After my failed photoshoot to Kuala Lumpur two months ago (see Trip to Petronas Twin Towers), I promised myself to go back to Malaysia to accomplish what I failed to do on my first trip. I carefully and meticulously planned my second visit to the capital city and I made sure that the weather is the utmost concern. Google Weather Forecast showed the least precipitation values in the first week of December and it was my deciding factor in marking my next adventure days in Kuala Lumpur. I arrived in KL on December 04 and I finally achieved one of my main purposes in coming back to the country. At last, I already have my most gorgeous shot of the Petronas Twin Towers with zero rain in the background. I was extremely happy!
On my third day in Kuala Lumpur, my friend Mohd Amin invited me to see some of the underrated tourist attractions outside the capital city, which he considers far-better travel destinations than the favorite tourist spots of most foreigners in the federal territory. One of them is a hidden gem in Selangor, a limestone hill that houses Hindu temples at Batu Caves in Gombak District.
It was a Friday, and it is customary for our Muslim brothers in Malaysia to visit their mosques for their daily prayers, so I had to wait for my friend to finish his 1:03 pm dhuhr prayer. We left at 2:58 pm and headed north to get to the next state which took us 18 minutes to drive. Selangor, the most populated of all 13 states with the largest economy in the entire country, is just north of Kuala Lumpur and is a 14 km drive from the hotel where I stayed in. We found free parking at Lorong Perusahaan 1 then crossed the street underneath the Jln Lingkaran Tengah flyover and walked towards the entrance gate of Batu Caves.
The entrance gate can be easily found just across the Jln Lingkaran Tengah flyover before reaching The Divine Life Society if you're coming from the west through a one-way street. The "Entrance Arch" was erected along the road and it's accessible to get through a 150-meter pavement to get to the complex. The ceremonial monument was under reconstruction during that time in preparation for the Thaipusam Festival in January where more than a million people, the majority of which are from the Tamil Hindu community, visit the cave to pay homage to Lord Murugan. Devotees come to Batu Caves to show their appreciation and pay penance to the Son of Shiva and the festival is considered the largest cultural and religious public display since its first observance in 1892. I wanted to be part of this ceremony but foreign visitors are rather encouraged to see Batu Caves either before or after the festival to avoid the huge crowd.
The entrance from the gate to the main Temple Cave is free, however, there are minimal fees if you would like to get to three other secondary caves. Just at the foot of the hill is the Cave Villa, an art gallery where statues and paintings of Hindu deities are on exhibit. Malaysians who would present an identity card (MyKad) upon payment of the entrance fee will only be charged RM5 but the fee for foreign visitors who don't have the ID is RM15. Another famous cave is 120 meters away towards the left called the Ramayana Cave. Visitors line up to see an exhibit of one of the Sanskrit epics through miniature three-dimensional figures and large-scale models. The entrance fee is flat RM5. Going to the Cathedral Cave in the main complex requires climbing up 272 steps but before completing the entire concrete stairs, the remaining 1/3 branches into a different path leading to the Dark Cave, where you can register for an adventure trip. A tour guide assists tourists and visitors in exploring more than 2 kilometers of pitch-black passageways with an experience to get up close and personal to a mini-exhibit of thousands of bats in the cave. The entrance fee is RM25 and RM35, for children and adults, respectively.
The public square plaza at the foot of the hill is a perfect spot for Instagram-worthy photoshoots albeit quite challenging to find a location without a huge crowd in the background. There are always people taking snapshots of someone or having a selfie with their monopods anywhere you point the lens to. Timing and perfect angling, however, works great in a lot of ways.
From this point, the 140-ft. statue of Lord Murugan, which is known to be the tallest statue in the country, is such a sight to behold. Batu Caves was constructed around the 1890s when K. Thamboosamy Pillai, an Indian Hindu, promoted the cave as a place of worship dedicated to Lord Murugan. Since then, the place was used to celebrate the Thaipusam Festival. Thirty years after, they constructed the wooden steps to reach the Temple Cave and eventually redeveloped the 272 steps into a concrete stairway. Just last year, the steps were painted with vivid polychromatic colors that made the tourist attraction more inviting. But although Batu Caves started in the 1890s, the world's tallest statue of Hindu deity Murugan was only constructed in 2003 and was made public three years after its completion.
