Our last full day in Malaysia is Saturday, November 26. After the long and exhausting day we had yesterday we all decided to sleep in. But then we kind of had to rush around for the rest of the day to fit in everything. I don’t think we got back 
to the apartment from our adventure at Inside Scoop until around 10:30pm. We all needed to pull the covers up over our eyes when the sun came up. This photo is sadly the only one I took of our 3-bedroom apartment at the Nomad Bangsar Serviced Residences. It was a good value for the rate and in a safe area.
When we were all up and dressed we decided to try roti canai again at a place called Mahbub that Amos had recommended. Mahbub is in a locals area called Lucky Garden and it’s across the street from Bangsar Village. We ordered a lot of roti with cheese, banana, egg and onion. We tried to order dosa with potato again but our server said not till after 5pm. I tried to ask if meat was an option inside roti, but our server said not till after 5pm. Not sure if he understood me or not. It was hard to get our point across here. John wanted to order mango lassi for everyone but when they came Kaiyo said, hey this tastes like yogurt – which he’s not drinking. And we all know Kaiyo doesn’t like mango either so maybe it was a ploy by John to get an extra one for himself. Our total bill was $13 USD. It was our first truly cheap local breakfast that we navigated all on our own.
Then it was off to the Batu Caves. We got an Uber ride from Mahbub to this historical site just north of downtown Kuala Lumpur. Batu Caves is a very tall limestone hill that houses one of the most popular Hindu shrines outside of India.
The eye-catching attraction here is the large gold statue of Lord Murugan at the entrance. Batu Caves is dedicated to this imposing figure in gold. It was kind of a bummer for us that there was scaffolding all around Lord M when we visited. According to Wikipedia, this 140 foot high statue was only just unveiled January 2006, having taken 3 years to construct. It is the tallest Lord Murugan statue in the world. Are there a lot more Lord Murugan statues in the world? I’ve never heard of him!
In order to enter the main cave entrance you have to climb 272 steep, steep, steeeeep steps.
After yesterday’s workout I don’t know if my legs were warmed up or pooped out. The concrete steps went straight up. All along the way were people standing on the steps catching their breath and resting their legs. Avalon was in a big fat hurry to be the first one up. I was nervous because I couldn’t see her in the crowd of people as she ran away from us.
I liked the Batu Caves and its sparse interior. As it is a Hindu place of worship I wasn’t sure what it would look like inside. The main cave is called the Temple Cave. This is where the main temple is found. There are colorful, religious scenes here and there in the cave and the worship areas are quite small. There are several temples here in the caves, but we only went inside the Temple Cave.
The regular residents of these Batu Caves are monkeys that can sometimes get aggressive! They run around stealing food from tourists and fighting over food with each other and one even bit me on the ankle! We saw a little girl sobbing and pointing at a monkey that had stolen her snack and was trying to get it open.
While Halyard was wearing our backpack on his back, a monkey literally climbed up his leg and very deftly stole John’s Starbucks cup from the outside pocket! He ran down Halyard’s leg before any of us could react. Then he took the lid off and proceeded to drink the last drops of cafe latte! Another monkey ran off with the lid and started licking it greedily.
Well after we caffeinated the monkeys it was definitely time to leave. But John had made some friends on his way up the 272 steps and he wanted to introduce us to them. So when he saw them he brought them over.
They were a friendly group of Balinese young people. They immediately wanted to take various photos with us. We had seen them call over a lady and she took individual photos with each one of them. Luckily they didn’t ask us for that. It looked like they were wearing some kind of scouting uniform. We told them we’re headed to Bali in December and maybe we’d see them again.
Back down the 272 steps. We were almost to the bottom when we started noticing some people – of all ages – carrying big, heavy buckets full of sand UP the steps. I wondered if it was some kind of extreme fitness program. 
But at the very bottom there was a huge pile of sand and buckets all around. A man was calling to visitors, asking people who were headed up if they’d carry a bucket of sand along with them. John realized that’s how they get the sand up for their construction project. Volunteer labor!
A taxi took us from Batu Caves to the Royal Selangor Visitor Center. I had read about this famous pewter factory and how it was possible to learn to make a pewter keepsake as a souvenir. Unfortunately we had to rush through because I had already paid for tickets to go up into the Petronas Towers at exactly 4pm.
We got a quick tour and explanation of Malaysia’s pewter history. It was so very interesting. I really lamented having to rush through the tour. Our poor guide was flustered when we told her we only had 20 minutes. Our guide took us to the factory and we got to see a demonstration of each step in making a pewter object. We were not expecting this tour to be so wonderful. It was really amazing. I highly recommend a trip here. The kids were fascinated too. I thought it would be fun to make a pewter object so we registered the kids to do that. There was a 15 minute wait to begin so we literally ate a 15 minute lunch in the cafe there.
We had to sign waivers and a parent had to be with Avalon during the activity because she was underage. The pewter is scalding hot and it’s important not to put your fingers in the silver colored liquid! A man gave the kids a demonstration for using a pewter mold and they all tried it. It was so easy to do. Then he showed them how to make a design freehand. You are given one hour to make whatever you want but you can only take one thing home.
The kids had a great time making pewter shapes. The hot pewter goes from liquid to solid in seconds. They work on a cold steel table so it solidifies instantly. So it’s really important to work fast on whatever your idea is. Kaiyo spent at least 35 minutes trying to make a pewter Pokeball. Halyard was trying to make something, I don’t know what, and Avalon was trying to figure out how she could make several items and stick them all together so as to pass it off as one. In the end, whatever their vision was did not happen and they all took home their original pewter items from the mold.
We had to pull them away a few minutes early from the pewtersmithing because our Uber driver had arrived to take us to the Petronas Towers. We rushed in and got checked in just in time! The website says if you’re late you might have to forfeit your appointment time. Going up into Petronas Towers is expensive, especially by KL standards.
As with most tours these days the whole thing ends in the gift shop. For more shopping opportunities the bottom of Petronas Towers is a big mall. Oh and I’m finally clear that Petronas and Petronus are different. I thought for sure J.K. Rowling had named Harry Potter’s Petronus Curse on the Petronas Towers. But no. I was wrong.
After our Cave exploration, pewtersmithing, and tower climbing it was time for dinner. Our last night, last dinner in KL. The choices: finally having the “eat with your hands, dinner on a banana leaf meal” that I had read about OR going to the KL Hard Rock Cafe. If you’ve known me for a long time you know where we went.
I put the choices up for a vote. I went to each child individually and got their vote. John said I could make the final decision. It was unanimous. We went to the Hard Rock Cafe. I know the HRC menu and I knew we wouldn’t be getting any local cuisine there. But I’ve been to around 27 HRC restaurants around the world and I couldn’t resist the opportunity to go in KL. We ate burgers and fish and chips and nachos and a big brownie with ice cream on our last night in Malaysia.
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