Visit to one of the Malaysia attractions, Batu Caves
Day 5 of our Malaysia vacation, we decided to visit another one of the Malaysia attractions, the Batu Caves. At the same time, we intended to visit one of our friends who had just given birth not too long ago and should still have some time to do some Malaysia shopping again. Not forgetting to try more local food of Malaysia.
Saw this tram in the grounds of our resort, Palace of the Golden Horses, just before we drove out to the Batu CavesWe left for the Batu Caves at 1100 hrs and with the help of our Garmin global positioning system, arrived at one of the attractions in Malaysia, the Batu Caves, at approximately 1200 hrs.
The 42.7 m high statue of Lord MuruganBatu Caves is a limestone hill and has a series of caves. Interestingly, you can also find cave temples here. Said to be around 400 million years old, the Batu Caves in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, is one of the most popular Hindu shrines outside India which is dedicated to Lord Murugan. It is also the focal point of Hindu festival of Thaipusam in Malaysia.
The car park fee cost RM2 (USD0.60) per car per entry. At the Batu Caves premises, you will find various vendors selling Indian tid bits.
Care to try some Indian tid bits?
There were lots of statues of colourful Hindu deities and if you are an avid photographer, you will love this place. There were also lots of pigeons flying all over, waiting for someone to feed them.
Pigeons waiting to be fedWe decided to be adventurous and climbed up the 272 steps to the top of the Batu Caves. It was a hard and tiring climb.
The 272 steps up Batu Caves
If you are fortunate, you will get to see the mischievous macaque monkeys.
TIPS FOR TRAVEL:-Do not disturb the monkeys as they can be quite fierce if provoked. Also do not leave your belongings unattended as the monkeys may grab them.
Spot the baby monkey?
Half way up, there is the Dark Cave, which is below Temple Cave, where you have to pay to get in for a guided tour. Otherwise, the trip up to the top of Batu Caves, one of the local attractions here in Malaysia, is free.
Dark Cave is a 2 km long cave.
However you are only allowed to go in for guided tours made through advance booking with the Malaysian Nature Society.
Almost at the top, you will see the Temple Cave where the main temple and a family of chickens reside. The added advantage of getting up here is you get the opportunity to snap more interesting photographs. The ceiling of this cave is more then 100m above ground and you are able to see daylight through holes in the ceiling.
Hey! We made it!
Pictures of Hindu deities once you hit the top of the 272 steps
Main Temple
This is the main landing where you can still go up another few flights of steps to the uppermost level of Batu Caves.
At the uppermost level of Batu CavesUp here, you can look up to the sky from the opening and it is pretty cooling.
View of the sky through the opening
Fancy a souvenir picture of Batu Caves with an iguana? Or even a python before going down?
View of the city from the top of Batu CavesWalking down is definitely not as tough as the climb up to the top. At the base of Batu Caves, you will find the following:-
More Hindu deities 
Cave Villa
Entrance fee required
Strings of flowers for offeringsAnother Hindu deity
Another view of the limestone with the beautiful blue sky in the backgroundLovely cloud images
More deities
Calm pond with waterfall
Koi & ducks 
Once at the bottom, we decided to have lunch at the Indian vegetarian Restoran Rajan.
We ordered the Paper Thosai (batter made from lentils and rice blended with water and left to ferment overnight), Roti Canai (an Indian flatbread) and Roti Canai Telur (Indian flatbread with egg). The curry accompaniments were good. You had some which were spicy and some which were not. At only RM8.50 for lunch including a can of Coca Cola, it was a good choice for lunch.
Vegetarian Indian food at Rajan RestaurantThe paper thosai
light & crispy, dipped in the various curries of your choice
Roti canai without eggRoti canai with egg
Paper roti canai
Thirsty? Fancy a coconut drink?Indian accessories
Peacock feathers, where peacocks had an important influence in the Hindu cultureWe had hoped to visit our friend after Batu Caves, but due to some last minute arrangement where she had to rush to the office to get some urgent work done, we made use of our Garmin global positioning system to see what other attractions were close by. We finally decided to make our way to Selayang Hot Spring.
The Selayang Hot Spring
It was quite small and a disappointment to us. However, the car park attendant informed us that the hot spring is well known amongst the locals for its therapeutic properties. Many who had skin problems such as eczema had been cured by the hot spring waters. Since we were already there, we decided to get down and experience a little of the hot spring and managed to dip our feet into the water.
The hottest hot spring there where you can even see the bubbles coming up from the bottom of the springWarm enough to have a nice dip
After the hot spring, we wanted to do some shopping in Tesco and headed for Tesco Damansara Mutiara. We parked the car at Tesco and walked to the next building, The Curve, another of Malaysia’s upmarket shopping centre. There was an Adidas warehouse sale and we managed to purchase some items at bargain prices there. We also managed to get some good IT buys at the IT Hypermarket.
The fountain outside eCurveChristmas decorations
Gift shop 
At The Curve, you would not go hungry. There are tons of Food & Beverage outlets there with a great variety of food ranging from fast food to not so fast food, from Italian to Japanese, from East to West. You will be spoilt for choice.
