Batu Caves and Chow Kit wet market

Today we set off for Batu Caves. Or rather Google Maps decided to play a practical joke when we checked saying there is a train in 15 minutes and then none for 3 hours. It did not feel right but we ran to the nearby Sentral station and boarded the Kommuter train with 1 minute to spare. Of course then Google decided that there were trains every half an hour as it made more sense... Hmmm

Batu Caves proved to be a commercial exercise. A lesser cave had a small entrance fee and the main one had no fee but selling all kind of things including devotions.

The plasticky exhibitions depicting stories and the mediocre first cave was only made better by the intersecting monkeys. The main affair that includes a couple hundred steps entry is again made better by the monkeys since the temple inside is a shadow of the ones at the city.

On the way back we caught a bus that ran through some of the poorer neighbourhoods. Malaysia and Kuala Lumpur in particular has its two sides that you might miss if you keep moving with the superefficient trains or glitsy monorail.

Chow Kit Market was though much more interesting with abundance of fresh meat and fish. The fish is brought alive and decapitated on the spot.

And as you can see preparing some dry fish at the other end of the market takes some effort

We had a great Murtabak to go as we entered the market. This snack uses roti canai dough that is stretched thin, filled with minced meat, eggs and onions, and then shallow fried or pressed on a grill.

I know we are on one of the street food capitals of the world but these goodies were too good to resist. As a result some fresh prawns, chicken and fruits were bought and they will be consumed tomorrow night.

Because tonight is Wednesday and Wednesday means Taman Connaught Night Market. But more on that later..

For now we took the great, fully air-conditioned, elevated and slow Monorail. It gives a different view of the centre, the skyscrapers, the malls and the plazas. The sanitised Kuala Lumpur.

Inside it you can get a glimpse of the ethnic diversity of Malaysia which is probably it's strength.