Monthful Bliss - Part 4 (Malaysia truly asia - Selamat Datang! Hari Krismas!)

One weird thing about travelling by train from Singapore to Malaysia is the midnight stop at the border where young or old, you need to get down and walk a mile to the emigration clearance and back. With paati along, and me wisely choosing the last compartment, had to walk an aweful lot. Her legs were already worn out in Singapore, as she had to walk quite a bit inside the tourist attractions. We travelled by Teksi from KL Sentral (train station) to our hotel in Jalan Raja Laut, trying to ignore the Malay discussion the teksi driver seriously had with us. But my parents were quite interested in the teksi driver's views, so I had to translate for them (What?????). I just let out whatever I knew about KL. My amma and paati's fears about escalators only grew as time passed, but it was mitigated as Singapore has lifts in most places. However, in KL, finding a lift in a shopping mall can be equivalent to finding an oasis in a desert.

If the KL's shopping complexes lack of lifts were a concern, the biggest problem of the whole journey occured inside them. With watches and clothes in abundance, the tiresome threesome were hunting for clothes for kids (paati's set of grandchildren). Having 8 kids and 13 grandchildren doesnt help. Everytime they calculated * 8 or *13 and my heart stopped! Luckily none of the selections materialised. Kota Raya was one of the hilarious ones. My paati found a piece of dress suitable in size for one of the kids, and I had a tough time explaining to her that it was meant for ladies. On the other end of the shop, appa selected one malay long shirt and said he was looking for himself. This repeated in numerous shops until I was vexed. Then when I took a break from gasping, my father was in heated mood. When I enquired, he was holding a piece of short sleeve T and asking the sales girl for the same for a 6 year old. Her eyes almost popped out. Sometimes, I forcefully had to drag them along to the exit. The sight of Petronas cooled them off a bit. I had to wait a crazy 2 hrs to get the tickets, but was colorful and with gorgeous people from around the world standing there, I had shall we say a pleasant wait. Not to mention I had packed off the rest of the adverture gang back home for some breakfast. With the touring party pretty fussy about their food choices, we spent the whole two days eating only in the three places I could find serving veges there... Saravana Bhavan and Annalakshmi.

I also took them to Batu Caves. I was surprised when I heard that there is a temple there. On reaching there and seeing a small set of about 300 steps, I thought it shud be a cake walk. It was exactly that (it slips, especially as it was a rainy season and it doesnt rain, it pours). The stairs were steep but it was quite enjoyable none the less. I admired the caves with an opening on top more than the religious feeling. Also, I saw the board "patthu malai murugan". Then I realised Patthu malai became Batu Caves in Bahaya Malayu. Long Live! Saw a glimpse of a 140 foot Murugan statue as well.

Tired but thoroughly enjoyable, the 9 days went off at a rapid pace. I wore a thick smile on my face, when I bid them good bye, as a 6 year wish finally had come true without any untoward happenings. Now finally, I can rest and get back to my hectic nomadic life yet again. Juz a little bit happier.

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