Some of the Food & Beverage outlets at the Curve Shopping Centre
Next was dinner at Tesco shopping centre. Instead of eating in the shopping centre, we had dinner at Kayu Nasi Kandar, a 24 hour non-air-conditioned Indian food outlet diagonally opposite Ikea. We had Maggi goreng (fried Maggi mee) and mee hoon goreng (fried mee hoon) costing RM3.80 (USD1.15) each. The calamansi drink cost RM1.80 (USD0.55) and the kopi tarik (coffee) cost RM1.50 (USD0.45).
Kayu Nasi Kandar
Mee hoon goreng, good and spicy as requested
Maggi goreng
Kopi tarik
Calamansi drink
a great thirst quencher
After dinner, we continued our shopping in Tesco, a great place to shop and find good bargains.
TIPS FOR TRAVEL:-
If you do your household shopping in Malaysia, you may find that most of the items are slightly cheaper than the other hypermarkets. Plus with the Tesco Club Card, you earn points for every purchase you make and these can be redeemed for cash rebate. It is free to apply for the Tesco Club Card.
Shopping in Tesco
When we had completed our Tesco shopping, we then visited our friends and managed to see their baby. As usual, all babies are cute and cuddly. :)
Kuan Yew, Shereen, Hillary & Andros, the latest addition
Kuan Yew brought us out for supper at 25 Jalan 20/38A Taman Sri Sinar, Segambut Kuala Lumpur. This shop is only open in the evenings till just after 2300 hrs. Can you believe that this shop has been here for ages and still has no name? It seems all their customers are regulars or have been recommended through word of mouth!
Green beans
The green beans @RM1.50 (USD0.45) is a steal. With lots of green beans, it is a real value for money. It you love green beans, then you must try this. We also ordered the curry laksa, a popular spicy noodle soup from Peranakan culture, @RM3.00 (USD0.90), prawn mee hoon soup @Rm3.00 (USD0.90) and the chicken curry wanton (dumpling) noodle @RM3.50 (USD1.05).
Curry laksa
not as spicy as it looks...
Prawn mee hoon soup
Chicken curry wanton noodles
Hubby loved the curry laksa as it tasted delicious, was fragrant, nice and lemak (with sufficient coconut), thick and not too spicy. I loved the prawn noodle as the soup was wonderfully thick for prawn noodle standard. We also tried the wanton noodle which was just alright. According to our friend, the curry laksa there is famous and the crowd puller for the shop.
It had been a long and tiring day for us during this Malaysia vacation. However we had done quite a lot as in visiting some of the Malaysia attractions such as the Batu Caves as well as the Selayang Hot Spring. We were also fortunate to be able to try the local food of Malaysia and managed to do some Tesco shopping with the help of our Garmin global positioning system.
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Next was dinner at Tesco shopping centre. Instead of eating in the shopping centre, we had dinner at Kayu Nasi Kandar, a 24 hour non-air-conditioned Indian food outlet diagonally opposite Ikea. We had Maggi goreng (fried Maggi mee) and mee hoon goreng (fried mee hoon) costing RM3.80 (USD1.15) each. The calamansi drink cost RM1.80 (USD0.55) and the kopi tarik (coffee) cost RM1.50 (USD0.45).
Kayu Nasi Kandar
Mee hoon goreng, good and spicy as requestedMaggi goreng
Kopi tarikCalamansi drink
a great thirst quencherAfter dinner, we continued our shopping in Tesco, a great place to shop and find good bargains.
TIPS FOR TRAVEL:-
If you do your household shopping in Malaysia, you may find that most of the items are slightly cheaper than the other hypermarkets. Plus with the Tesco Club Card, you earn points for every purchase you make and these can be redeemed for cash rebate. It is free to apply for the Tesco Club Card.
Shopping in Tesco
When we had completed our Tesco shopping, we then visited our friends and managed to see their baby. As usual, all babies are cute and cuddly. :)
Kuan Yew, Shereen, Hillary & Andros, the latest additionKuan Yew brought us out for supper at 25 Jalan 20/38A Taman Sri Sinar, Segambut Kuala Lumpur. This shop is only open in the evenings till just after 2300 hrs. Can you believe that this shop has been here for ages and still has no name? It seems all their customers are regulars or have been recommended through word of mouth!
Green beans
The green beans @RM1.50 (USD0.45) is a steal. With lots of green beans, it is a real value for money. It you love green beans, then you must try this. We also ordered the curry laksa, a popular spicy noodle soup from Peranakan culture, @RM3.00 (USD0.90), prawn mee hoon soup @Rm3.00 (USD0.90) and the chicken curry wanton (dumpling) noodle @RM3.50 (USD1.05).
Curry laksa
not as spicy as it looks...
Prawn mee hoon soupChicken curry wanton noodles
Hubby loved the curry laksa as it tasted delicious, was fragrant, nice and lemak (with sufficient coconut), thick and not too spicy. I loved the prawn noodle as the soup was wonderfully thick for prawn noodle standard. We also tried the wanton noodle which was just alright. According to our friend, the curry laksa there is famous and the crowd puller for the shop.
It had been a long and tiring day for us during this Malaysia vacation. However we had done quite a lot as in visiting some of the Malaysia attractions such as the Batu Caves as well as the Selayang Hot Spring. We were also fortunate to be able to try the local food of Malaysia and managed to do some Tesco shopping with the help of our Garmin global positioning system.
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