Our second day in Kuala Lumpur we decided to go and check out the famous Batu Caves situated just outside the city. The caves themselves are believed to be around 400 million years old, but it was in 1890 the caves got the first consecrated statue. Nowadays the caves are probably most known for the 42,7 meter high golden statue of the Hindu deity Murugan, in fact this is the worlds largest statue of this god.
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| Entrance to the Batu Caves, with the characteristic golden statue in front |
It was cheap to get to the caves; only 2 Ringgit one way! The ride was fast too, so we ended up getting there a lot earlier than planned. Apparently they had just had a festival there, and the place looked quite deserted and dirty.. Not a good first impression. It doesn’t cost anything to enter the Batu cave, which actually might be a bad thing since the place looks like it would need some founding to put it back in shape. The place is filled with monkeys, and one of them approached Yuma and me probably trying to steal our non-existing food.
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| Monkeys by the temple entrance |
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| A hungry (?) monkey taking a bite of my dress |
If you want to go into the caves you better be aware that it is pretty steep, and climbing 272 steps in the heat can be tough.
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| Entrance to the main cave |
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| Stairs to the cave |
There are two caves: one of them is free, and has some statues and stuff inside it, and the other one is a dark cave where you pay for a guide to go in with you. Of course the one where you pay is nice and tidy, while the one where is free seem to have some potential but right now it is not really interesting in itself; it is dirty and it doesn’t really smell that good. Too bad, because it is an impressive cave..
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| The clean and tidy cave, where you can pay for a guided tour. |
Right now the big statue in front of the temple is really the biggest reason to visit the Batu caves, but besides that it is not too interesting. But at least it is is cheap to get there, which means that as long as you have some time to spare it doesn't cost too much to drop by. Hopefully something will be done in the future to make sure the place can become more worthwhile to visit. For now all they have is donations from the visitors, so it is not strange that it’s potential hasn’t been reached. Here are some pictures of the free cave:
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| Some statues inside the Batu Caves |
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| Overview of the cave |
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| Some statues on the roof of a small temple in Batu Caves |
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| Batu caves |
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| A lady praying inside Batu caves |
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| Some more details from the cave |
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| Exiting the Batu caves, with a view towards Kuala Lumpur |
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| Be aware of steep stairs.. |
After our visit to the caves we went back to Kuala Lumpur. There was not really anything left in the city we wanted to see, so we spent the rest of the day in the station watching a movie and just hanging around.
Kuala Lumpur has been an interesting destination with some interesting sights and not to mention the huge variety in people living here. But all in all I have to say that if you’re not too interested in shopping there really isn’t that much to do in Kuala Lumpur: I believe you can see it all in just one day if you are effective.
About Anette
Anette came to Japan as an exchange student in 2010, met the love of her life and got stuck. From her base in Tokyo she writes about her experiences as a full-time worker in Tokyo and about her travels in Japan and abroad. She's a free-spirited adventurer who enjoys both the great outdoors and her urban lifestyle.
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