Just outside Kuala Lumpur are the Batu Caves that I would like to visit. For this time I leave the bike because I don't want to spend an hour in a traffic jam. The Grab taxi, similar to Uber, takes me to the caves 16 km away for €4.
It is very busy and surprisingly there is no entrance fee. To reach the cave and the temple, some serious stairs have to be climbed. Once at the top, the temple is a bit insignificant in the gigantic cave, but it is worth the climb. Back downstairs I watch the comings and goings of all the tourists for a while and I get to talk to two nice Dutch girls who have also been traveling since graduating. We share the taxi back to the city after which we go our separate ways.
Back at the hotel I talk to 2 Dutch women by the pool who are on their way to Borneo. A huge rain shower puts a decisive end to our conversations in the water and we decide to have dinner together in Jalor Alon Food Street after the shower. The whole street is full of food stalls and outdoor restaurants where you can eat cheap, mainly Asian, and we enjoy it.
After dinner we notice a stall with durians, this smelly fruit looks like a spiky melon and is loved or reviled. We share the opinion that we cannot leave the country without trying this and buy a small portion. We get gloves because it's not easy to eat and the smell gives off. The soft structure of the flesh most closely resembles butter or an overripe banana wrapped around a large, white seed. The smell is strange, sickly, rotten and not inviting to eat. But we do and I'm not disappointed. Not tasty, but not really bad either. In any case, I'm glad I tried it because in Thailand and Malaysia the durian is really everywhere. Even if it is only on prohibition signs in hotels to take it inside.
