Day Seven in Malaysia

We had asked the hotel concierge to book the Batu Caves tour yesterday, so having got up well in time, we were ready and waiting when our guide came to pick us up on time! We had muuuuuch better crowd on the tour this time. Both parties were picked up from the same hotel. There was a family from Zimbabwe and a mother and daughter duo from California. What fun we had. We visited the chocolate factory (the chocs are rather mattish and gummy……. not very nice) the leather factory, a batik factory, we saw the ‘famous’ rubber tapping demonstration. What a laugh that was!

Let me tell you WHY I find the rubber tapping demo a laugh. The vehicle is stopped by the side of a little ‘garden?’ which has all of about 2-3 rubber trees (I kid you not!). The tour guide then takes out a knife and carves a line in the already mangled tree trunk to show a thin trickle or seeping of ‘rubber’ milk and that’s it! Yup…. That’s it… the famous rubber tapping demo!

Anyway, finally we got to see the batu caves, which was the main reason why we took the tour in the first place. There were 220 steps to reach the lime stone caves. Various statues of Hindu deities dwell there, with Hanuman guarding the exit. There were loads of monkeys running around the caves unafraid of humans who were invading their space. The thing is the place is so very commercialized, you don’t get too much of a chance to appreciate the natural beauty of the limestone caves. On the way back we stopped at another batik factory where the family from Zimbabwe bought a lot of stuff and then it was back to the hotel.

We had arranged with Kumudu to go to her place that afternoon, but we needed to have our lunch, which we did at the Magu Shopping Mall just across the street. The food was clean and the atmosphere great, though it was a bit pricier than the normal places we had frequented. We managed to get a couple of pairs of shoes for dad and then back to the hotel we went. We were advised against leaving to Kumudu’s area, as there would be heavy traffic, so we walked around ‘our’ area a bit more and then took a taxi to Kumudu’s place. Being in the traffic was so frustrating, especially since the taxi meter keeps ticking away regardless of whether you are moving or not. We ended up paying one and a half times the price Kumudu had mentioned.

Casa Vista was a beautiful set of condo’s and Kumudu had made her home beautiful and cozy with samples of her art framed tastefully. After a warm welcome and a look at KL lit up below us, we had dinner and went off to sleep. She had made chapattis for us as a change from the usual Malaysian meals. Kumudu always was a good cook! There was chocolate mousse for dessert too.