Chin Swee Caves Temple

The Genting Highlands are still completely covered in cloud so we are still not able to see anything outside.
Fortunately, there is a shuttle bus to Chin Swee Caves Temple which is part way down the mountain. When we arrived it was right on the edge of the clouds, sometimes it was sunny, sometimes the clouds came across and hid the top of the pagoda.
It is a very interesting place and is tucked in amongst the jungle on the sides of the steep slope.
We walked around it in the wrong direction and followed a little path past some very graphic sculptures. It showed scenes from the ten chambers of hell and we saw number ten first, working backwards to number one. They all had names, eg, number six was the Great Howling Hell, and all sorts of gruesome acts were shown in detail.
When we got to the end we found the entrance and it was called 'The path to Enlightenment'.
Maybe it would have made more sense if we had gone in the right direction, but one thing is clear - make sure that you behave well or face the consequences.

Sky diving in a wind tunnel

We are still inside today, this time in the indoor theme park that is attached to our hotel.
They have a sky diving wind tunnel and for £7 each we got the chance to 'fly' for two minutes.
I went first and was in a group of two with a Chinese guy. We got a five minute lesson from the instructor on what position to adopt and then the instructor stepped into the tunnel.
I stood at the door, made a star shape and fell forward. I immediately floated straight up in to the air and it was incredible. The tiniest movement made me either rise higher or drop lower, or forwards or backwards and I kept trying to follow the instructors orders.
After a while he caught hold of me and helped me out through the door and I was relieved and elated, as I had enjoyed it but it was pretty scary and I thought it was over.
My mistake, as I watched as the instructor motioned to the other person in my group. I watched in terror as he grabbed hold of his wrist and ankle and they started spinning rapidly, and then shooting to the top of the tunnel and then back almost to the ground before racing up again.
All too soon it was my turn. I thought maybe he wouldn't do that with me, but no, we did the same thing!
It was amazing, but two minutes was absolutely plenty and when Daz asked if I wanted another go when it was his turn I quickly declined.

Genting Highlands

Another journey today, this time from Putrajaya to the Genting Highlands - for less than £3 each.
We caught two buses, one train and then an endless cable car that whisked us up to the biggest hotel in the world - First World Resort - part of Genting Casinos, sponsors of Manchester City football club.
We were then swallowed up inside a cavernous building and walked for about 15 minutes until we got to the check in area.
Our room is on the 25th floor, number 25908,and the view from our window is of an identical room about ten feet away from ours, but with a huge drop between us.
It is impossible to work out where we are, as we are lost somewhere inside an enormous hotel that is trapped under a cloud on the top of a mountain.
There is a scale model of the whole area in reception and we are somewhere in the multi coloured building on the top right, but that is all we know so far.
To add to the weirdness, we have just been to see a Cirque du Solail style show where the performers walked upside down on the ceiling

Putrajaya

We are staying by the lake in Putrajaya in a fairytale castle type hotel - see pic 3. It is full of twisty turny corridors and tower staircases and at first it was almost impossible to find our room. We have just got the hang of it now, but are leaving in the morning.
The whole city is completely modern and full of government buildings. They seemed to have spared no expense and the architects imaginations have run amok.
The best thing about today was walking around the lake watching as lots of brides and grooms came to the lake to pose for their wedding shots.
My favourite was this lady in a neon lime green gown, but there was also a Muslim lady in a beautiful silver outfit and with a sparkling tiara on top of her headscarf.

Epic voyages

Today we made a pretty short journey - 130 kilometres from Melaka to Putrajaya. We caught three buses and one train, it was easy and pleasant and it cost a total of £3.50 each.
Yesterday we spent a couple of hours in the Zheng He museum in Melaka. He was a famous Chinese Admiral, explorer, diplomat and palace eunuch. He lived from 1371 to 1433 and made seven epic voyages.  Each one took about two years and he had an enormous fleet of ships, crewed by 28,000 men.
He used Melaka as a supply point and stopped for a while there on most of his voyages.
The museum was really interesting and was full of items that would have been found on his ships. On one of his voyages he brought back a giraffe from Africa to present to the Empower, as he thought that it looked like a mythical creature from Chinese legends.

Jonkers Street, Melaka

Melaka is such a lovely place and the old town is full of heritage buildings.
The best known street is Jonkers and tonight it was closed to traffic for a market all of the way down the middle of it.
There was the usual mix of stalls, but then right in front of a Chinese temple was a stall selling enormous - literally three feet long - knives, wooden guns, nun chakas and karate throwing stars.