Today we planned to go walking around town, so because it gets really hot, we tried to get out early. But hotel breakfasts are just great. There is so much choice but noticeably, no pork products. We suspect the influence of the Muslim society here. The closest thing they had was chicken sausages, which tasted pretty good. Or if that didn’t tickle your pickle, how about dahl curry… for breakfast?
Conveniently, two items were pretty close together. A Butterfly Park and The National Mosque of Malaysia.
The mosque has a distant relationship to my family. My uncles, wife’s, father lived here and built the tower of the mosque. It was interesting to visit something so distant, that was built so long ago, that it’s still standing and in use today.
After a few photos and admiring the architecture, we needed to get out of the sun. Like in the UK there are electric hire scooters dotted around so we gave that a go. Just as we didnt want to walk up the hill, the scooter gave up in this heat too. Oh well, its only a short walk. But it was already a hot walk and by the time we arrived we were dripping in sweat.
The butterfly garden was amazing. I was expecting a few butterflies off in the distance, maybe 1 or 2 to swoop past but there were so many it was incredible! All sizes from tiny to larger than my hand flitted about, from flower to flower. The garden is enclosed by a huge net suspended about 10m overhead on metal poles and cables. It leaves a huge open area thats got pathways criss-crossing it in all directions between dense foliage and flowers. We just wandered for about 2 hours, occasionally coming across a pond, or a fountain or bridge or waterfall or seating place. There were also little platforms with flowers and fruit on them that had been sprayed with sugar water to provide additional food for the butterflies. These were very popular and meant you could get really close, so close that you could see their noses probing all over the fruit looking for the good stuff. It was fascinating and very pretty.
And then when we were ready to leave, we went back into the main building and found a huge display of insects in cases. A few were alive like huge stag beetles and leaf shaped stick insects in tanks but most were dead mounted in picture frames. They were arranged by related species so you could literally see the evolution taking place. It was somewhat morbid, but incredibly beautiful and interesting.
From there we needed to go somewhere to cool off and where better than a MEGAMALL. We had a noodly soupy lunch and then wandered around. Translating the prices, its all pretty much the same as at home. Which is a little confusing seeing as all this consumer junk is literally made down the road in a factory. You’d think they would be at least a little cheaper?!
One thing I’ve not seen in the UK are massage chairs, well, none like this. It was basically a huge egg shaped chair that hugged your entire body, even your arms and feet (but I was too long to fit my legs in) I sat in it and had a demonstration. You get in and the chair sort of inflates and squashes your body tightly. Then the uncompromising, relentless motors kick in and painfully probe your back, rolling in and out, up and down. It was not relaxing at all. The salesman claimed his 80 year old mother had one and used it everyday. The only way this is true is if she was taxidermy, because no living human could put up with that pain. Oh and also he gave me nobbly light up and vibrating goggles… these just made me look like a tit with vibrating eyebrows.
Grabbing a starbucks (something familiar after so much unknown food) and a Grab taxi back to the hotel, I went and chilled by the pool while Aimi had a siesta. It’s the day before we fly out of Kuala Lumpur and as yet, we’ve been unable to check into our flights and it’s getting a little worrying. After negotiating a chatbot gauntlet to speak to a real person, they said wait till 24hrs before the flight, so that’s later tonight.
That evening we went back to the night food market and tried somewhere different that looked cleaner and better. They certainly have a better system, but then they failed to deliver our order of rice, so maybe not. What they did deliver was sesame chicken, garlic prawns and ginger and spring onion frogs legs (and torso and pelvis and probably other bits too) … when in Rome and all that! The fold was very good, and even the frogs bits. But it was a bit small and fiddly to eat. Tasted exactly like chicken, so drop the disgust and have it next time you’re offered.
Having not had the rice, we were still a little hungry so I got some questionable takayaki. It was very tastey too, some with very easily discernible tentacles in them. Aimi recons I’ll only be safe after 24hrs, which is before our flight (If we ever get checked in, still no luck, even after more chatbot drama) So stayed tuned for a gut update. Hopefully not at all, but if my colon is compelled, hopefully I’m lucky enough to drain my pipes before the flight, for all our sakes.