Batu Caves

Day 32, Saturday 28 Jan 2012, Kuala Lumpur, Batu Caves

This could be my first two post day, if anything happens this afternoon it will definitely be, crikey it is all happening! I went to Batu Caves this morning and it is worth its own post, also because I am spending the afternoon  in the hostel until I go back to Petronas Towers for another crack at a night shot, weather dependant of course.

Interesting night in the ten person mixed dorm, there are nine beds with packs on them and by 11pm only two of us were in bed, I suspected it was going to be a long night, having said that, I kinda slept OK. Last person came in at 5.30 am and first people up at 5.45… I was talking to young English guys this morning, they said they were leaving KL after seven days as it was costing too much to drink. They had been to Petronas Towers and Chinatown, thats it – seven days worth of site seeing– and the hostel is in Chinat That made me feel all adventurous, as I had been further than that!

Batu Caves is a 15km train ride from thje local station and is one of KL’s key attractions. The fare was 80c and the train went all the way there, yay for KL !

The caves are the most import Hindu shrine outside of India and are dedicated to Lord Murugan. The site also has a 42metre high golden coloured statue of the lord, the temple cave is accessed via a 272 step staircase which must be ascended by devotees heading to the temple, many with their offerings.

I arrived there fairly early and missed the worst of the tourist rush, which was great. The site is also famous for its macaque monkeys, and as a poor Indian women learnt – it is advisable to not carry any food or drink…

Blessing before the climb.

Macaque peeling an orange.Lord Murugan and the famous 272 steps.

The climb.

I was looking back up stairs when I heard a woman shreak, as I turned round this monkey was undoing the screw top on this bottle of milk it had stolen from her. Milk is one of the key offerings made and is in the containers the women are carrying on their heads. The macaque didnt drink it from the bottle, just poured it on the ground.The cave temple and a shrine.

The view to KL

The site is also where the Thaipasum festival parade ends, I was talking to one of the devotees at the top of the stairs and he said in the day of the festival there will be 1.5million people there.  I imagine the trains will be packed…

I really enjoyed Batu Caves !

Homer reincarnated?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batu_Caves

Apologies, some of these images are a soft, will have to give the camera a clean as I am not sure if the auto-focus is picking up some dirt on the lens.