Batu Caves is 13KM (8 miles) north of Kuala Lumpur, I took the bus to get there. It was an adventure in itself trying to get the right bus. I had 2 options, go to the main bus station, or catch a bus from a smaller depot area. I decided to go to the main bus station, it seemed easier to locate and it was closer to the hostel I was staying at.
I got there and after getting past the usual ‘teksi’ (taxi) drivers asking if I wanted a lift somewhere I approached the ticket counters at the back of the station. Each ticket counter seemed to have an assistant outside asking where I wanted to go, there is several (read: about 15) different bus companies under this one roof so they were all competing for customers. None of them however was going to Batu Caves, but they all seemed to know where to go.
Tallest statue of Lord Muruga in the world
“‘It’s that way”
“Other building”
“‘Over there”
“Outside building”
“Across the street”
“Inside the building”
“Those buses there!”
These were the instructions I got; all from different people. I walked about 1 mile from the bus station until I finally got “Yes, it’s that bus there”. I noticed I was at the smaller depot area (no cover, just a section off the main road for buses to park up waiting for customers) that I had the option of going to in the first place. I guess the bus from the main bus station no longer runs and my guidebook is outdated.
Anyhow the bus journey was relatively uneventful, it was mainly Indian looking men on board, I guess they are coming here for religious reasons, in January to February the Hindu’s take a pilgramage to the Batu Caves, so a lot of pictures you’ll find of the place is during this time, about 1 million people come to this, so it gets rather packed. The bus took about 40mins to arrive, and I got off and walked under the nicely decorated archway entrance.
The gold statue certainly drew the eye from everything else. At 42 metres tall, it is the tallest statue of Lord Muruga in the world, it is reported that 300litres of gold paint was used to complete the statue.
I then walked up the steep 272 steps (they are labelled) to the top, some monkeys shot down the side fighting whilst I was doing that, There is certainlya lot of monkeys here, visitors can feed them banana’s or even crisps, they seem to eat anything.
Monkeys grooming outside Batu Caves
Inside the main limestone cave, it is 100 metres up to the ceiling. The light coming through the end where a shine and a few more sculptures were seated, they are certainly all very colourful and beautiful showing different Hindu gods in each one.
Hindu Statue
On the way down on step 204 there is the dark caves. They run a 30minute educational tour or a 2-3hour adventure tour climbing through the cave, including crawling on your belly for 30mins and sliding down slopes, unfortunately this has to be booked 2 days in advance and is for a minimum of 5 people, but the educational trip was an option so I went with that. The cave was opened in the 70s but a lot of the habitat was destroyed by humans messing around, so the tour guide was set up to help preserve things. The first thing I was shown was the old timber which used to be the old walkway through the cave, it is now just cockroach food though. There was also white shell less snails breeding, and I was then shown the mineral they consume to form their shells.
Next and probably the most surprising thing down there, a wild cave dog! The guide told me the Dog had just turned up 3 years ago and stayed ever since in the dark, it was a timid thing and did look quite scared, they actually feed the dog now. He then showed me a few cave formations and explained the process of them growing and how long it takes (about 70 years for the rock to grow 3cm (1″) roughly in Asia as it turns out).
After slipping up on bat feaces a fair amount the tour came to an end in the largest cavern made from where 2 rivers collided to form a whirpool (the cave used to house the rivers and 14million years ago was completely underwater) we headed back down the same path to the end. We was lucky enough to see the spider legged millepeed, they grow bigger in the dark caves then the same species out in the sun, the one we was was eating a cockroach (it actually sucks the juices out and turns the cockroach so it looked like a sun-dried version!) and scurried away when the torch was shon on it.
Cave Razor
Lastly walking out I got to see a wild snake drinking water, it’s called the Cave Razor, but is quite harmless despite the name! My guide told me there was once 200-300 snakes in this cave about a hundred years ago, but there is very little now, he said he’s not actually seen one in a few weeks so I was lucky to see this one.
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Great post man, I learnt alot! Keep on truckin :D Did it cost anything to get into the caves for the tour or is it a national heritage type thing?
Had to pay for the educational tour, equivalent of £7 so not too bad really, the cave entrance itself was free though.