A very loud call to prayer from a mosque far below wakes us up at 6.15 am. It’s followed by loud cars. It’s not like Malaysia has a single religion…
As a treat we paid for one hotel buffet breakfast. There’s a very extensive selection of western, Malay, Chinese and Indian dishes. We have roti canai and curry, nasi lemak with chicken, pastries, teh tarik and fruit juices.
There’s barely time to digest when we meet with one of B’s cousins who has kindly offered to drive us around today. We suggest the Batu Caves, somewhere I last visited on my first overseas trip almost 30 years ago and Alex has never seen.
Fortunately it’s Sunday and KL’s roads are a bit quieter than usual. But before we go to the caves, there’s a trip down memory jalan as the cousin drives us past B’s old primary school, her old house and the shop where her parents ran a restaurant. A sign at the front of the school forbids not just students, but adults too, from wearing shorts or short skirts. We were definitely not in compliance. Sorry.
Batu Caves are located in a limestone karst similar to those I was admiring along the Jungle Railway. It’s thronging with tourists and Hindu devotees, for what makes this special are the Hindu temples surrounding and inside the caves, dominated by the 272 colourful stairs up to the cave and a huge gold statue of the Hindu deity Murugan.
We first head left, where another smaller, but more colourful statue of another deity, the monkey faced Hanuman, his heart torn open to reveal Rava and Sita inside. Nearby are bathroom facilities (clean, 1 RM to use) and a seller of fresh coconuts. We order a couple. Monkeys climb on the temple tops and an aviary containing peacocks, including albinos.
Last time I climbed the steps alone. This time we all go up. It’s an effort, but I am glad I have worked on my fitness.
The first thing we notice at the top of the huge cave entrance is the smell. Bird poo or the latrines?
Individual water drops fall as if in slow motion from the high cave entrance. Inside are colourful Hindu shrines adorned with carvings of gods. You need to take your shoes off before entering a shrine, a number of Hindus just go barefoot around the whole area. We have no need to enter.
I find going down harder than up, on account of big feet and older knees.
At the bottom I buy some Indian sweets, having never tried them before. I like. The masala tea, not so much. It’s different to the Pakistani tea I’ve enjoyed in Lakemba. B chats to a mother who was brought her baby to the temples, his head covered with yellow kumkuma powder.
We now return to Damansara Jaya, to take B’s cousin out for lunch at a descendant of her parents’ restaurant, named for her and her brother. B was actually named herself for another restaurant. We don’t tell the staff any of this, they don’t know they have a “celebrity” in their midst.
We eat the famous fried sotong (squid), assam fish, kangkong belacan and kapitan chicken with rice. The chicken is the best, the sotong is apparently okay (I don’t eat it) but the other two dishes aren’t special, the assam fish too sour. But at least we came.
We are now very full and tired, so we return to the hotel and let B’s cousin enjoy the rest of the day himself. Then we head up to the roof for a swim in the long pool. I’m too full to do more than swim a few laps, the others go down to the shops to buy sandals.
Then it’s afternoon nap time.
When we awaken, it’s dinner time. B doesn’t want to eat at the shopping centre again. We settle on satay near the Starling Mall and order a Grab car to take us there.
The satay at the branch of Restoran Satay Kajang Hj Samuri is quickly devoured. It’s difficult to find good satay in Australia. The meat needs to be properly marinated, then grilled on hot charcoal, charred but still juicy. The satay sauce should be thick, crunchy and sweet, more than just peanuts
We didn’t order enough to completely fill us up, so we walk around the block to find some other places. Nothing meets the criteria and unfortunately there’s no real open air restaurant or kopitiam on the corner, unlike other places we passed during the ride.
The Starling Mall is even more glitzy than the Paradigm Mall beneath the hotel. There are some of the same options inside. In the end we just go to an Ah Cheng Laksa branch and order another assam laksa with a plate of rojak that I like a lot less than the one we had in Katong in Singapore. I’m still full from earlier in the day.
After wandering through shops and a Jaya Grocer supermarket that sold Coles brand products from Australia and put Vegemite safely behind the counter it is time to go back.
This Grab driver’s car smells of cigarettes and he drives like a maniac.
We get back in one piece and that’ll do for the day.
