Day 8 - Kuala Lumpur

One thing about the HFH is that for some reason the sleeps are top notch - after yesterday's adventures we were all in bed by eleven and not a mouse stirred before eight. Once the cock had crowed however we were up and at 'em, first stop the cafeteria for breakfast. i make breakfast for the kids usually and they stretch to a bowl of Fruit and Fibre and a couple of pieces of toast; however in Malaysia, Indian breakfast is the thing- a nice bowl of dahl mopped up with some roti and washed down with a glass of orange juice. For me, add some fried rice and a modicum of noodles whereas Maria will opt for the couple of fried eggs on toast - food; ain't it grand?

The breakfast table is also the site for the first 'heated debate' of the day - the topic usually being what are we going to do today (I said an itinerary was a good idea) and trying to get agreement from team Harris. Eventually we get there and today we headed off for Petaling Jaya to visit a record shop. When we got to the plaza - via the KL rail system which is good and really cheap - there was not just one but three music shops and also a number of makeshift stalls - a KL flea market. A hour of album flicking, haggling, second thoughts, more haggling and decision saw us walk away with an armful of albums and a light wallet to put a spring in my step. Next stop an A&W Drive Thru - perhaps the same restaurant Maz drank in when she was a girl - for a chilled tankard of the famous A&W Root Beer. Maz and the kids chose ice cold Milo (malted choclate drink) and i had the root beer - a big, cold tankard of slightly gassy Listerine substitute - not sure if i'll be back again in a hurry!

With armfuls of vinyl our onward plans were parked and we returned to The HFH to lay down our burden and go for a cooling splash in the pool. Once cooled we sallied forth once again to explore Batu Caves. To get there we had to take two trains - changing in the nasty new KL central - one stop down from the beautiful old KL Central Station - onto a very shiny new train which certainly looked if it was designed to travel faster than the top speed of 15 miles an hour it reached. Eventually we got to the Caves and we were all impressed by the scale of everything - the statues, the steps, the caves, the  natural grandeur - everything. George was inducted into the Hindu faith with a bindi and assorted forehead markings, the monkeys kept us on our toes and the steps made us ready for dinner. On the way out Lily espied a henna tattoo artist and had her hand decorated, watched by a gaggle of Kazakstan ladies - apparently transfixed by her top knot. 

Back on the train and up to Masjid, next to Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman and a stroll along the 1930's shop houses which thankfully haven't been knocked down to make room for another enormomall. This was a stroll to a goal; the Coliseum Restaurant which has stood in the same spot since it opened in 1921; the home of the sizzling steak. Well, it would be rude not to, so with fish and chips for George, veg noodles and spring rolls for Lily and a Nasi Lemak for Maz we settled down to a feast fit for a plantation owner or rubber trader. Tankards of ice cold lager, banana fritters and a crepe a la mode which threatened to explode our ten year old sent us off into the night making promises to return whenever opportunity arises. 

After a stroll through a real night market filled with people buying real things rather than tourists being plied with made in China tat (it's Ramadan so the markets get really busy after sun down) we found a cab driven by a nice Malay (don't start me on the other sort, i'd be here for hours) whose trusty Proton had gone around the world a couple of times by the look of it who bought us back to dear old HFH and the end of another day in Asia. 

Night All, Kent.