"You won't find Micheal Keaton or Val Kilmes lurking in the spooky bat cave" (Lonely Planet).....but you will find us!
On the hunt for batman and his faithful bat friends, Johannes,Sharon and i set off early afternoon on our bikes.Johannes our new German buddy is a travelling cyclist and perfectly equipped with useful things like a comfy seat, good brakes and gears. However when Sharon and i picked out our bikes we were taken in immediately by the old fashioned movie style ...high handle bars, quirky brakes and baskets but no gears - a little mistake on our part as we soon found out on the up hills! Puffing and panting we stood up on the peddles which in turn were rotating at a snails pace whilst Johannes breezed by with a 'ting' of his bell. Really should have chosen a bike with gears!
We soon found ourselves amidst crazy streets filled with pedestrians, motorbikes, fumes, cattle, all argueing for a place on the road! The noise is immense, horns are like sounds from a fairground that explode into your skull and the smells and dust that follow aren't so great either. But its all part of the city and teh hustle and bustle that it attracts. The three of us cycled on ducking and diving, avoiding collisions and the ominous potholes, winding along the streets until we reached our destination....The bat caves!
We were given a huge torch with different light settings on it, however it would have been even better had it been charged more!!! We soon found this out as we descended the steps into the darkness walking in eachothers footsteps as close as possible, stumbling and tripping. Once in the cave we shined the torch around the ceiling of the cavern and saw not one or one hundred but thousands of bats nestled together, hanging by their tiny feet. It was amazing to see them all up there!They were shuffling to cover there eyes from our torch so we turned it down...the last thing i wanted to do was awaken them and have them flapping around our heads! I don't think i would have found them so cute!
We wandered around the cave admiring the sleeping beauties and then went in search for the 'other' exit! From reading our Lonely Planet we knew that we could take an alternative route which may involve some effort but we were up for a challenge! We climbed up some muddy rocks and started to crawl our way through a tunnel, Johannes leading with the light, me a close second and Sharon bringing up the rear. "keep going, keep going" we chorused to Johannes with encouragement. Johannes though wasn't having any of this..."seriously girls, i think your crazy, there's not enough room to go through!" This then prompted Sharon to fish out the lonely planet and start quoting...in the dark, whilst we are all hunched up in the tunnel; "but it says here...daredevils can continue to the back of the vault and wiggle out through a tiny chute to the surface..."
So after too-ing and fro-ing with the idea of 'could we fit?' and much disagreement from Johannes we shuffles backwards...there must be another way? So yet to be undefeated we searched in the dark for some rocks that seemed to ascend, possibly to daylight? Sharon headed off with the torch to scope it out, the light gradually fading as she went higher. Leaving Johannes and i stood very still in the pitch black, (in fear of falling down what we could't see) listening to the squeal of the bats politely reminding us that we were in there vampire domain!
Eventually Sharon returned and to our question of "is there a way out?" she responded "its...um...i think you should come and look".....not quite the answer i had anticipated....but not being ones to fail on a mission we cracked on. We made our way up clambering over the rocks praying that our feet would stay planted and not allow us to fall of the ledges into the dark. We had reached about half way when a huge group of about fifty kids ploughed past us in a race to the top, Johannes and i ducked into a 'cosy' little nook to wait for Sharon to catch up and escape the hustle and bustle. Sharon a little further down was obviously thinking the same so it was a while before out little group connected again, i meanwhile was getting a tad bored and so with all the mud surrounding me i covered Johannes in tribal marks in true Reb style.....(very amusing for the kids when we got out!)...
Once reunited it was time to ascend..maybe i should take up rock climbing as a hobby as over the past couple of weeks i have had alot of pratice! Every body part was needed to get out of the bats lair, it was a fun experience! The first climb i hoisted myself up aided by Johannes and a Nepalise guy who i hung on to with dear life a little fearful that i might slip and crush sharon in the process. Then the full body squeeze technique had to be applied, i squirmed between the rocks, sliding on my belly and dragging myself out to daylight and the applause of the waiting school kids! Johannes and Sharon promptly followed...we'd made it!
BUT were any of us now vampires?....We would have to wait til sunset to find out.....!!!!!
