Day 10 - Tour de Kuala Lampur (the 2nd long day)

I had arranged for a tour company to provide us with a private tour/driver for the day, which ended up being a very long, 10+ hour day. Our driver, Siva, who I believe was the owner of the company, pulled up a few minutes late in a dusty, older, less than tidy, cramped station wagon with a barely functioning AC that smelled of smoke. So it was not off to a promising start. And to add to that- Siva was not what one would call a champion of hospitality, or a charmer - he had stern disposition, appeared to be a man of few words, was unsmiling and no visible charima. After a day of fun chatter with Eugene in a luxury van...we were all less than excited about our arranements. 

However, as the day went on, Siva totally grew on me (and I think, all of us)...mostly because he appeared to care very much that my mother was always dropped off at the closest point to each attraction...he got us everywhere we needed to be, on time, was always right where he said he'd be once we were done, and even added a few stops to our agenda that he thought we would enjoy.  

I had planned three temple/mosque visits in the earlier part of the day, and our first stop was the National Mosque, constructed with A LOT of white marble. It was star-shaped, and more on the 'simple' end of the spectrum. There was a great view of the city, and the plaster ceiling/walls were beautifully sculpted...but nothing there truly stood out, and I can't say it the most memorable mosque we've visited. We all donned purple-hooded robes (always love when the menfolk have to join us in looking like recent Jedi graduates), and were in and out in about 30 minutes. 

Our next stop of the day was one of the bonus stops, and very nearby. I believe the buildings/field had something to do with Independence (forget the full name).

Tough to tell from this picture, but this buiding was like a beautiful star-shape from every angle.

Our next stop was a Hindu temple called Sri Mariammon (very similar to the one in name/appearance to the one we saw in Singapore. Prior to seeing that temple, I'd never seen such a style of uniqe and vibrant style of architecture before- all of the deitie(s) stacked atop a pyramid-like entrance? It was very eye-catching and captivating. 

We removed our shoes to enter, and my mom and I were asked to cover our legs/shoulders with shawls provided.

I did not expect our third religious building to be fascinating, but it was very eye catching! The Thean Hou temple was a somewhat newer building, quite massive, bright red and ornate. It reminded me more of a palace, than a temple.What I enjoyed were the yellow lights strung up all across the courtyard.

I also could not stop staring at the intricately detailed hand painted ceilings- they reminded me so much of peacock feathers. Honestly, one of the most vibrant Chinese temples I've ever seen.

Not gonna lie, the bright gold pillars was pretty gaudy, but still beautiful. 

We left the temple and drove a short distance out of town to the Batu Caves- a highlight of the trip for me. I'd seen images of the colorfully-painted stairs off and on over the years, and it was as vibrant and eye catching as I'd imagined. 

We knew we had a steaming hot climb up the stairs, so we quickly fueled up on some extra spicy (not our intention) fried noodles/rice. There was a solo, overworked AC in the dining tent, that kept the temperature about 10 degrees cooler than the icky outside. Never has 85 degrees felt so amazing!

I need to buy a scarf to head up (a first, usually they are lent out), and then we faced the 700 aggressive monkeys sitting on the steep stairway to the caves. The photos don't really show this, but the place is a bit run down, dirty and covered in litter/trash.

Once you got to the top, the caves were about 5 degrees color and slightly more comfortable than the 95 or so degrees outside. There was a temple inside, but not much else to see, so after 15-20 min of wandering around as deep as the cave went, we headed back down.

Our next stop (I told you, it was a long day!), was to the nearby Selayang Hot Springs. It was not at all what I'd expected...first of all, there were zero tourists. It was very much a local hot spring to bathe/gather around. The pools were very clear, enticing and pretty...but also...soooo scalding hot, that no one was actually sitting in them. We were encouraged to splash some of the medicinal waters on our face, which we did, but it was so uncomfortably hot, we could not bear more than a few seconds of the foot soaking. Unbearable! The pools looked so inviting but were also quite dangerous.

A good distance away by highway, was a temple (unsure of the name, but this was another added stop by Siva) with a strong elephant-theme. Honestly, quite beautiful and I'm glad he showed it to us.

We headed to the Silverleaf Monkey feeing grounds after that, where Siva handed us a burlap bag filled with vegetables and fruit...along with the warning, "Whatever you do, no matter what...do NOT leg go of this bag." Faced with that ominous warning, we unanimously elected Rich as being in charge of the bag, so as to reduce the odds of our own mauling/death by monkeys.

This was a wise decision, as he was surrounded by aggressive offenders who immediately climbed up and jumped on top of his head, shoulders, chest, etc. in an effort to grab the contents of his bag. At one point, he had a few on him, and one shoved another one off to take its place. We all fed them beans, bananas, carrots, etc. My dad and Ryan were also assaulted by monkeys who jumped on top of htem.

It was pretty hilarious and terrifying, and after awhile, we drove off, both exhausted and relieved to leave the terror behind. About ten minutes away, we arrived at our formal dinner on the waterfront. There were little tent-covered restaurants perched atop the water, and were fed a FEAST of enough food to feed a small army- fish, chicken, veggies, eggs, fried rice, shrimp...all beautifully presented, filling and delicious. 

Immediately after the meal, my mom and I opted out of our prepaid firefly/eagle ray excursion up the river (we've both seen them before and the gas from all the boat engines had made us queasy). However, the boys all suited up and headed out...as we were waiting to say goodbye on the dock, my mom spied a massive, terrifying creature slowly moving it's way across the water.

This large animal (100+ lbs?) is called an Asian water monitor, and appears to be half lizard, half dinosaur. The boys said they saw a half dozen more in the waters that day.

No pictures of the fireflies, just video...but it was a bit anticlimactic...as they never really got close enough to see them fly around them (just off on the riverbank nearby). I don't think we left the restaurant until after 8-9pm, and it took at least an hour drive to get home. I want to say we got home about 12 hours after we'd started...and we couldn't have been happier/more exhausted with all we'd gotten to see that day.