Batu and Tattoos…

Hey all you young lovers. How are things?

So, to continue with Kuala Lumpur… On our first evening, when we were sitting on the balcony at The Grocers Inn, a German couple named David and Jule appeared, who were jetlagged, but excited to get their teeth into the city.

Our first meeting with them was pretty brief, as they had arranged to head out and meet friends of theirs, but we bumped into them again at the Guest House the next day, and we collectively decided to visit the Batu Caves, the following morning.

We’d all had a few ales, and I thought David’s suggestion we meet up at 10.30AM the next day sounded a bit optimistic, but none the less Emma and I dragged ourselves out of bed at 10.00AM, and Emma went and banged on their door.

Emma returned shortly afterwards, and explained that by all accounts, David was still waking from a coma, and that we could give them another shout around midday, which we duly did, having gone to the bank to locate an ATM, to make a withdrawal beforehand.

Thereafter, they both emerged, and we grabbed a coffee, prior to us all going to the train station. It transpired that both David and Jule were post graduate teachers, who, if memory serves, were obliged to gain some teaching placement experience, prior to commencing employment.

Once at the train station, and to the amusement of a variety of military personnel, who were awaiting a train on the opposite platform, David and Jule commenced a competitive game of hand-standing, and explained it was a frequent part of their travelling together… 😀

Once aboard the train, the four of us noticed a few cultural differences – for example, there was a carriage for females only, and a number of signs which depicted ‘Dont’s’ for passengers, whilst travelling aboard;-

Next thing we knew, we hopped off the train, and found ourselves at the Caves. Batu Caves are a couple of miles out of the city, and interestingly, have become a mecca site for Hindu’s, who have added statues of their deities both in and outside of the caves themselves.

The ascent to the caves is via a steep set of steps, flanked by a gigantic golden standing statue, which looks back toward KL. Once inside, we discovered the aesthetic beauty of the place, and we were then offered a free vegetarian meal by our hosts. The timing of our arrival couldn’t have been better!!

Instructions for the caves, a little random, we thought!!

The walk up!

David, Jule and Trent happy with their free food, thanks all at Batu Caves

Yummy!

People were able to receive a blessing

Once back outside in the afternoon sun, we were to encounter a troop of monkeys, who were Hell bent on stealing foodstuffs from tourists!! At one point, we couldn’t believe our eyes as a monkey leapt out of a tree and attempted to steal a plastic bag from an unsuspecting man, who had totally missed their arrival! Suffice to say the tourist in question had to shout the monkey off, and a tug of war ensued, until the monkey thief abandoned his ‘snatch and run’ attempt – LoL!

Here are a few shots of our monkey cousins. They might appear cute, but to be honest, they can be a damn pest! We’ll return to the antics of our monkey cousins in a later blog too…

Thereafter, David and Jule headed off to the Perenthian Islands, and Emma and I elected to check out the Orchid Gardens back in the city;-

Is this a flagpole, a tree or a telecommunication network device? Answers on a postcard, please!

It was a Friday, so we had to delay gaining access to the National Mosque, due to afternoon prayers, but upon our return, we were permitted to go inside. I was obliged to cover up my tattoos to go in, but the Mosque was quite spectacular visually, and contained a number of pools and fountains, in addition to the decoration of the main prayer hall:-

I was told by a woman working there, that I looked beautiful after I put this on!

Trent Skywalker, Yoda in backpack, just out of shot!

I get mixed reactions to my tattoos over here. The truth is that it’s simply too hot to cover my arms, as I did when employed in Blighty, as it’s too hot to wear much other than a T-Shirt, most of the time.

Some of the local orthodox Muslim women stare at my tattoos whilst looking aghast, where as two of the local Malaysian women have told me that they actually look very beautiful (!)

One of the night porters at The Grocers Inn told me that the Police in Malaysia were rounding up men with tattoos and arresting them, so local tattooed people were travelling to Thailand, to have them removed by laser treatment.

That said, I think he was a bit of a wind up merchant. One evening when he was getting a bit gabby with me, I’m sure he was just attempting to impress a lady friend of his, who was in attendance.

He wore a lot of silver jewellery (like me) himself, but when I pointed that out, he replied “Yes, but I don’t have tattoo’s, because I’m not a bad boy like you!!”

What a joker. Ho Hum… 😉

Trent X/*