Today started with a very early get up to go the the hospital. We had been on the phone with travel insurance last night and were told it was a good idea to get rabies shots for Anthony’s monkey bite. We headed to the hospital emergency room at 7 in the morning and we were the only ones there. Luckily we were out in time to get back to the hotel to start our 9’oclock elephant sanctuary tour.
Ambi picked us up at about 9 o’clock and we were off to our first stop which was the Batu Caves. The Batu Caves are Hindu Temples just outside of Kuala Lumpur. The temples are situated in huge caves which are home to pigeons, monkeys and bats. To get to the temples you need to climb a ridiculously big staircase that consists of 272 stairs. When we stood at the bottom of the staircase we were shocked with how steep the staircase was. It went nearly vertical all the way up into the caves. We got motivated and played some ‘Eye of the Tiger’ music in our heads and then headed up the stairs to the top.
On the way up we saw many of the monkeys playing and running around and stealing food from stupid tourists who seem to not read signs and walk around with food. The monkeys kept to themselves if you had no food. We made it to the top without dying and walked into the caves. The caves are huge and from the top you have a beautiful view out over Kuala Lumpur. The huge gold statue in front of the Batu caves is of Lord Muruga. The Statue appears to be nearly the same size of the stairs we climbed. We explored the caves and temples. We watched as a small child chased a monkey and waited for him to be attacked. In the end the child’s mum attacked him and gave him a whack for chasing the monkey.
We walked back down the stairs and met up with Ambi at the taxi. When we were all buckled in we headed to Deerland which is located next to the Elephant Sanctuary, Deerland cost 10RM and included the food you were given to feed a variety of animals. We went to feed the deers first. We fed them sweet potato from our hands. They are such gentle animals and take the food gently from your hand. We got to pat them and then go into the cage with them to take closer photos. While we were in there Steve got to feed a emu, these are not so gentle and it bit his hand. The rest of us were not stupid enough to feed an emu as we know they bite and are scary.
The next feeding stop was to some Quails. The Quails were so cute and they ate seed out of your hand, they ticked with their little beaks. I think I fed them too much though as they were nto hungry when it was Anthony’s go and he only got to feed one of them. After the cute quails we headed pass some birds. The keeper explained to us that ‘That one peacock, that one KFC’ Apparently they are not called roosters over here.
Our Taxi driver who had come into deerland with us and was having more fun then us I think then volunteered to hold a snake. We took some photos and he was very excited. We continued through the park and stopped at some Bunnies. With thoughts of Monty Python we headed in to look at the cute little bunnies. We fed them some carrots and then Anthony caught one for me to hold. I know Rabbits are not the most exotic animals but they are pretty cute. Unfortunately the Sun bear that use to live in Deerland had passed away so we didn’t get a chance to feed it. Nearly animaled out we headed to our next stop of the day the Elephant Santuary.
We arrived early at the elephant Sanctuary and so decided to have lunch in a outside hut near the elephant sanctuary. We all ordered Chicken rice and enjoyed our meal. When we were done the owner dropped some fruit on our table that was still connected to the tree branches. The fruit is called Rambutan as I have never tried it before I had some. It is a very nice fruit and is like a big grape.
While we were eating Ambi had disappeared to see about tickets for the elephant sanctuary. He returned to tell us that the tickets for riding and bathing with the elephants had sold out as they only sell 100 a day. He told us he would try to get some so we gave him our money and he headed back to try again. He returned with tickets and we found out he had bribed them to get tickets. This was fine with us as we got to do the things we had wanted to do.
The first part of the Elephant Sanctuary involved watching a video about the catching and relocating of wild Malaysian elephants. It told the story of a group of men who relocated a herd of elephants and the dangers that went with the job. Finally we then got to see the elephants. They baby elephants were available to feed peanuts too. They were very cute and very greedy little elephants. We watched for a while and then got to see a short elephant show where the elephants showed us tricks.
Funnily we bumped into Rosa again at the elephant sanctuary. Kuala Lumpur is a smaller place then you think. After the Elephant show we got to feed the big elephants, Paw Paw and Sugarcane. You could pass it to their trunk or put it in their mouth. An elephant’s mouth is so big when you are standing right next to it. Elephant riding time was next. We lined up and finally got to ride an elephant bareback. It is the weirdest feeling ever, first you felt like you would fall off from the rocking of the elepant, next the elephants ear kept hitting my leg which was weird. It was an awesome experience riding an elephant, something I strongly recommended.
Bath time was next. The baby elephants went into the river and we were given the opportunity to go in and play with them. Anthony decided to sit this one out so Sarma, Steve and I went into the river. The elephant’s splash people and people splash the elephants and the people getting a photo with the elephants, but Sarma got it in his head to splash Steve and I instead so in seconds we were drenched. We made our way to the front and got our picture with the elephants. We then got splashed by everyone else in the River. It was really fun though and luckily it was hot. Smilng we dragged Sarma out of the river, he was having to much fun splashing and went to change.
We headed to the taxi and made our way back to our apartment. It was a brilliant day. We decided to got to Low Yat Plaza to dosome shopping so we made our way there. We ended up shopping around and bought 2 tripods, 3 camerastraps, A USB drive and a video adapter. The guy who bought the video adapter from was bizarre. When asked if he had one he replied No, but I will get one and then marched off. He returned with one but we are unsure where he got it. Feeling is that he stole it. We returned home and settled in for the night.