Today my goal was to revisit Batu Caves, just under an hour outside KL. these caves are considered a major tourist attraction as well as being the sight of a very important Hindu shrine. From my last visit what I remember most is the all encompassing blackness of the Dark Cave, the most extreme lack of light possible according to our guide. As someone who has always been afraid of the dark it is this aspect of Batu Caves that is most imprinted in my brain. Now the Dark Cave is closed for the foreseeable future, no reason given but I wasn't planning on going back in there anyway, once was more than enough! But I remember the massive cave shrine kindly, and I definitely recall that my companion and I were the only ones there the day we visited.
Today the hoards were there en masse.
The first shock comes in the walk from the train station to the entrance to the caves. There is an overwhelming stench of excrement and urine, and the hawkers and stalls and piles of rubbish do nothing to lighten the impression of neglect. Then arriving at the base of the steps you are greeted by traders screaming at women who have failed to cover their legs, so RM5 is passed over to be loaned a shawl of some sort. Then you tackle the 272 steps up to the caves, doing your best to avoid the feral monkeys darting all over the place trying to snatch food from visitors, and you get to the top and ..... and what, it's just a huge cave with a few shrines dotted about. Oh dear, considering how important this shrine is to Hindus you would think that some effort would be made into cleaning it up and making it more informative for visitors.
And then, when you flee back downto the entrance you find yourself surrounded by self obsessed selfie takers, all bunny ears and pouts and jumps and look at me me me me, you really do get the impression that people are there just to tick things off a list and have their photo taken in front of x y and z but have no interest in where they are visiting other than to say: look I was there, aren't I just amazing!
In all honesty, if you want to see a wonderful Hindu shrine in KL then go to the one I posted about yesterday, the Sri Maha Mariamman Temple in Chinatown KL. Oddly enough this one and Batu Caves are run by the same group, hard to believe.
The afternoon was spent trying to find the highly regarded Perdana Botanical Gardens. Needless to say it wasn't where the books indicated, many people were less than interested I helping me, and when I eventually got there it made me realised how spoilt we are I. London with our magnificent open spaces.
Not the best flashpacking day I've had, but hey ho, the relaxing by the pool when I got back was just wonderful and exactly what this poor old dear needed!
Lots of photos tonight, mainly taken at Batu, but a couple at the Gardens, and a couple of the rather creepy connecting walkway between the 2 nearby stations I use.
Happy days!
Today the hoards were there en masse.
The first shock comes in the walk from the train station to the entrance to the caves. There is an overwhelming stench of excrement and urine, and the hawkers and stalls and piles of rubbish do nothing to lighten the impression of neglect. Then arriving at the base of the steps you are greeted by traders screaming at women who have failed to cover their legs, so RM5 is passed over to be loaned a shawl of some sort. Then you tackle the 272 steps up to the caves, doing your best to avoid the feral monkeys darting all over the place trying to snatch food from visitors, and you get to the top and ..... and what, it's just a huge cave with a few shrines dotted about. Oh dear, considering how important this shrine is to Hindus you would think that some effort would be made into cleaning it up and making it more informative for visitors.
And then, when you flee back downto the entrance you find yourself surrounded by self obsessed selfie takers, all bunny ears and pouts and jumps and look at me me me me, you really do get the impression that people are there just to tick things off a list and have their photo taken in front of x y and z but have no interest in where they are visiting other than to say: look I was there, aren't I just amazing!
In all honesty, if you want to see a wonderful Hindu shrine in KL then go to the one I posted about yesterday, the Sri Maha Mariamman Temple in Chinatown KL. Oddly enough this one and Batu Caves are run by the same group, hard to believe.
The afternoon was spent trying to find the highly regarded Perdana Botanical Gardens. Needless to say it wasn't where the books indicated, many people were less than interested I helping me, and when I eventually got there it made me realised how spoilt we are I. London with our magnificent open spaces.
Not the best flashpacking day I've had, but hey ho, the relaxing by the pool when I got back was just wonderful and exactly what this poor old dear needed!
Lots of photos tonight, mainly taken at Batu, but a couple at the Gardens, and a couple of the rather creepy connecting walkway between the 2 nearby stations I use.
Happy days!
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