Monkey see, monkey do, MONKEY POO!
Woke up at the ungodly hour of 5am this morning in the sweltering heat and felt horribly jet-lagged. It was so hot that I couldn't even sleep with any sheets on top of me so I just lay there on top of my hostel sheets and hoped like heck the fan wouldn't give out.
Eventually, we got up and went out for our requisite roti canai and super-sweetened condensed milk tea and set out on our merry way.
We hopped on a bus and rode for 45 minutes to the outskirts of the city. We passed by fruit stands, curry stands, laksa and noodle houses and a bazillion little houses with coconut trees growing in the front of them. Eventually, the bus pulled up to this little soda/water tent in the middle of nowhere and dropped us off. I looked around and spotted these cliffs which i assumed were what we were trying to get to.
As we neared the cliffs, I could see that these were no ordinairy cliffs. A few blocks more, and we had reached a colourful gateway laden with carvings of shiva, vishnu, elephants, peacocks and bulls. I lead the way through the gates.
We had made it to the famed Batu caves.
Past the gateway, a giant walkway led up to the 272 steps that would take us into the first of three caves. Various stands selling flower garlands and incense were present at the bottom of the stairs and stray dogs and barefoot children were running around. In the background, up against the cliffs and overlooking the entire scene was a gigantic golden figurine of some Hindu god or another.
I was the first of the four of us to make it up the steps. I guess having an apartment on the 3rd floor for the last two years has made me rather stair-savvy. I got to the top and halted before entering the first cave. Actually, it was more like a giant cavern and the entrance was several stories high. Grey and white doves soared in and out amongst the dripping limestone and ferns. It was dark inside but somewhere, there must have been a gap in the rocks because giant streams of light shot down, illuminating a strange stone altar where a priest seemed to be doing some sort of anointing ceremony on a couple.
Stairs led downwards into the bowels of the cave where figurines and carvings of Hindu gods were laid out on little platforms. I could see to the other end of the cave where another long flight of stairs led up towards the light again.
suddenly, I saw something scurry down the railings of the far set of stairs. i blinked and stared again. Something else scurried along.
It was monkeys. Dozens of them.
Someone threw some fruit at them and dozens came scampering out of the rocks and onto the stairs. My travel-mates and I went crazy snapping shots of them. Unfortunately, some of hte monkeys were shy and scampered back onto the rocks.
I walked closer but was almost brained by a coconut which one monkey decided to hurl at me. Actually, i don't think it was aiming at me in particular so much as it wanted to crack the coconut in half so it could get to the fruit inside. There were little baby monkeys that stuck their tongues out at me and lot sof old ones that scratched at their bums and lazily picked at their bellies.
Eventually, after a million fuzzy photos, we left the caves and went back into the city. After a delicious lunch of curry laksa and blended pineapple juice, I dragged two of the girls from my group to the butterfly gardens where we were swarmed by butterflies as large as my head (Jo, you owuld have freaked. I took lots of pictures for you). The garden also featured frogs, turtles, weird lizards and a spectacular collection of malaysian insects (Gabe and Wayne, you should see the bugs they have down here if you ever get a chance! It's a amazing!).
it was as we were walking home from the butterfly gardens that suddenly, a huge thunderstorm hit and before we knew what was going on, we were soaked to the bone. Water was running down my face and my clothes stuck to me. The poor girl I was with had her entired tank top get so wet it went clear and thus, we decided we were hardly respectable enough to duck into the mosque nearby to wait for the rain to stop. Random cars and guys on motorbikes honked at us and whistled lewdly but we took it all in stride.
Eventually, after almost getting run over (traffic lights are for sissies here), we made it back to our hostel and had a delicious meal of banana stuffed roti.
Back in dry clothes and underwear now and feeling much more human.
Tomorrow, we head to the Cameron highlands where we are visiting a tea plantation an strawberry plantation. IT's a relic of the days when MAlaysia was a British colony. I can't wait! should be fun!
Ok. Feeling super tired now. Stupid jet lag. Hope everyone's doing well back in Canada, or England or Australia or wherever you are.
Peace out everyone and if you want a postcard, just e-mail me your addy!!! Adios!
-Vivian
PS: My shoes smell like monkey poo. I think I stepped in some. Ew.
PPS: Anything new back home?
