Based on Ant's childhood memories of visiting the caves, we decided to make the trip 13kms out of KL to see the caves and surrounds. There are loads of ways to get to the caves (taxi, buses, tourist bus) but we decided to take the train from KL Sentral which meant we could also check out the outer suburbs of KL beyond the city limits. It was a fairly easy trip out there, and conveniently there is a train station called Batu Caves which makes it easy to know where to alight!
Of course it started pouring with rain as soon as we arrived so we donned out waterproof jackets and kept on truckin. Before you can even start taking in the actual caves, you notice the HUGE set of stairs (they say its 272 steps but i lost count half way up) which lead up past the massive 40m high Murga statue which is covered in gold. Those steps are a killer but definitely worth the trek up top. The main cave at the top of the stairs is the Temple cave which houses a full Hindu shrine which is very peaceful and was a nice quiet spot to stop and wait awhile. Once we'd explored the Temple Cave we noticed the Dark Cave tour which seemed a more in-depth look into the cave system. Ant remembered from his childhood visit that he didn't get to do the Dark Cave tour so how could we not do it now?
35MYR per person later, we joined a guided tour of noisy tourists for the 45 minute tour. We saw plenty of bats (and their droppings) plus some amazing limestone formations in the cave system which was definitely worth the trek in. I enjoyed the "total absence of light moment" when we all switched off our torches and were immersed in 100% blackness for a minute or two. That freaked out many of the tour group but I enjoyed the feeling of just being in the massive cave with no light and just the sounds of the cave dwelling animals for a bit.
On our walk down the 272 steps we encountered some cheeky monkeys and some idiotic tourists; which ended in pain for the tourists as you can imagine. We saw one guy lose his lunch after he decided to feed a monkey his McDonalds. Mr Monkey snatched his entire lunch and retreated to higher ground to enjoy his fries in peace. The monkeys round those parts are well trained to grab for valuables and food so we balanced monkey watching with watching our own stuff for a few minutes on the stairs.
After an easy train ride back to KL Sentral, we arrived back in the big smoke just in time for lunch and the sunshine to hit. What a great way to spend the morning, and a good way to take a small break from the city hustle and bustle and to work up an appetite for lunch from all those stairs!
