A Visit to the Batu Caves

This past Sunday we made our way out to the famed Batu Caves on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur. The limestone caves are over 400 million years old and home to an amazing Hindu temple. One of the most popular Hindu temples outside of India, in fact! The temple is just over 120 years old, and has the tallest statue of the Hindu deity Lord Murugan in the world. We had heard that this was a must-see place, and we were very excited to go!

There are many different ways you can get out to the caves: the LRT (light-rail transit), taxi, car services (Uber, Grab), bus or of course, drive yourself. We decided to be good “locals” and take mass transit on the LRT. We woke up very early hoping to beat the crowds and the heat, and made our way to the station closest to our temporary housing. After a few stops we arrived at the main terminal called KL Sentral. From there, you catch the commuter train to Batu Caves. Now, we did not know this but there are “off-peak hours” and “peak hours”. During “off-peak hours” (which is when we went) the train only comes every 45  minutes, so we waited for a while. Then, once you are on the train it takes another 40 minutes to get to the caves. The LRT system in KL is great to get around, it is fairly clean, air-conditioned, easy to navigate and modern, but in this case I would not recommend it to get out to the caves unless you go during “peak hours”. During “peak hours” the train runs every 15 minutes, but that also means more crowds. When we finally arrived, it had taken us over an hour and half to get there, and it was already mid-morning. A little bit of a bummer, but we are figuring all of this out as we go…so we will chalk it up as a learning experience!

Walking up to the entrance of the caves

A beautiful peacock

Once we got to the Batu Caves, it was all worth it! The first sight you see is the enormous and breathtaking gold statue of Lord Murugan, who guards the base of the temple, and is surrounded by the jagged limestone. Then, in order to visit or worship in the temple you must climb the very steep 272 steps. This was actually the fun part because monkeys are all over the steps! They were so funny! They wait for people to feed them (which we were told NOT to do as they can get aggressive if you do), they just sit right on the railing and posts, and they can be a bit grabby. They are not shy and will try to grab at whatever you have if you hold it out. We actually saw a man feed one, and the monkey thought he had more so he was grabbing at the man, and the man slapped him! Too crazy, but made the steep trek pretty entertaining!

Lord Murugan

Monkey on the steps

Monkeys just hanging out!

Once at the top you really understand what makes this place so special, and why when it was discovered it was thought to be “other worldly”. The stalactites hang down dripping with water from previous rain storms into the cracks in the rock, and little openings at the top of the caves provide amazing views of the blue sky above and allow beams of light to come in. All shades of green grow out of the top of the cave, which only enhanced the vibrant colors of the Hindu statues inside. It was absolutely magical.

We saw multiple ceremonies going on inside, people worshipping and laying down their offerings. We were even there for the ringing of the bell and heard them sing, which in the cave, echoed lovely. No matter what your religion, there is a sense of peace, beauty, respect and awe when you are in such an amazing place of worship. We thoroughly enjoyed watching these Hindu practices.

Making our way down we saw the beautiful skyline of Kuala Lumpur in the distance, but it was hard to get a good photo as it was a bit hazy. We walked back down the steep steps, passed all the monkeys again, and this time decided to just call an Uber. It took us only 25 minutes to get back…thank goodness for modern conveniences! LOL!

Me at the entrance to the Batu Caves

Steep stairs leading in and out of the caves

Happy travels,

Courtney