Eventually, we got up and went out for our requisite roti canai and super-sweetened condensed milk tea and set out on our merry way.
We hopped on a bus and rode for 45 minutes to the outskirts of the city. We passed by fruit stands, curry stands, laksa and noodle houses and a bazillion little houses with coconut trees growing in the front of them. Eventually, the bus pulled up to this little soda/water tent in the middle of nowhere and dropped us off. I looked around and spotted these cliffs which i assumed were what we were trying to get to.
As we neared the cliffs, I could see that these were no ordinairy cliffs. A few blocks more, and we had reached a colourful gateway laden with carvings of shiva, vishnu, elephants, peacocks and bulls. I lead the way through the gates.
We had made it to the famed Batu caves.
Past the gateway, a giant walkway led up to the 272 steps that would take us into the first of three caves. Various stands selling flower garlands and incense were present at the bottom of the stairs and stray dogs and barefoot children were running around. In the background, up against the cliffs and overlooking the entire scene was a gigantic golden figurine of some Hindu god or another.
I was the first of the four of us to make it up the steps. I guess having an apartment on the 3rd floor for the last two years has made me rather stair-savvy. I got to the top and halted before entering the first cave. Actually, it was more like a giant cavern and the entrance was several stories high. Grey and white doves soared in and out amongst the dripping limestone and ferns. It was dark inside but somewhere, there must have been a gap in the rocks because giant streams of light shot down, illuminating a strange stone altar where a priest seemed to be doing some sort of anointing ceremony on a couple.
Stairs led downwards into the bowels of the cave where figurines and carvings of Hindu gods were laid out on little platforms. I could see to the other end of the cave where another long flight of stairs led up towards the light again.
suddenly, I saw something scurry down the railings of the far set of stairs. i blinked and stared again. Something else scurried along.
It was monkeys. Dozens of them.
Someone threw some fruit at them and dozens came scampering out of the rocks and onto the stairs. My travel-mates and I went crazy snapping shots of them. Unfortunately, some of hte monkeys were shy and scampered back onto the rocks.
I walked closer but was almost brained by a coconut which one monkey decided to hurl at me. Actually, i don't think it was aiming at me in particular so much as it wanted to crack the coconut in half so it could get to the fruit inside. There were little baby monkeys that stuck their tongues out at me and lot sof old ones that scratched at their bums and lazily picked at their bellies.
Eventually, after a million fuzzy photos, we left the caves and went back into the city. After a delicious lunch of curry laksa and blended pineapple juice, I dragged two of the girls from my group to the butterfly gardens where we were swarmed by butterflies as large as my head (Jo, you owuld have freaked. I took lots of pictures for you). The garden also featured frogs, turtles, weird lizards and a spectacular collection of malaysian insects (Gabe and Wayne, you should see the bugs they have down here if you ever get a chance! It's a amazing!).
it was as we were walking home from the butterfly gardens that suddenly, a huge thunderstorm hit and before we knew what was going on, we were soaked to the bone. Water was running down my face and my clothes stuck to me. The poor girl I was with had her entired tank top get so wet it went clear and thus, we decided we were hardly respectable enough to duck into the mosque nearby to wait for the rain to stop. Random cars and guys on motorbikes honked at us and whistled lewdly but we took it all in stride.
Eventually, after almost getting run over (traffic lights are for sissies here), we made it back to our hostel and had a delicious meal of banana stuffed roti.
Back in dry clothes and underwear now and feeling much more human.
Tomorrow, we head to the Cameron highlands where we are visiting a tea plantation an strawberry plantation. IT's a relic of the days when MAlaysia was a British colony. I can't wait! should be fun!
Ok. Feeling super tired now. Stupid jet lag. Hope everyone's doing well back in Canada, or England or Australia or wherever you are.
Peace out everyone and if you want a postcard, just e-mail me your addy!!! Adios!
-Vivian
PS: My shoes smell like monkey poo. I think I stepped in some. Ew.
PPS: Anything new back home?
posted by Viv at 5:29 a.m.
1 Comments:
Wow Viv, that doesn't sound exciting at all (please note the sarcasm in that). That's great that you're enjoying good food and cool caves. Crappy about the monkey poo though (hehe). Keep blogging and rest assured that nothing as exciting is going on over here (not on my end anyways). Have fun!
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