Somehow, Dan and Jonathan ended up in the same guesthouse, as I found out when they screamed at me from the roof while I walked past on the street below. By then it was late afternoon, so the three of us checked out KL's Chinatown and visited the Central Market before catching a movie at the Times Square Mall. The thing is massive--eleven floors, I believe--and includes an amuzement park, two movie theaters, a karaoke bar, and every item you could ever want to buy. This is what I mean when I say Malaysia is a far cry from the rest of Southeast Asia. After the movie we just went back to the guesthouse and crashed, which is how I encountered the worst case of bedbugs I experienced on my trip.
All night, I kept feeling little pinches on my legs and arms, but because I was still asleep I only half-acknowledged them by brushing them away then falling back asleep. But by 5 a.m., I coldn't sleep. Got up to find myself covered in rows of tiny red bites. Later, talking to some people who had been staying in the place for awhile, I learned the whole dorm is infested, but my bed is the worst because the previous tenant piled it high with his stuff and the staff never had a chance to clean his mattress. The bugs had formed a breeding ground on that bed, then crawled across the floor to all the nearby beds. If you look between the seams of the mattress, you can find dozens of them hiding during the day. Nice of the hotel staff to let me know about that little inconvenience!
That night, Dan, Jonathan and I sprang for a three-bed private room to avoid the dorm infestation. Still got bitten a couple of times, but it was liveable. After the rest of the world woke up that day, we caught a bus to the Batu Caves, a few miles outside the city. The cave is massive with cathedral-like ceilings, and is filled with Hindu temples and statues. Pilgrims still make frequent trips here and once a year, millions flock to the caves for the Thaipusam Festival. Although there is a significant Hindu population in Malaysia, I don't know much about the religion and, aside from Penang, rarely saw Hindu temples. It was interesting to go inside the cave and get close to the statues of various Hindu gods (including a monkey and an elephant) and closely observe people worshiping. Plus, there were monkeys all over on the hike up to the cave mouth, which was cool in and of itself. That afternoon, I napped in our new, relatively bed bug-free room and met up with the guys and a few other travelers later for some food and drinks before capping the night on the rooftop with a beer, a boom box and a bag of crappy Malaysian peanuts.
The next morning, Jonathan and I managed to drag ourselves out of bed early enough to get a ticket onto the Petronas Towers skybridge. The panoramic city view is well worth the early wakeup call it takes to get one of the 1,000 tickets that sell out by about 9 a.m. each day. We took it easy that afternoon then headed out for one last night on the town before I caught my flight for the U.S. and Dan headed to Borneo the next day. The night was a quality out with a bang night that didn't end until well into the morning.
My final day in KL was spent wandering the city, picking up a few souveniers to take home with me, and feeling ambivalent about the fact that I was going home. I was excited to see friends and family, but definitely hadn't grown travel weary yet. I just kept wishing I could start back at day one and relive my whole trip again. I guess that's what blogs are for...
Night view of Chinatown from our hostel's rooftop.
Old meets new. 
View of KL from the Petronas Towers skybridge.
Hindu gods inside the Batu Caves.
Times Square rollercoaster!
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