Just like sailing, road tripping is about the journey as much as the destination.
We've travelled between Malaysia and Thailand by various modes of transport. We have flown by plane, sailed our yacht, bussed on public and private buses, and now we've added driving to that list.
The nice thing about driving is that you can sightsee as you go, stop when you want, eat when you fancy, have toilet breaks as often as you like (that's often for me), take as long as you like and really enjoy the journey.
We travelled from Phuket, through the spectacular limestone mountains of Krabi then headed south towards Songkla on the border to Malaysia. The landscape was an everchanging vista of mountains, forests of rubber trees, palm tree plantations then rice paddies. All of it lush, green and abundant.
The border town of Songkla was a bustling little place with many street market stalls set up offering thai and malaysian delights to feast on. The trucks lined the main road all evening waiting to cross the border and continue their journey through Malaysia.
We passed through the border checkpoint with no dramas at all and found ourselves back on familiar ground with signposts in english as well as bahasa. Woohoo! It's definitely alot easier than Thailand for western roadtrippers.
A quick overnight stop at Georgetown gave us enough time to check out the old street art trail. Sadly, it hasn't been maintained and appears to not really be a tourist attraction anymore. Not much inspired us in Georgetown except for the fact it's a jumping point to Penang. Mother nature did provide us with a beautiful sunset though.
Street art of Georgetown
One place we hadn't visited before was the well known tourist attraction of the Batu Caves. Elaborate Hindu temples are built both outside and inside these spectacular natural cathedral-like limestone caves. In typical Hindu fashion, the temples and even the stairs are brightly coloured and absolutely gorgeous.
The giant statue at the entrance of the caves is a sight to behold in itself. The Murugan Statue stands over 42 metres tall and is the tallest statue in Malaysia. Painted gold and seeming to be luminous, it's visible from many kilometres away.
The main cave is out-of-this-world impressive. I've seen some amazing caves in Thailand and Vietnam but this was the biggest ones yet. With openings to the sky and stalagmites and stalactites in abundance, the cavern seems to just keep on going. There are smaller temples inside with beautiful chanting, singing and blessing ceremonies happening all around.
main cavern
There are 727 steps to the main cave and temples. I know this because I climbed them. And what goes up must come down. All 727 of them. All small steps. Like size 5 shoe small. It might be a bit of a slog to get to the top but coming down felt alot more treacherous. Between the tiny steps that were built for smaller feet than mine, the steepness of the stairs and the wet concrete from the dripping limestone, it's slow and careful going. And beware of the monkeys. They are a bit too free and easy with humans and love to steal any food or drinks you may be carrying, and can be a little aggressive if you don't part with your goodies. One lady had a bit of a tug-of-war with a monkey that really wanted her fruit. She ran away with the monkey giving chase. Quite comical. Oh, and no monkeys or humans were hurt, just so you know 😉.
After such a magnificent attraction I wasn't sure if Kuala Lumpur would be able to top it. I'm not a city girl and I have been here before but never by car. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I loved the mix of modern architectural masterpieces of skyscrapers and the colonial buildings standing side by side. I loved the many parks, the tree lined avenues and the manicured gardens the are in abundance. The skyline is not ugly, as I had expected it to be. Even the many freeways that loop like spaghetti strands are softened by the greenery that seems to be everywhere.
We chose the Bukit Bintang area to stay in and wandered the streets admiring the old and the new that is the capital of Malaysia. From 5 star dining to local food carts, everything you could possibly want to eat is available. A night in KL is not complete without a walk and a meal in Eating Street. All traffic stops at around 5pm and the whole street comes alive with music, lanterns, aromas of so many different foods, chatter of excited diners and the general hustle and bustle of masses of people enjoying their evening.
Eating Street
After dinner we took a stroll through the street art back alleys as we made our way to the bars and clubs just a couple of blocks from Eating Street. With a few games of pool and a cocktail or two under our belts, we called it a night with the promise to ourselves to revisit the graffiti alleys in the light of day for a better look at the impressive street art. Which, by the way, didn't disappoint.
Street art in Bukit Bintang
Until next time, Watusi Woman, big city convert, out.
Batu caves is 10 minutes from my house 🙄 why am I not invited
Well if I had have known that....
⋆ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘʟᴀᴄᴇ ғᴏʀ sᴏᴜᴛʜᴇᴀsᴛ ᴀsɪᴀɴ ᴄᴏɴᴛᴇɴᴛ ᴏɴ ʜɪᴠᴇ
⋆ sᴜʙsᴄʀɪʙᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀsᴇᴀɴ ʜɪᴠᴇ ᴄᴏᴍᴍᴜɴɪᴛʏ
⋆ ғᴏʟʟᴏᴡ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀsᴇᴀɴ ʜɪᴠᴇ ᴄᴏᴍᴍᴜɴɪᴛʏ ᴠᴏᴛɪɴɢ ᴛʀᴀɪʟ
⋆ ᴅᴇʟᴇɢᴀᴛɪᴏɴ ʟɪɴᴋs 25 ʜᴘ⇾50 ʜᴘ⇾100 ʜᴘ⇾500 ʜᴘ⇾1,000 ʜᴘ
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