Batu Caves

Today we had our final exam for the class. Everybody was stressing out, but really it wasn't bad and thankfully I got an A. After we took it everybody was in a much better mood. We all felt like a burden was lifted from our shoulders. It was perfect timing because today we went to my favorite place of the whole trip, the Batu Caves. It is actually a Hindu temple inside of these caves which I thought was really cool because we actually saw people worshipping, it wasn't just a tourist attraction. Although, the amount of tourists there definitely outweighed the amount of Hindu worshippers. There was 272 steps from the bottom to the entrance of the cave. I really liked the architecture they had here. The statues were ginormous and so beautiful, but my favorite part of the caves were the monkey. Unlike the monkeys we've encountered previously, these monkeys thrived off of human interaction. They were much more friendly, but if you didn't have food to feed them they are known to attack. Luckily we had some trail mix and all I had to do was hold out my hand and they would kindly take it. It was so weird! They're little monkey hands were basically human hands, I thought it was hilarious how they were literally just smaller and hairier humans. They would even walk on two legs when they approached us. One of the younger ones was actually ballsy enough to jump on me in order to get the trail mix before any of the others. It was definitely an experience I will never forget.



We came back to the hotel by train and for dinner I cracked. I had to get myself KFC and it was so good. It was much needed because I was kind of getting tired of rice, noodles, or soup for every meal. Then some friends and I hit Chinatown for some good old fashioned bargaining. I got a lot of souvenirs for almost half the asking price all because of my friend Ronia Ali. This girl is fierce, she definitely knows how to work people and get the best price possible. After shopping our whole class met up to try durian. I genuinely enjoyed this durian! Our professor, Dr. Perumal, had the durian people set aside the best of the best just for us. They did not disappoint me, I am a believer in the durian now. Now I'm back at the hotel and I am ready to go to sleep. Kuala Lumpur has been really fun, I can't wait to see what Malacca has to offer.

Sal Puma