Flashpacking 2020

Today I promise I'm not going to recount the usual problems with trains, tickets, directions and so on, since it's all a standard start to the day you know the drill by now! So, eventually (it's always eventually isn't it, I simply don't understand why it's so difficult to find anywhere in this city, and why people seem to delight in either pretending they don't know where a place is - of course they know, they live here - or send you off in completely the wrong direction) eventually I found the National Monument, and I was so pleased I did. It is situated in a delightful park (not easy to find and a fair way from the main part of the park) and resides peacefully in the centre of a symmetrically designed body of water. It is striking and impressive, and represents men who fought and died for their country of Malaysia. This brings me neatly into one of my pet hates while travelling: what is it about people that they are so self obsessed that the solemnit...

Today my goal was to revisit Batu Caves, just under an hour outside KL. these caves are considered a major tourist attraction as well as being the sight of a very important Hindu shrine. From my last visit what I remember most is the all encompassing blackness of the Dark Cave, the most extreme lack of light possible according to our guide. As someone who has always been afraid of the dark it is this aspect of Batu Caves that is most imprinted in my brain. Now the Dark Cave is closed for the foreseeable future, no reason given but I wasn't planning on going back in there anyway, once was more than enough! But I remember the massive cave shrine kindly, and I definitely recall that my companion and I were the only ones there the day we visited. Today the hoards were there en masse. The first shock comes in the walk from the train station to the entrance to the caves. There is an overwhelming stench of excrement and urine, and the hawkers and stalls and piles of rubbish do nothin...

Today was uncomfortably hot, 37 degrees all day, so it was a struggle to keep focused. I shan't bore you with my usual litany of unhelpful people, confusing trains, unreachable parks or terrifying traffic. I'm just going to treat you to some photos of magnificent Mogul style buildings erected during the time of the Britsh presence in Malaysia. Providing they load as they should (with me that's not guaranteed) they show on order: 1. Masjid Jamek - The National Mosque - British designed 2. The Mosque Gardens 3. The Old Court Building, now sadly in great need of repair 4. St Mary's Cathedral, built in Gothic style and home to an exceptional English pipe organ 5. The Royal Selangor Club, affectionately known as The Spotted Dog, once the focus of colonial life in KL, now the city's most prestigious private club 6. The centre of Dataran Merdeka (Independence Square) where cricket was played 7. The Flagpole, the tallest in the world, the British flag was...