Memories of Malaysia - Day 3, cont I-city

I-City is known as the "City of Digital Lights" and is located in Shah Alam, which is a different city to KL (a bit like how Ipswich is to Brisbane). It wasn't easy to work out how to get to it as the website is not very detailed.

We were so blessed by our Air BnB host, Su Yi, who lives in Shah Alam, and offered to pick us up from a nearby train station and drive us to I-City. Su Yi works for a major electronics company, also located in Shah Alam.

From our apartment, we had to go back into KL Sentral and then catch a train, and a drive to the location. This meant we didn't get to I-City until the early evening which was OK because we were going mainly to see the night lights. We had a little rest and swim in the afternoon because we knew it was going to be a late night.

After grabbing something to eat at the park, we decided to head into Snowalk. Inside was a below 5 degrees celcius Artic environment with ice sculptures and rides – the biggest in Malaysia. Inside we found igloos, ice houses, slides, a mini-bobsled run, snowmen, ice penguins, a bar made of ice (no alcohol unfortunately), various ice sculptures and LED lights.

We had to rug up in hire jackets while it was boiling hot outside! Our hands were still cold though, gloves would have been great! There were a couple of small toboggan rides but our boys were a bit young for them and Kaiden was too scared.

Outside, there was an area of amusement rides. You needed to pay a small fee for a ride card and then charge it up with money. We didn't spend alot of time on rides and they were quite expensive for what they were.

There were a couple of other attractions in the park but we were running out of time and it was getting late.


 
We stepped over to the main light area and saw an amazing field of digital trees, animals and flowers. After looking around for a little while and realising it was now 9.30pm, we sent Su-Yi a text as agreed and as she had just finished her dinner with friends she offered to drive us back to the apartment. This was an amazing offer given the distance (about 30 mins drive) and we are so appreciative of her hospitality. She asked if we wanted to stop at a supermarket so we could buy groceries (which we declined though but so grateful for the offer).

As we were driving back, we went through a few tolls. Su Yi used a hand held device which she kept in the side panel of her door. She explained how they don't have the toll reader on their windscreen as when you are stopped at lights or parked, people smash the windscreen to steal the reader. Her next story was about how her Mum had her handbag stolen from her passenger side seat when she was waiting at lights. I held my bag extra tight and felt so grateful for the safety we enjoy in Australia!

Tips 
*Take your own food or eat before you go! There are a limited number of food outlets and are busy at peak times. There is a small supermarket to buy snacks, drinks and ice-creams.

*Try not to combine I-City with a major day outing (like we did with Batu Caves) as there is a little bit of walking around and i-City is a late night activity. All up it was a big day.

*Best way to get there? Not sure. If you don't have your own transport, I would hire a driver and have them wait. Getting there would be easy (train and then heaps of taxis at the train station) but getting home would be more difficult. I didn't see any taxis at the park. It would make it an expensive evening out. I'm not sure if it would be worth it then.

*Spend a bit longer that what we did  if you go (6pm to 9.30pm) but this is not an all day activity. It also definitely for families/children and please don't expect this to be like MovieWorld as it is very basic in comparison. The main highlight was the field of lights.

Memories of Malaysia Day 3 Batu Caves

Our third day was dedicated to going to the Batu Caves. Batu Caves is a limestone hill that has a series of caves and cave temples in the Gombak district, 13 kilometres (8 mi) north of Kuala Lumpur. The cave is one of the most popular Hindu shrines outside India, dedicated to Lord Murugan. 

The limestone forming Batu Caves is said to be around 400 million years old. Some of the cave entrances were used as shelters by the indigenous Temuan people (a tribe of Orang Asli).

Rising almost 100 m above the ground, the Batu Caves temple complex consists of three main caves and a few smaller ones. The biggest, referred to as Cathedral Cave or Temple Cave, has a very high ceiling and features ornate Hindu shrines. To reach it, visitors must climb a steep flight of 272 steps.

Thanks Wikipedia for the explanation!

Following recommendations online, we headed off early as it was getting very hot and humid during the day.  Our AirBnB host, Su-Yi, helped us with directions on how to get there using the train.

We took the monorail into the city and walk to KL Sentral (will be so good when they finish the undercover walkway linking the two stations as it was like walking through a building site). We then caught the train to Batu Caves. The train was cheap, modern and clean. There was even a carriage just for women! It took about 40 minutes through the suburbs to reach the Batu train station and cost about 8 rgt for our family. That is just below $3 AUS, if only our public transport was so cheap!

At the base of the caves, there was this huge monkey statue. You will see me wear this dress ALOT on these holidays, it was great wash and wear and so cool in the humid weather. 

We climbed all these stairs.

And saw this view from the top. 

The best part of the visit for the boys was the monkeys (and especially the monkey bottoms). There were heaps of monkeys watching tourists as they climbed the stairs. The monkeys were always looking around and picking up scraps of paper to check for food.I was a bit worried one was going to pounce on us or grab our bag but we had no food in sight so there was no attempt. One of the monkeys had a baby on her back which was interesting to see.



We climbed the stairs and looked inside the main cave. There was a few ornate temples and statues inside.

 It did stink of bat poo. 

 

At the base of the caves, J enjoyed feeding the pigeons and a lady shared her pigeon food with him to throw to the birds. This was the beginning of J's celebrity status - with his blond hair he was quite popular for photos. We didn't see many Australians around KL.

After cool drink and ice-cream we then headed back to our apartment for a swim and rest before our trip to Night City. 

Tips
* Head out to Batu Caves early. We arrived at the caves at 9.30am and it was already getting hot and humid.

*Take lots of water although there are shops at the base of the caves and markets to buy sweets, fruit and ice-creams.  

*The train is easy, cheap and you get to see more of the city on your journey out to the caves. You can take a tour or hire a guide but if you have the time, take the train and save your $$. For kids, it is another experience to add into their holiday memories.

*Bananas from the stalls at the base of the caves make a quick and easy snack.

*If you are into selfies, here is an idea for you. It is a bit hard to see in the photo but she has her phone attached on the end of a golf club.