Off to Malaysia!

I decided to save some money in going to Kuala Lumpur by catching a bus directly in Malaysia from the southern city of Johor Bahru instead of from Singapore but I had no idea how much work was involved.  First I had to take the subway to a station close to the border.  Then I had to take a public transit bus to the border, get off, go through Singapore customs, then get back on the bus.  After crossing the border, I had to get off again, go through Malaysian customs, get back on the bus, and finally go to the main bus terminal in Johor Bahru.

I boarded my bus to Kuala Lumpur (KL) but we actually ended up departing an hour late because here apparently, they don't like to leave on time unless the bus is full so we waited to fill the rest of the seats.  

5 hours later and I finally made it!  Traffic in Kuala Lumpur is horrendous and highly disorganized.  People jaywalk in KL all the time, directly in front of oncoming traffic!  On many roads, people walk right next to a slowly driving car.  Surprisingly, I was told this is the norm and no one really honks at pedestrians.  It really takes a iron stomach to drive in this city.

First, I visited the Batu Caves which is a historic heritage site here that is of particular religious importance to Hinduism.  There are a lot of roaming monkeys here that like to grab your camera or bottle or whatever you're holding if you're not careful.  It's actually a really unique place that I haven't seen anywhere else before although it took an hour to get here because it is on the outskirts of KL:

I took a quick detour to the Petronas Towers at night before returning to the hotel and it really lights up the skyline: