Batu Caves

Batu Caves is a limestone hill, which has a series of caves and cave temples, just north of Kuala Lumpur. It takes its name from the Sungai Batu or Batu River, which flows past the hill. Promoted as a place of worship in the late 1800's, the cave is one of the most popular Hindu shrines outside India. Dedicated to Lord Murugan, it is the focal point of the Hindu festival of Thaipusam in Malaysia. The limestone forming Batu Caves is said to be around 400 million years old.
We had heard a lot of conflicting reports about the value of a visit to this oft promoted local attraction but since it is so close by and we had time on a Saturday afternoon, we decided to make a pilgrimage ourselves.


The entrance to the temple complex; the colors and carvings on the gate are very typical of Indian or Hindu temples.

Daddy and Conrad prepare for the journey.

272 steps up....The gold statue is the world's tallest (140 ft. tall) of Lord Murugan. It is covered in 300 litres of gold paint, brought from Thailand.

This is one of the shrines at the base of the steps. Most of the adjacent shrines relate the story of Lord Murugan's victory over the demon Soorapadam. Aparently the Hindus believe big bellies are good; maybe after 42 years as a Catholic it's time for me to become a Hindu...I fit the part.

Up we go.

Apparently the 6 mile run I did that morning wasn't enough: I had the dumb idea that this should be done with a 24 pound baby strapped to one's chest. Thankfully when we got to the top we found this instruction:

(I'm liking this Hindu idea more and more...)
The cave is quite large and as such is difficult to photograph but here is a view of the entrance.

One walks through the main cave to additional caves at the other end.

There really isn't much to see. The temples that have been constructed are small and simple. And quite dirty and poorly kept, it seemed to us.  But the monkeys are plentiful (I feared these children might be carried off if they didn't hand out their peanuts fast enough)

and the sunshine was beautiful as it shown through the chimneys in the ceiling.

Time to head back down. What an amazing view; impossible to imagine how much it has changed over the last 120 years.

It was really surprising how dirty the site was, considering it is such a sacred place. In their defense, Thaipusam, the festival commemorating the occasion when Parvati gave Murugan a vel (spear) so he could vanquish the evil Soorapadman, was recently celebrated. As the festival often attracts over one million devotees and tens of thousands of tourists, I can imagine that it might take a little while to get the house back in order, but much of the trash and debris around looked more like the sort of everyday housekeeping that just was not getting done.
As a whole, if you are planning an itinerary to visit KL, (I know, I am always lobbying for visitors!), unless you are Hindu and a fan of Murugan, or you are just really needing to climb 272 stairs on a really hot day, I would skip this one. And go to Kuala Gandah instead!