You might have noticed a slight lack of posts on the blog recently. Well, I have my excuses, but I’ve been in Malaysia for the past two weeks… eating, drinking, sunbathing and swimming – it’s been bliss. It was a lovely, lovely holiday – relaxing and reinvigorating in equal measure. We travelled around quite a bit, staying at a new place every two or three days, so really got to see a lot of the country, from hot and humid Kuala Lumpur, with its bewildering road system and dizzying high rises, through the instagrammable old colonial buildings of Georgetown in Penang, to the idyllic shores of the Perhentian islands.
We loved the country’s diversity, with its smashing together of cultures – one minute you felt like you were on the dusty streets of Delhi, the next moment, it could be the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong. Haphazard street hawker stalls stand cheek by jowl with a heady mix of air-conditioned malls, historic temples, mosques and churches, and patches of jungle. Vibrance and colour is everywhere – in the garlands of flowers that hang on stalls outside temples, in the eclectic cuisine, which covers Malay, Chinese and southern Indian dishes, in the architecture of the towns and villages, and under the seas in spectacular coral reefs.
This is the first instalment of some of my snaps from the trip, taken from the first two days in Kuala Lumpur. To be honest, we found the city a bit overwhelming – highways and flyovers slice up the city, making it impossible to walk from one site to another. But, our favourite part was wandering around Chinatown, soaking up the atmosphere, coming across bright red, temples festooned in decorations, and pungent wet markets.
On the same street you have the oldest Hindu shrine in Malaysia, topped with a colourful array of statues, and infused with the sweet smell of jasmine flowers, alongside a Taoist temple that wafted out incense.
Just north of the city centre are the Batu Caves, a steep flight of 272 steps carved into the limestone that leads to a Hindu shrine and a vast open cave. It is marked by an enormous golden statue of Muruga, also know as Lord Subramaniam, as well as a troop of cheeky monkeys, ready and waiting to pinch any morsel of food or drink. When we visited there was a festival going on – the busy scenes of colourful saris, flowers in the hair, and the rich smell of curry, were as spellbinding, if not more than, the cave and the views from the top of the steps.
And that’s just the start, come back in the next few days for pictures of street art and crumbling buildings in Penang, and white sandy beaches and clear waters in Langkawi…
All images my own
