaurant, providing diners with a panoramic view of the city. Too costly for us, though. LOL.

We ended the day by appreciating the beauty that is Petronas Twin Towers after having dinner inside KLCC mall. 

No one has ever gone to Kuala Lumpur without going to Petronas Twin Towers. According to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH)'s official definition and ranking, they were the tallest buildings in the world from 1998 to 2004 and remain the tallest twin towers in the world.

Went back to our hotel and prepared for our train ride going to Singapore. More of that on my next posts!