2016: I googled for climbing gyms in Kuala Lumpur and found two. Camp5 was the most popular but looked very intimidating. I chose Mad Monkeyz, because it was lesser known, therefore would have less people to watch me fall.
The gym had two floors. The first one was for beginners to learn the basics and gain confidence with some very simple routes. The walls were low and the floors heavily padded. You were not attached to a harness or any of those climbing thingamajigs because you were supposed to jump back and drop onto the floor once you were done. It was really that low.
The walls were filled with handholds and footholds of different colors, each one denoting different levels of difficulty. You had to choose a color and only use the holds of the same color until you get to the last one at the top.
I went with a friend who was also afraid of heights, but she was still better than me. I got to maybe halfway up the wall, and then I looked down and freaked out. Then I had to decide whether I wanted to risk my life jumping down or stay there and cry for help. I stayed there until my limbs started to fail me, and finally climbed down the same way I came up.
It was a disgrace.