One of my favorite photoshoot spots in the public square plaza is the eye-catching, brightly colored structure called Ganesha, Shiva, and Shakti Temple. The temple was constructed as a homage to Lord Ganesha, the god of new beginnings, success, and wisdom; and his father Shiva, the destroyer of evil. The temple was closed at that time and I didn't get the chance to take pictures inside, but the exterior of the building itself is already a feast for the eyes. I have learned, however, that inside the temple can be seen the shrine of the elephant-headed Lord Ganesha and is the first deity that devotees worship before they visit other temples in Batu Caves. Being the "remover of obstacles" and "god of beginnings," worshiping Ganesha at the start of rites and ceremonies has been the practice of many Hindu followers. At the second level of the building is where the shrine of Shiva is located, depicted as Lord Nataraja, which has another shrine at the Main Temple Cave right next to Lord Murugan Temple.
The amazing, intricately designed temples and psychedelic Indian architecture are not the only great subjects for photography but most importantly, its animal inhabitants that freely roam around the temple complex. The public square plaza is a home for thousands of pigeons feeding on the concrete pathways that lead to the welcome arch. While they are completely harmless, it's best to watch out for pigeon droppings along the way. My friend Mohd Amin decided to stay on the ground, however, but encouraged me to carry on so I will be able to experience a once-in-a-lifetime adventure to see Hindu temples outside of India. I left him at the public square plaza where there are a lot of restaurants nearby that he can go to while waiting for me.
Batu Caves is a sacred place and a religious site, and although there is no dress code that is strictly imposed when visiting the cave, it would be good to be mindful of what to wear especially if you intend to get to the various temples. Malaysia is a Muslim country and foreign visitors are expected to dress to the same standards as their locals. The same general protocol is expected when visiting Batu Caves since it is a holy site for Hindus. Dressing up appropriately wouldn't hurt, and have great respect for other cultures and traditions. In case you came unprepared, however, there are batiks and sarongs that you can purchase (or even rent) at nearby stalls which you can use to cover some exposed skin.
The real adventure starts at the very first tread of the 272 concrete steps. The first challenge is to get through a sea of people who normally converge at the first few steps where you will encounter thousands of different reasons why the initial upward flow is incredibly slow. There are these people who are (1) indecisive, and it takes them forever to decide whether or not to carry on with the climb. Some visitors who have weak knees, with heart conditions, or obese try a few steps and if they feel like they can't go on, they all stop in the middle unknowingly blocking others who are just starting to climb. There are also (2) slow climbers, who are taking one step a time while their other group members ahead of them stop in the middle to wait for them. This is especially true for tour groups who climb the cave in batches or groups of families who are on vacation. Lastly, there are also these (3) people who take selfies, groupies, and taking pictures of almost everything that they see along the way... me, included! There were several instances where I suddenly stop in the middle, change the aperture and time value settings in my camera, and that's when I realize I'm blocking the way. Whatever the reasons are, climbing the 272 steps is really fun!
When the paths have finally cleared, the next great battle is to get through a tribe of long-tailed macaques who may pose a hazard to visitors. These territorial monkeys may not be as harmful as they appear but if they are ignored and you keep a distance from them, they don't normally take aggressive action on anyone who is just passing by. One reason that they may ambush anyone is when a visitor has food in hand or hidden in bags that they may try to snatch it or may even bite a visitor who resists. Some visitors, however, bring bananas intended to be fed on them although locals highly recommend not to fraternize with these non-domesticated monkeys. Taking pictures does not intimidate them but I recommend turning off the flash so it wouldn't agitate them, especially the mother monkeys who carry their young to look for food, and are the easily threatened ones when they smell danger in their immediate environment.
