The Batu Caves in Kuala Lumpur

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The Batu Caves, named for the Batu River that flows nearby, are a series of caves and temples inside a 400' tall hill just outside of the city of Kuala Lumpur. At the entrance to the Temple Cave stands the 140' statue of Lord Muruga, a Hindu deity. This place is a very popular tourist attraction and the most popular shrine outside of India.

Each year, the Hindu community celebrates the Thaipusam festival, which begins early in the morning at the Sri Mahamariamman Temple in Kuala Lumpur and travels all the way to the Batu Caves outside of the city. Hindus carry vats of milk on their shoulders as an offering to Lord Muruga and some of these containers have long skewers and hooks that pierce the skin of the person carrying the vat. I haven't been able to figure out the significance of having one's skin pierced with skewers and hooks while making a Hindu pilgrimage but it looks like this is something the vat carrier wants to happen as once they ascend the stairs the priests remove the skewers and hooks in a special "hook removing" ceremony and the vat carrier is then blessed by being sprinkled with ashes. This appears to be a very important celebration for Hindu people world-wide as they draw over a million worshipers each year.

Oh, by the way, the world's most rare spider, the Trapdoor Spider, lives in these caves and luckily we left before meeting him.

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Photos

Lord Muruga at the Batu Caves
At 140' tall, this is the world's largest statue of Lord Muruga.

The Batu Caves
272 steps to the top.

View from the Batu Caves entrance
View of Kuala Lumpur in the distance from the top of the stairs leading to the Batu Caves.

Steps to the Dark Cave
The Dark Cave is home to the world's most rare spider. Nobody is allowed to tour this cave without a guide and only headlamps are permitted to guide the way.

Inside The Batu Caves
Statues atop a shrine inside the Cathedral Cave

Feeding a Macaque Monkey inside the Batu Caves
A close up view of this monkey shows him smiling at me! Thankfully, MaryAnne got a picture of it. The monkeys seem to be quite comfortable around humans.