12-12-2007    Wednesday



 

1 9th December 2007 Sunday 4:05 PM From Johor Bahru to Kuala Lumpur

Sight seeing :

 

2 10th December 2007 Monday Hop on Hop off  Bus tour of Kuala Lumpur City

Chinese Temple, Hindu Temple

KLCC

3 11th December 2007 Tuesday 10:00 AM Istana Negara (National Palace)

12:00 - 1:00 PM Eye on Malaysia

7:00 - 11:00 PM Christmas Magical Fairies in Mid Valley Megamall

4 12th December 2007 Wed 11:00 - 2:00 PM Lord Muruga Status and 272 steps to Holy Caves
5 13th December 2007 Thu A day of discovery and excitement in Sunway Lagoon
6 14th December 2007 Friday Hop on - Hop Off City Tour to National Museum
7 15th December 2007 Sat Butterfly Park, Kuala Lumpur
8 16th December 2007 Sunday Genting Highlands Indoor Theme Park
9 17th December 2007 Monday Genting Outdoor Theme Park
10 18th December 2007 Tuesday Johore Bahru
11 19th December 2007 Wednesday Home sweet home
The Batu Caves
   
Beneath the Status of Lord Muruga....
....are happy children feeding pigeons.

Children feeding pigeons at the square in front Lord Muruga. Thousand pigeons here! These pigeons are

 
not really scared of people. These birds walk on the ground steadily.
Few other families also buying bread crumbs and seed grain from the nearby stalls to feed the pigeons. Rm 1.00

“Feeding pigeons” has become an activity on its own at Batu Caves among the children. Each child spreading grains on the ground, competing who could attract the biggest flock of pigeons around.
 

Temple Cave
   
Temple Cave
The largest cave
 12 December 2007 WED 1:07PM

Temple Cave is the main tourist attraction at Batu Caves, and is usually the only cave that the visitors see -- after climbing the 272 stairs

Temple Cave (Cathedral Cave) is the largest cave at 400 meters long and 100 meters high.

This is the cave every visitor reached after the staircase with 272 steps. It is a sacred place.

In the cave, the annual Hindu Thaipusam festival celebrated. Last year (2006) the festival had 1.5 million participants.

 

 
   
  Climbing the grueling 272 steps up to the caverns each day are thousands of visitors from all corners. This Batu Caves are important Hindu
  religious sites outside of India.

Eight miles north of Kuala Lumpur City, Batu Caves attract thousands of visitors a day to climb the grueling 272 steps up to the caverns.

The Caves are a focal point for Hindu Malaysians during Thaipusam. In the caves house a 113-year-old temple, with an interesting array of Hindu artwork and shrines.

Every year during the Hindu festival of Thaipusam, the Batu Caves attract more than a million devotees and spectators. An eight-hour procession of music and ceremony leaves offerings before a giant statue of Lord Murugan, the Hindu God of War.

Approaching the caves, the first thing visitor see is a towering golden statue of Lord Murugan completed in 2006, this statue is the largest in the world dedicated to the deity Murugan.

Load Muruan stands guard to the 272 leg-burning steps that lead up to the cave entrances.

Resting points along the stairs provide nice views of the suburbs of Kuala Lumpur.

 


The Batu Caves tourist spot is thirteen kilometers (seven miles) north of Kuala Lumpur.

The caves are sacred place for the Hindu's in Malaysia.

This holy area consist of three main caves and a number of smaller ones. The caves of limestone.

They were discovered in 1892.

From town center tourists can reach the Batu Caves by taxi or public bus (11 and 11d). The public busses can be boarded at the Pudu Raya Bus Terminal in Kuala Lumpur.

Climb 272 steps will lead you to the religious and magnificent Temple Caves.

North of Kuala Lumpur located the Batu Caves, a holy land to Hindus and closely related to the Hindu temple we  visited 2 days ago. The blend of light and shade inside the caves, together with the sacred atmosphere created by the smoke of incense

How to get there :

We took taxi between Citus Hotel and Batu Caves. The going fare was Rm20.00 while returning was charged Rm25.00

We visited this famous Batu Caves Muruga temple, a breath-taking natural limestone cave several hundred feet up the side of a cliff.

Monkeys and pigeons  at Batu Caves

Untamed and yet tamed with the presence of visitors walking up and down Batu Caves 272 steps, most of them are just loitering around. Some cunning ones would do a trick or two to steal peanuts, while others waited to be feed by generous visitors.
 

Pigeon and bat poop everywhere in the caves.

Monkeys everywhere. One hisses at us . Saw several mommies with the babies hanging off them.

Yin  enjoy feeding the monkeys, pigeons. The generously fed flocks of pigeons swamp the courtyard  of the temple. The pigeons are tame and they give way to passing visitors graciously.

