Batu Caves

Today we made our first trip to one of Kuala Lumpur's main attractions: the Batu Caves. After having taken the Komuter train that leaves KL Sentral every 20 minutes, it was just a 5 minute walk till we reached the entrance of the caves, that are situated about 10 mi north of KL.

The first impression was compelling. Standing just next to the worlds tallest (42,7m) golden Lord Muruga statue, we became aware that this is one of the most popular Hindu shrines outside India. 

 

Walking up the 272 steps to the entrance of Temple Cave was a great experience as well because you had to watch out for the Macaques monkeys. They were funny at first sighting, but they love tourists, especially their food and scrap like Coca Cola cans. They came up very close to us and bared their teeth. Because of this some women became very frightened and cried out in panic.

Having entered Cathedral Cave, which is rising almost 100m above the ground, we had to discover the other side of the coin. Based on the quantity of tourists, there are lots of souvenir shops and cafes in the caves, just next to the Hindu fanes and the cave's base was covered with concrete. A vast amount of trash was lying around.

Nevertheless it was impressive to visit this 400 million year old place that was recorded by American naturalist William Hornaday in 1878.