VISITING THE BATU CAVES + EATING INDIAN FOOD - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
This is a travel video of us visiting the
Batu Caves and then feasting on a glorious
Indian meal in an area that is 13 km north of
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Visiting the temples at an early time of the day turned out to be blessing as we beat all of the tour groups to the Batu Caves. Prior to climbing the 272 steps we noticed a huge flock of pigeons feeding nearby.
Monkeys were everywhere scurrying about and generally being cheeky while eating, fighting and breeding.
Once to the top we noticed quite a few chickens and rosters feeding inside. After a short time we could hear
Hindu traditional music from several talented musicians.
Finally, we rewarded ourselves with a glorious
Indian feast. The final clip is of a time lapse sequence near the main entrance of the Batu Caves.
Batu Caves (
Tamil: பத்து மலை), is a limestone hill, which has a series of caves and cave temples, in the
Gombak district, 13 kilometres (8 mi) north of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It takes its name from the Sungai
Batu or Batu
River, which flows past the hill. Batu Caves is also the name of the nearby village.
The cave is one of the most popular Hindu shrines outside
India, dedicated to
Lord Murugan. It is the focal
point of
Hindu festival of Thaipusam in
Malaysia.
The limestone forming Batu Caves is said to be around 400 million years old. Some of the cave entrances were used as shelters by the indigenous
Temuan people (a tribe of
Orang Asli).
Batu Caves was promoted as a place of worship by
K. Thamboosamy Pillai, an
Indian trader. He was inspired by the 'vel'-shaped entrance of the main cave and was inspired to dedicate a temple to Lord Murugan within the caves. In 1890, Pillai, who also founded the
Sri Mahamariamman Temple, Kuala Lumpur, installed the murti (consecrated statue) of Sri Subramania
Swamy in what is today known as the
Temple Cave. Since 1892, the
Thaipusam festival in the
Tamil month of
Thai (which falls in late January/early February) has been celebrated there.
Wooden steps up to the Temple Cave were built in
1920 and have since been replaced by 272 concrete steps. Of the various cave temples that comprise the site, the largest and best known is the Temple or
Cathedral Cave, so named because it houses several Hindu shrines beneath its high vaulted ceiling.
Rising almost
100 m above the ground, the Batu Caves temple complex consists of three main caves and a few smaller ones. The biggest, referred to as Cathedral Cave or Temple Cave, has a very high ceiling and features ornate Hindu shrines. To reach it, visitors must climb a steep flight of 272 steps.
At the base of the hill are two more cave temples,
Art Gallery Cave and
Museum Cave, both of which are full of Hindu statues and paintings. This complex was renovated and opened as the Cave
Villa in 2008. Many of the shrines relate the story of Lord Murugan's victory over the demon Soorapadam. An audio tour is available to visitors.
The Ramayana Cave is situated to the extreme left as one faces the sheer wall of the hill.
On the way to the
Ramayana Cave, there is a 50-foot (15 m) tall statue of
Hanuman and a temple dedicated to Hanuman, the noble monkey devotee and aide of
Lord Rama. The consecration ceremony of the temple was held in
November 2001.
The Ramayana Cave depicts the story of Rama in a chronicle manner along the irregular walls of the cave.
A 42.7-metre (
140 ft) high statue of Lord Murugan was unveiled in
January 2006, having taken 3 years to construct. It is the tallest Lord Murugan statue in the world.
Batu Caves serves as the focus of the Hindu community's yearly Thaipusam (Tamil: தைபூசம்) festival. It has become a pilgrimage site for not only
Malaysian Hindus, but Hindus worldwide from countries such as India,
Australia and
Singapore.
A procession begins in the wee hours of the morning on Thaipusam from the Sri Mahamariamman Temple, Kuala Lumpur leading up to Batu Caves as a religious place.
Batu Caves is easily reached by Komuter train using the
Batu Caves-Port Klang Route, costing
RM 2 for a one-way journey from
KL Sentral. Batu Caves may also be reached by bus 11/11d from
Bangkok Bank Terminus (
Near to
Puduraya Terminus) or bus U6 from
Titiwangsa:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batu_Caves
This is part of our
Travel in Malaysia series. We're making a series of videos showcasing
Malaysian culture, arts, food, religion and people.
Proudly presented by: http://nomadicsamuel.com , http://smilingfacestravelphotos.com , http://thatbackpacker.com & http://backpacking-travel-blog.com
All photos and video taken by
Samuel Jeffery (
Nomadic Samuel) and
Audrey Bergner (That
Backpacker).
This video features the song ''
Latin Industries -
Kevin Macleod" available under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Commercial license.