Another hot day in Malaysia, but I am fairing up very well I think. The locals hate the heat more than me it seems haha. Air Conditioning is everywhere in the shops and cars and it takes about .0001 seconds to break inot a sweat as soon as you step outside them. Cold showers are the order of the day for me, and are actually quite nice. Poor Julie seems to think that I want to have hot showers and I have had 1 since I have been here, but I can happily handle a cold shower in this heat, I actually thought about having 1 before going to bed last night, but decided I would just fall asleep in the shower if I did, I was rather tired... and this entry should describe why.
Yesterday started very late... I think I said I didn't get to bed the previous night until 4am - which was like am for me! And so I woke up around 11am or 12pm here - can't remember which but it was late and I was dying. A cold shower later and I was feeling 99% better, but still a bit sleepy and a headache was still there. Julie and Edward (Julie's fiance) came over a short time later and I was packed into the (air conditioned) car and off we went. Initially I thought we were going up to the mountains where the casino/s were but unbeknownst to me ( hey I didn't know where Edward was driving us) he took a turn off and we went up to the Batu Caves. I don't know the history behind the caves - there wasn't much information posted there. Julie said they were there for the Hindu's to pray and to walk there at special times of the year... I'll have to goole it a bit more when I get some spare time. Anyhow, we had to walk up (initially) 276 steps to get up into the caves. hehe We almost had to drag Julie up them, poor girl, she's not used to walking so much. There were a few wild monkeys pretending to be docile and innocent until people got close enough and then they would strike and scream at you like the ninja's they were. Ofcourse, only white people got close to them, trying to be cool and stuff haha the locals looked on as if they were stupid - which they probably were. The caves were pretty amazing, but it could really do with a bit of a clean up, loads of rubbish decaying everywhere... in complete contrast to the next place we visited.
A few kilometres down the road and up several more kilometres of hills we came across the Japanese Tea Rooms. This turned out to be a nice serenic walk amongst the only Japanese gardens in "The Tropical Forest" which I think means Malaysia. We wandered around there marveling at the incredible sights, I couldn't find any information on who built it or how it came about and I had a bit of trouble asking as English wasn't a prime language there haha. Julie thought that was quite funny :-) We walked around the gradens and around Koi ponds and conservatory's and green houses. We also saw Strawberries growing, which we found out (Julie told me) that this was the only place in Malaysia where they grow because it's cold enough for them (we where up a mountain basically).
After that we moved onto down the road and we found a big castle... like huge! Nestled in the hills, upon further investigation we found that it was a present from France to the people of Malaysia. It was like a little town really, very well kept and very nice. It had a moat and a clock pronouncing the current time in France - very quaint hehe. There were multiple little shops all very "French-like" on the outside but defintely Malayain as soon you step inside... except for the English styled pub I found there haha. Wanted to get a beer but we were running short on time so we moved on - not before taking a few photos and getting the room rates for the place (you could stay they in the rooms above all the shops) which went for about $200 to about $10,000 a night. I told them I would be back next week haha.
After that it was getting a bit late so we had to push on to the Casino. Edward suggested we catch the gondola up to the casino which turned out to be a brilliant idea. The gonola wnet for 3.5 kms and it was dark enough for the lights to be turning on just as we started on the gondola. It also meant as the gondola went over the tropical rainforest, you could hear the rainforest come to life as a lot of animals were settling down for the night, but also a lot more were probably just coming to life. Also - near the top of the gondola it became VERY misty and we couldn't see were we were going - and the HUGE building that housed the casino came out of nowwhere, it was liek something out of a movie - I hope I shall never forget it. All 3 of us were in awe.
We decided to get some dinner first, I was pretty hungry after not really eating much all day so I decided to turn on the Matt Eating Machine and devoured 4 plates of mains and a desert plate as well from the buffett we had at the casino grounds. We couldn't get into the casino because of the no-collar no-entrance policy but we were able to buy shirts there. As luck would have it, they all had just one pattern, but loads of different colours. I got one for 30 ringet (about 13 NZ dollars) and damn it actually looked good on me - haha I am so taking this around the world. We wandered around the casino for an hour or so marvelling at the world-wide craziness that is casinos. No one smiling or laughing, everyone just looking like they were at work or something... bloody nutters. Ofcourse out of the thousands of people there, I was the only white person and pretty much I was the only one nearing the 6 foot tall mark and I was wearing the shirt of shame (which I thought looked pretty cool) so ofcourse I was the main attraction as I wandered aimlessly through the casino. Oh yes note to you all - non smoking laws haven't kicked in here yet... blech! After a good hour or so of checking the place out, we decided it was time to go home, so we found an empty roulette table and promptly lost $100 ringet on the table... we won a 1-1 payout bets and we able to hang on the money for a little bit and had a good laugh with Julie, Edward and the dealer - and ofcourse I attracted a crowd who I think wanted to see if the white guy knew any special secret ninja roulette moves... which because pretty obvious I didn't haha.
So after feeling poorer we snuck out and caught the gondola back down which this time was in complete darkness and oh my god, talk about hearing a deafening chatter coming from the forest below. That was really amazing, not something I think I'll get to do again anytime soon. We got home a little later around midnight (again 4am for NZ'er) but I think my body clock is slowing adjusting as I was able to get up ok today without too much problem. Today is my last day here in Malaysia and I think we are just going to take it easy and wander around Seremban. My flight to Europe (Amsterdam and then onto London) leaves at 11pm tonight, so I think I will be sleeping for a good portion of that flight - another 12 hours coming up!
Cyas all a bit later
Matt
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