Oh my word have I been stressing about this blog - I have lost so many drafts it isn't true. On Monday (2nd March) Sarah left the apartment to deliver shoe boxes of goodies for some dear little orphan refugees from Burma - so there was I sat at her dining room table with tablet and guide book to give you all the flavour and official information facts and figures on this amazing place. I typed for an hour - and just as I was to publish this giant piece of literature - the blessed blog disappeared into thin air - I am convinced that there is a Nania for lost blogs - because I have not lost a total of 4 of the little darlings, including a photo that I had downloaded from my phone onto the blog ! I was so thrilled about this achievement and started yet again to educate my lovely friends who are following my progress through the continents on this Odesy - when - ooophs off it went to swiftly follow the former Batu blog - and this without any permission being granted. This is where I went into total melt down - so very glad that Sarah was doing her charity thing - for she would have surely realised that I was a total nut case (if she hadn't already come to this conclusion) and would have reached for the phone to call the services of specialists in mental care !
Right now I have put you into the picture why you haven't had a blog from me for several days is that I am boycotting the Hudl and now sitting in my sisters lovely cool office in Doncraig, W.A. and on her lovely pc that has cut and paste - and will allow me to continue my journey free from overloaded stress that I reserve for my electronic gadgetry.
So back to Saturday morning, Rog and Sarah asked me where I would like to go (I thought probably back to the UK) but I had seen photos on the internet and information on the Batu Caves and thought that would be a great place to go, so with Rog and the wheel we set forth on the chaotic driving experience that is Malaysian transport. Great roads, just appalling drivers. The suicide motorcyclists were in evidence and sitting in the back it was even more "exciting" as we hurtled towards out destination.
Rog is a great driver and found the actual site without problem, however trying to find the entrance to the Car Park was a bit of a challenge, this was achieved pretty much without too much trouble - the signage in the area doesn't appear to be that visitor friendly.
Needless to say we saw the statue without too much trouble it is enormous - and if only I could download the photos from my phone onto Dee's computer - you would see what I mean ! It is one of the largest Hindu "gods" statue in the area ! It is one of the most popular shrines and is always busy.
To get into the caves that are guarded by this gold statue (if I had the guide book here instead of in KL I would be able to give you all the statistics regarding is build and the number of gallons of gold pain that was needed to coat it) there are 272 steps to climb !
It wasn't until we started to climb that I realised that whoever designed the staircase obviously had the shoe size of Chinese bound feet in mind ! Which was okay going up - as long as you had the security of the handrails near at hand (in my case firmly underneath my hand) it was sort of half way up when I foolishly looked back to realise that going downwards it seemed even steeper than coming up - and I had visions of testing the Emergency Services as I misplaced a downward step and toppled down, body in motion tends to gather speed I could have been doing roughly 100mph by the time I hit the bottom step ! Memo to self - hang on to the handrail on the downward trip even more firmly.
The staircase is divided into three sections, Sarah and I elected to choose the middle one, as we naively thought that we would be fairly safe in the central lane from the monkey, who, according to the hand book, could be aggressive ! However, reading further on in the same guide publication, we discovered that the middle lane was for worshippers/pilgrims - whoops !
On reaching our interim destination, we then discovered not only a couple of gift shops that sold all things touristy from little gold statues to T-shirts, ice-cream and of course the bottled water ! We did enquire of a lovely lad employed by one of the shops how all the stock was hauled to the caves, and got the answer we had expected, by people power - there is no other way to restock the shops! Can you image going to work and climbing the 272 steps every day with a couple of catering packs of 500ml bottles of water - for a start off ! I personally wouldn't apply for the position !
Once in the cave we then had the prospect of going further into hill - with shrines at every turn and in the most inaccessible nooks and crannies in the walls of the caves, all lit by electricity - thankfully so we could actually see where we were walking. The cave system goes back (this is where I need the guide book - why didn't I bring it with me or in fact Google it ??? but there - dear reader is where you can do a little research yourselves, this is called occupational therapy !!! I would do it for you - but I've lost so many blogs I don't want to risk this one zooming off to the Lost Blog Land to follow its friends.) miles !!! Okay that is a slight exaggeration (who me exaggerate ? never !) but its a heck of a way to go and you find even more shrines and there is a temple right at the back of the cave with incense burning - this is lovely but in no way does it camouflage the smell of open sewers - it is a perfume that is evident in and around KL to a lesser or greater extent - but in the open it is almost bearable - in the confines of a caving system - it is overpowering - believe me this experience it is NOT for the faint hearted. I do wish I could download the photos - because some of the statues are such fun and amazingly beautiful in a garish and strange way !
We retraced our steps - bought the ice-creams to fortify ourselves for our downward journey - delicious and well worth purchasing ! Of course now there were loads of tourists and the monkeys (who were not in evidence on our upward perambulations) - were just warming up to enable them to live up to their reputations. Some folk were obviously frightened or scared (we came into the "rather apprehensive" bracket) and starting to lash out with sticks and waving their arms. No wonder with that sort of reception, the poor creatures were going to be aggressive they are returning like for like. The babies were just so cute, and Rog was able to take some lovely photos of them and the other family members ! (Rog is a great photographer, he has emailed me some fab photos of the day - but I have to admit that some of mine (on the mobile phone) were not too dusty either - by sheer luck rather than design !
We then progressed to another part of the cave system these were guarded by the Monkey god - he was HUGE as well, and painted a sort of turquoise blue a fetching if somewhat strange colour for a monkey ! These caves were also populated by statues - obviously more recently built and more in the Disney mode - but fun even so. Again the guide book would have helped at this moment of time. Sorry to fail you once again.
Walking along to the Monkey guarded caves we passed a beautiful lake - fed from waterfalls and populated by the most amazing number of koi carp - I don't think I have ever seen so many - black as well as gold - they were almost living on top of each other the lake was so full. The rocks that house these caves are limestone - much like Cheddar Caves and gorge - so they were populated with stalagmites and stalactites - but I guess a lot had been removed as they weren't anywhere as many as in Goughs or Cox's caves. Nor was there the lovely colours in the rocks.
The area had, during Colonial times, been a popular picnicking place, I would assume at the bottom of the caves by the lakes rather than heaving all the picnic baskets up the steps - although of course the colonial personal would have had native bearers to do all the hard work.
On our drive back to KL and the apartment, Sarah suggested to Rog that he drove us past the old Colonial buildings - that have now being used for a museum and other duties, but the architecture is well worth seeing. Rog, bless him, deviated from our journey home and drove through the beautiful square between these glorious buildings and the old Cricket ground (where we parked as it happened on Sunday). This detour led us into the most almighty congestion in KL city - I felt so badly for Rog as he tried to get us back to the apartment before nightfall ! He succeeded is such a wonderful host as Sarah is hostess and tour guide. They have given me the BEST time ! We have seen so much and done so much in the three days. They are amazing.
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