Shane loves animals and wanted to see wild monkeys. I took many photos of them when I visited Batu Caves five years ago for my baby niece’s Hindu blessing. I thought it was a brilliant idea to combine culture and animal adventure in one visit.
Batu Caves is a popular destination with thousands of worshippers and tourists. During the annual religious Thaipusam festival, thousands of devotees make the pilgrimage to commemorate the day when Pavarthi, the Hindu Goddess gave her son Lord Murugan a spear called “Vel” to destroy evil demons.
Witnessing Thaipusam festival in Batu Caves is something you shouldn’t miss out if you are truly interested in immersing into the rich diverse culture in Malaysia. However, we chose one of the quiet days to visit so we can have more time to enjoy the temples, art works and most importantly – feeding the monkeys.
Batu Caves is located in Gombak district of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The city is notorious for its traffic jam so we made sure we were up very early to get on a Grab Car to avoid it. The night before, I made Shane cut bananas to smaller pieces so we can feed more monkeys. It was still dark when we arrived and there was no one about. Part of the road and some shrines leading to the caves have been closed for construction.
We walked to the temple at the base of the limestone hill as the sun rose up illuminating the sky.
A very impressive 50 foot tall green statue of the Monkey God, Hanuman stands at the entrance of the Batu Caves.
This Hindu temple and shrine are part of the bigger temples there. A priest started the morning prayer and we stood respectfully in a corner of the temple to watch a handful of devotees going about their rituals.
Afterwards we climbed the 272 steps and planned to feed the monkeys along the way. Every 20 steps (I think) was a landing area to rest my weary legs. We called out to the monkeys (okay…I called for them. That made Shane laughed and probably scared them) but none came. It was irritating because I had promised Shane the wild monkeys and talked so much about them. To this day, he still remind me about the missing monkeys.
The climbing exertion with no breakfast winded me by the time we reached to the top. However, the quiet morning scene in the cave was mesmerizing. It was a huge cave with 3 main caverns. The largest is known as Temple Cave, which has a ceiling over 300 feet high. Inside the lighted cave, we found various Hindu shrines and ornate depictions bringing legends to life. There was sunlight coming through the cave opening above. Combined with ringing temple bells, they automatically made us whisper and walked quietly.
There was a smaller shrine as we walked further into the interior of the cave. We watched a priest prepared a shower ritual for the deities with milk. He invited us to participate with milk offering. After a lengthy ceremony, he blessed us with ashes on our foreheads. The priest came from India and couldn’t speak English nor Malay (national language of Malaysia) so we used sign language to convey our appreciations.
Walking down the steps were easier but still no monkeys!
Shane decided to place pieces of banana on the railings and steps in hope they will show up eventually when we were gone. At least we hope so as it was not our intent to litter the place.
What to do before heading to Batu Caves:
- Plan your trip. Google online to see status of venue.
- For ladies, make sure not to wear shorts and tank top out of respect for the custom. I had a long sleeve shirt over my sleeveless blouse when entering the temple. No singlets for men, please.
- Travel around 10:30 am. This avoid the morning rush hour traffic and second work shift.
- Have a light breakfast prior to trip. I was hoping to have my breakfast in one of the restaurants available at the foot of the hill but didn’t consider they will be closed during the temple renovation.
- Take your shoes off when entering the temple on the base of the hill. It’s always good to carry a recycle bag (or plastic bag) so you can put your shoes in it.
…and YES! The monkeys were Real!
at least from my previous visit about 5 years ago.
