BATU CAVES

After consulting Trip Advisor, I found three interesting tourist attractions. First on my list was to explore the Batu Caves in Selangor, about 18 km north of our hotel. Paul and I ventured out the second morning of our three-day KL adventure.

My eyes fixated on the plateau-shaped mountain as we were coming out of the city. I could see the large mass from a distance and, since I have not seen a mountain like this in a year or more, I thought it was just beautiful. The top of the mount was covered in trees while the sides revealed the limestone structure underneath.

As we approached the entrance, we were amazed to see a giant gold statue of Hindu god Lord Murugan enclosed in scaffolding standing in front of the nearly 300 steps that led to the cave’s mouth.

Temples and street shops lined the entrance to the caves on both sides. Many visitors took off their shoes and entered the temple with their families. There were temples insides the cave as well.

We were reminded several times that monkeys ruled the mountain. Some casually sat on perches along the steps while others ran back and forth playing, not caring who may have been in their way. Others were excited by all of the people and interested in what they were carrying. On a few occasions, monkeys jumped onto bags that people were carrying, causing the people to scream.

The view inside the mouth was pretty amazing. The caves were not completely enclosed so light broke from the ceilings 100 meters above our heads.

On our way down, we noticed that a previously-closed gate was open, so we ventured on another path to see what was ahead. We discovered another set of caves, known as the dark caves, that were closed to visitors not participating in a tour. Knowing that the world’s rarest spider awaited us, we were OK skipping out and heading back down to earth.

The view from the mouth of the dark caves gave us an opportunity to see the heart of KL from a distance. There was a bit of a fog or haze over the city throughout our trip, but we were able to see the two tallest edifices, the Menara Telekom tower, somewhat resembling the Space Needle on the right, and the Petronas Twin Towers, which we managed to visit later in the day.