Depending on your agility and the obstacles that may slow down your climb, reaching the top may take 5-10 minutes. It took me 12 minutes to climb because I spend more time focusing my lenses and pressing the shutter button than taking continuous ascending steps. But when I reached the top, my jaw dropped upon seeing the magnificent beauty of nature in this massive cavern formed by these 400 million years old limestones. Upon entering the cave with a ceiling as high as 350 feet, darkness slowly creeps in and the only illumination in the area is from a temple standing at the left from the mouth of the cave.
I descended a few steps from some 4 platforms below the entrance and I found myself in front of the Sri Velayuthar Temple with its gleaming lights. On its left is the Temple Cave where K. Thamboosamy Pillai, the Indian wealthy businessman who promoted Batu Caves to be a place of worship in 1890, set the murti of Sri Murugan Swami in place which then became the festival site of Thaipusam. I wanted to go inside the Main Temple but I saw numerous signs that visitors who are wearing shoes are not allowed entry. Some take off their footwear and leave them on an unmanned repository by its entrance gate, but I wasn't really comfortable leaving my sneakers at that time.
I climbed the 268 steps to reach the Tian Tian Buddha in Ngong Ping, Hong Kong last year but I didn't feel the urge to drink water after reaching the top. This time, however, I felt a little drained and thirsty but I don't have a bottle of water to quench my thirst. It would really be a good idea to bring something to drink but just beware of the monkey thieves as they really snatch things like bats out of hell. Another thing that I noticed was that I was gasping for breath and I was feeling a little dizzy. I assumed that it was because air circulation is slower in enclosed chambers and since there is an elevated carbon dioxide concentration in caves, it corresponds to a depletion in oxygen level. Perhaps it's because I am a novice to caving that the experience is giving me accelerated breathing and heart rate. I also suspected that the sense of fatigue and exhaustion that I was feeling was because of the strong, pungent smell of decomposing organic deposits. Or perhaps it's what limestones really smell like.
I was in awe witnessing how the devotees are performing worship rituals and offering devotional homage to the deities that I can't help but feel some deep admiration and high regard to Hindus. It was a little disappointing, however, to see trash everywhere, like empty water bottles and soda cans, which may have been left by visitors unintentionally or littered by some apathetic people who weren't concerned about how this rubbish desecrates this holy place. I spent some time taking tons of pictures in the area when a friendly solo traveler approached me and asked a favor to take pictures of him using the Main Temple as its backdrop. These are the times when they gladly return the favor and you get the chance to have your own photographs too, which you can show everyone that you really have been to amazing places like these. Big thanks to the stranger (whom I didn't ask his name) for this great picture of me with Sri Velayuthar Temple.
Alongside this wide expanse of worship area is another platform at the far side of the cave. I ascended into a few steps and found myself at the deepest part of the sacred site, the Lord Murugan Temple, constructed in 1890 and is constantly renovated. This atrium chamber is illuminated brightly by natural light from the rays of the sun coming from the cavity above the cave. It was said that the roof of this cave has collapsed some time ago which made a natural cavern illuminating the area. Certain ceremonious rituals such as abishekam or pooja are being performed to devotees and visitors for a considerable amount of token fee. A hundial is installed at the center of the temple which serves as a collection box for services and offerings. Apart from Thaipusam Festival, the Pongal Celebration, a non-religious Indian festival observed by the Tamil community in Malaysia, is also being held at times in Sri Valli Theivanai Subramaniyar Sannathi Temple where they perform rituals for a 4-day celebration.
At the right side of the atrium is the Shrine of Lord Nataraja, with its classical form of the depiction of the Hindu god Shiva as the lord of dance and dramatic arts. The sculpture shows Shiva in a Natya Shashtra pose with his backhands holding Agni and damaru and front hands in gaja hastra and abhaya mudras, His wife Parvati, the protector, destroyer, and regenerator of the universe and all life, is also shown on his left. The splendor of Batu Caves and the greatness of its natural beauty is appreciated more when observed from this area. The sound of the meditation chants that can be heard all over the cave makes this experience more tranquil, peaceful, and spiritual in nature.
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