The Batu caves are a Hindu holy place that encompasses a few smaller Hindu shrines. There's 272 steps numbered all the way to the top. But  there are  more steps to continue inside the cave.

There's a small curio store and a couple of stalls that sells things including a place to buy drinks.

We arrived around 11am and the previous night was a rainy night so the heat wasn't a killer and the climb up was a lot easier than I expected. The climb down might be a little unnerving for those that get mild vertigo, the stairs are quite steep.

Take lots of pictures as there's a lot to see in the cave and out of the cave. The art is just fantastic. The caves are huge. They spiral up and up, with open jags in the ceiling letting in light and birds.

Lord Muruga Status and 272 steps to the Holy Caves

The incredible huge Batu Caves  take 272 steps up.

Filled with Hindu temples and amazing Hindu arts.

On Thaipusam festival each year over 700,000 Hindu devotees from all over Malaysia and India come there to worship Lord Muruga. The Load Muruga Status (right of photo) is the tallest Load Muruga Status in the world.


Batu Caves Hindu Temple located north Kuala Lumpur. Set in limestone cliffs hidden in the jungle, the caves have been transformed into a Hindu shrine since their discovery last century.

We climbed 272 steps to top. According legend for each step you take you are forgiven a sin. If you have less than 272 sins committed, you can have your future sins forgiven.

We walked into the cave. It was huge circular hall, half the size of a football field, with high ceiling. Across the hall was another cave; this one was like an exceptionally tall chimney with the top open to sky.

There were various statues of Hindu gods and small shrine at the far end. We saw Hindu worshippers from Malaysia and India.

we took a seat by the gift shop and watched pigeons in the yard. Many tourists were feeding the pigeons that flocked around them.


My hairs are too long and began to feel uncomfortable. Time to have a hair cut and there is a ANDY'S saloon right in the compound of Batu Caves entrance where Hindu devotees from all over Malaysia come for their hair cut by  barbers of the Holy Land.  A good place for my hair cut too ? I went...

"How much for cutting hair?....."

"Rm 12 cutting,  Rm 10 shaving ...."

"OK Rm 10..."  I selected this low cost one.......................the Hindu barber is an expert and in less then 5 minutes......and look at what I got, a new hair style for the first time in life.  see photo below........

BEFORE and AFTER

At 12:00 noon I changed my hair style for the first time at the famous barber shop in Batu Caves.

Before making the 272 steps, very often Hindu devotees shave their heads bald as a symbol of humility and atonement. But I am completely unqualified as a devotee though my head happen to be like one.



Several Indian vegetarian restaurants at Batu Caves. We tried the popular roti canai and teh tarik. You can try many types of ingredients in roti like egg, onions, banana, sardine, butter and so on. Roti Canai is an Indian Pancake that  serve with curry for dipping. There are also different flavor of Roti Canai that contains ingredients such as butter, banana, egg and onions.

It is not easy to make a roti canai. the Indian cook flipping and spinning the roti canai to make it flat and thin. He has to flip the dough for many times only  to get the shape of a roti canai. The fold the roti canai and fried on the iron griddle.

The most difficult part will be the flipping process of the dough, make sure it is thin enough and do not break or create a hole in the dough. And this is the most interesting moment for Yin, the little girl,  to watch.


After Batu Caves we return to Citus Hotel where we had a reservation and left our luggage since the morning.   The room is spacious with a view of the magnificent world famous Twin Towers

We stayed 3 nights in Citus  Hotel  with good view. Just 5 minutes walk to LRT stations  and  a shopping mall. I asked to have room  with good view and the staff did not disappointed me by giving me a room in high floor with excellent view on Petronas Towers. Its room 1007

Overall Citus Hotel is a good experience for my family because good location, excellent breakfast (a massive choice of different food:), a great pool just for only me and my daughter. (we went at late evening when no one else is using the pool)

After checking in the Citus Hotel we left the 2 children to sleep in the room while 2 of us took the LRT to China Town to buy some children cloths before picking up our laundry we left for washing the previous day.

It was almost 7:30 pm and the Night Market already crowded.  Those stall selling in the middle of the road need to bargain hard. As Shirley did not like to argue over price for small things we chose to buy from the shops with price tag. We found PUSAT PAKAIAN HARI-HARI  Shop No: 95 at Jalan Petaling has large verity of children items. Alone with some children clothing's I bought a school bag for Yin for Rm 18.90.  This is a trolley school beg with 2 rollers, a favorite among  the small school children back home.

A few shop away the PAKAIAN EKONOMI KAWANKU Shop No: 99 is a similar shop also with large verity of economy clothing's.  We bought a few item from that shop last afternoon.

The above 3 photos were taken on my first day and last day at the hotel room at tree different time of the day evening, night and dawn.


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