Batu Caves (Part One)

I took advantage of the good morning weather in Kuala Lumpur to get to the places I wanted to see. One of the primary locations I had been recommend were the Batu Caves. A friend had told me to get some bananas at the bottom of the caves and take them up into the caves, which is what I planned to do, unaware that my friend had tried to set me up for a monkey mugging, but I'll get to that a little bit later.

The drive from Kuala Lumpur to Batu Caves is relatively easy if you don't over think it and there is a train station right next to the cave complex. I over thought the entire thing, so was looking for the temple on the GPS and in the maps, via Google Maps, and other tourist maps I had available, but I was concerned that there is also a suburb called Batu Caves. I could not tell if I were just being guided to the suburb or the temple complex. In the end, I placed my trust in Tourism Malaysia as I had seen signs to Batu Caves on my way into Kuala Lumpur from Kuantan. It took me only a short time to find these signs again.

When facing the complex, to the extreme left is the Ramayana Cave which holds a range of Hindu statues and pleasant lighting, but when I arrived, the large warning signs out the front and the restricted access put me off going in as it looked like it was being renovated. No one else went anywhere near it and even when I spoke to the guys at the Hanuman Temple, they could not tell me if the cave was open or closed for work. I had not yet seen the arrogance and ignorance of many of the Western (and Chinese) tourists on site, so I refrained from investigating for fear of insulting someone or causing trouble.

50 foot tall figure of Hanuman

Hanuman, the monkey trickster and Hindu deity, was the first temple I stopped at and probably appropriately warned me of what I was in for later. You know who your real friends are - those who try to catch you out when you are a tourist in a foreign country so they can get the good stories. I watched a guy try to get a monkey to take the photo he wanted by bribing it with a banana, but it didn't go well. He thought the monkey he was facing was the only monkey he had to deal with, but within minutes, he was swamped by a pack of about a dozen who clambered all over him to get the single banana. At first, I thought about helping him, but he was with a group of friends who were being no help at all and I left them to figure it out themselves.

One of the things I have learnt while travelling is not to get involved if you can help it.

Approach to the Art Gallery Cave and Museum Cave

I had all good intentions to see the other caves and investigate what was in them, but I wasn't really interested in watching dances or listen to chanting. Intellectually, I find these things interesting, but I really wanted to get up into the main cave to take a look. The Entrance Shrine was gorgeous to look at, but when I was there I didn't get too close as they were hosing the place down and I didn't want to get wet (although with the temperature, I understood why these guys were hosing things down and walking around in robes just covering bottom halves).

Entrance Shrine at Batu Caves

To the right of this image is a fortified store with banana and coconuts available for purchase, but they don't look the normal quality of fruits here in Malaysia and the guard out the front is not there to watch for people. The monkey's make sly passes every now and then and the guard is keeping his eye on them. There are no warnings anywhere for the tourists, but I was already watching those monkeys with wariness. They were also keeping a watchful eye on me.

One of the monkey muggers sounding me out

I purchased a bunch of bananas on a pink cord and asked the guy at the stall what the safest way to carry them was. He shrugged and told me to tie them to my belt, but I am pretty good at noticing those furtive glances between guards and the locals smiles. When the monkeys weren't looking, I stuffed two banana deep into my backpack and put the rest of the bunch in an external pouch in my backpack - out of view, I thought, but perhaps not realising their sniffing skills.

I moved toward the entrance to the Temple Cave and the impressive red and white painted stairway only to realise I was being followed. Perhaps tracked and herded would be more appropriate terms. I had a pack of monkeys, convinced I had bananas, trying to get behind me, but my martial arts multiple attacker sparring training came in handy and I was able to divest myself of the bunch of bananas quickly while sparing myself the monkey mugging I got to see happen around the place to less well trained tourists.

I wasn't stupid enough to try to give them courteously to the monkeys either - I threw them off into the distance for the monkeys to chase. I dropped one at my feet and backed off and when the bunch was complete (except the two I had stashed) I made a big show of being very sorry I had no more and put the last bits in a bin nearby. Like pretending to pick up a stone and throw it at a pack of dogs (of which there was a pack in the car park I had to tend to later), the monkeys were fooled and assumed they had got all I had.

At this point, I am noticing that an English couple are under attack a hundred meters away by about twenty of the monkeys, who had climbed onto the girl and were looting the bananas from her. She was bleeding as they dug their claws into her to hold on. Her clothes were not tough enough to stop them and when the guy moved to rescue her, several of them bared sharp teeth and then jumped on him as well. I decided I had come off reasonably well and cursed my friend for not warning me. On the other hand, I would probably have done the same to him, so I figured this made us even.




Entrance to the Temple Cave



140 foot statue of Lord Murugan (the worlds tallest)

The statue of Lord Murugan is impressive and can be seen from most places across the complex. You don't really get a good idea of how big it is until you are up in the temple complex itself and can look out and see the view that Murugan has over the surrounding land. I have found things always look much taller when you look down from the top rather up from the bottom.

Batu Caves stairway to heaven (all 200 plus steps)

The steps are quite narrow, but the red and white paint does help you keep a close watch on where your feet are. Many people I saw started off strongly, powering up them only to falter toward the middle section. There are three "lanes" but the middle lane had been closed for cleaning while I was there. The best thing for me was that I can walk up steps without watching my feet, so I noticed the monkey's sitting on the edges watching the tourists with some serious anticipation. I chose to remain in the centre of the stairway on the way up, avoiding what I was to witness along the way.

Monkey waiting to grab something from someone on the way past

This monkey waited looking cute and allowing photos until a girl got too close and then he stole her hair clip and ran off with it. Others, also posing for photographs, were spotters for the tourists who had made it this far with food. What the tourists failed to see were the other dozen monkeys on the outside of the wall waiting in silence for the sign to attack. While I walked up these steps I got to see a dozen monkey muggings and they didn't just steal food. I watched one take a guys watch while he tried to take a photo of a monkey. Another snatched a mobile phone and another acted as a diversion while a tourist's pockets were searched. I had to wonder if some of them had been trained and were returning their winnings to someone in the complex.

Not at the same height, but you get the idea of how big Lord Murugan is

Pausing to turn back is not just useful to catch your breath as the view can also be breath-taking. I was not quite at the same height at the top of the Murugan statue, but it still gives a good idea of just how tall it is with the city in the background and the size of the people approaching the Temple Cave lanes as they lead to the steps.