You have to go visit the Batu Caves if you're in Kuala Lumpur. No, really. I insist.
I felt kind of like I was walking onto the set of a mega-budget Indiana Jones movie when the giant statues which guard the caves came into view. Didn't get a real sense of the spirituality of the place, possibly because this element of the caves was somewhat overwhelmed by the hordes of tourists swarming about the place taking pictures with electronic devices.
It remains an impressive place to visit, but even though you might imagine that it's been a place of worship for centuries, in fact the addition of the temple was a relatively recent occurrence. In fact the caves were only discovered at the end of the 1800's, and the shrine added in 1890 or thereabouts.
The caves themselves have been there for ages though, if that makes you feel any better.
And there are lots of monkeys cavorting about the place too. Everybody likes a monkey.
Take the Komuter train from KL Sentral to the end of the line to get here - it will cost you 1RM to go and 2RM to come back again, (crafty - they know you've got to cough up the dough once you're out at the caves with no other way back). There are other ways of course, buses work perfectly well, and our hotel advertised taxis for 45RM from the city centre so no doubt you can find considerably cheaper than that.
I felt kind of like I was walking onto the set of a mega-budget Indiana Jones movie when the giant statues which guard the caves came into view. Didn't get a real sense of the spirituality of the place, possibly because this element of the caves was somewhat overwhelmed by the hordes of tourists swarming about the place taking pictures with electronic devices.
It remains an impressive place to visit, but even though you might imagine that it's been a place of worship for centuries, in fact the addition of the temple was a relatively recent occurrence. In fact the caves were only discovered at the end of the 1800's, and the shrine added in 1890 or thereabouts.
And there are lots of monkeys cavorting about the place too. Everybody likes a monkey.
Take the Komuter train from KL Sentral to the end of the line to get here - it will cost you 1RM to go and 2RM to come back again, (crafty - they know you've got to cough up the dough once you're out at the caves with no other way back). There are other ways of course, buses work perfectly well, and our hotel advertised taxis for 45RM from the city centre so no doubt you can find considerably cheaper than that.
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