Asia: Malaysia 2023

"Have stories to tell not stuff to show."

Unknown

Every now and then you go to a country expecting one thing only to find a completely different thing, and for me that country was..........

Malaysia

The country has a federal constitutional monarchy and is separated by the South China Sea into two regions:  Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo's East Malaysia.  With a population of 32 million, of which 70% are of the Muslim faith.  The remaining ethnic groups are 23% Chinese and 7% Indian.  The official language is Malay but English comes in at a close second.  The tourism slogan is 'Malaysia, Truly Asia' rings true as it is a crossroads for many Asian cultures.

                             

This Southeast Asian country is famous for idyllic islands, splendid beaches, sumptuous cuisines, national parks, and dynamic cities.  Another drawing card, is that Malaysia is fairly inexpensive when compared to other holiday destinations.  My kinda place!!

We fly straight from the Philippines to the Borneo State of Sabah and its capital city of......

Kota Kinabalu 

We hook up in Kota Kinabula with my great friend and part-time travel companion, Paul Delaney, who will be with us for most of our time in Malaysia.  Kota Kinabula (KK), as cities go, is a rather drab unattractive city full of shopping malls, but we didn't come here for shopping in KK.  We came to 'the land below the wind', as Sabah is known, because it is home to SE Asia's highest mountain, Mt. Kinabula, and the mighty Kinabatangan River, where the great ginger ape still exist in the wild.  We came because of the old Wild Men of Borneo legend and the fact that this part of Malaysia is far off the gringo trail.

After nearly forty hours of travel, Paul was interested in getting some good ole grease, and he lamented about Mary Brown's Fried Chicken back in Newfoundland.  Well, we couldn't find Mary Brown's, but we did find Marry Brown's......they even served wedgies!!

The bar scene in KK isn't half bad for an Islamic nation. 

Aramaitii is a popular local slang word in Sabah.  It is a combination of two words, "Aramai" and "Tii" meaning 'lively and fun'.  Two words I try to live by!

Our time in KK is limited to organizing our attempt on the biggest draw in Sabah, the awesome Mt. Kinabula.  As far as mountains go, the 4095m peak of Mt. Kinabula may not be as wow-inducing as a Himalayan sky poker, but Malaysia's first UNESCO World Heritage Site is by no means an easy climb.

Borneo's roof, the majestic husk of granite that is shouting out to us 'climb me, climb me'!!

The start of the trek.  Two days of heart-pounding climbing lay ahead of us!

We negotiate several obstacles along the way, including mud, rain, slippery stones, blinding humidity, frigid winds and slow-paced Japanese.

The ultimate Thighmaster.  Why they put steps on this trail was baffling???

Lunch time at one of the shelters along the way
.....And then the heavens opened up and the great rains began.

I believe in Clint Eastwood's philosophy: "...don't let the old man in", but I take it one step farther and say: "....but keep him close so he can offer the wisdom of age". 
Climbing a mountain comes with all kinds of perils and torrential downpour is one of them.  With everything soaking wet and no sign that the rains would end, we made the 'wise' decision to turn around and head down.....

....the temperature on the summit hovers around 0C, so being sogging wet is not only uncomfortable but potentially dangerous at those temps.  Our guide correctly predicted that the rains would continue all night and into the next morning.  

When it rains in the rainforest it rains hard.  Don't matter how rain-resistant your kit is (Gortex doesn't hold up), you're going to get wet, REAL wet.  Isn't that right Paul?!?!

I don't have any regrets about turning back, given that I've climbed at least 9 mountains over 5,000 metres, bagging a 4,000 metre peak wasn't a must do requirement.  Melanie says we'll come back in a couple of years and try it again!!

Dried out and with our mountain defeat firmly behind us, we move to more placid waters, the mighty Kinabatangan River for some wildlife observing!  This river is Sabah's longest, measuring a lengthy 560km from its headwaters deep in the southwest jungle to the marshy delta on the sea.  Unfortunately; Kinabatangan's great menagerie of jungle creatures is an ironic by-product of rampant logging and palm oil industries.  As plantations and camps continue to gobble up virgin rainforest , the area of unruffled jungle becomes thinner, forcing the animals to seek refuge along the river's flood plains.  Good for us tourist but not so good for the animals.

To get to Kinabatangan River we had to fly to Sandakan and then drive for 1 1/2 hours.  Nothing but palm-oil trees for 120kms.

Our Lodge near the river was rustic but they had beer, something some of the lodges didn't have, this being a Islamic country and all!

Life on the river.  
We did several river cruises seeking out the elusive critters.

Not to be confuse, when I say "river cruise", this isn't a luxury river cruise complete with wine, a maitre d' and white tablecloths.  More like sitting based on weight  distribution and it's a go, come rain or shine.

Our guide plied the waters while we kept an eye out for the prize - pygmy elephants or perhaps a swinging orangutan or a 'who' from Whoville.

 A local fisher after the highly prized giant river prawn.

The Kinabatangan River is brown....lots and lots of brown.  Not dirty, just heavily silted.

Let the games begin!!

A Grey Tail Racer snake.  Apparently they are not poisonous....

....and another!!  We were told that spotting these beautifully coloured snakes is very rare!

Far in the distance an Oriental Pied Hornbill.  These shy birds with the massive bills are also a rarity!  How lucky are we!

The male Proboscis Monkey with its large belly and inflated elephant-type nose.

A short video we took of the proboscis monkey!

To get the best results from this video you should enlarge it by using the icon in the lower right hand corner and turning the audio on!

Finally.  A Who from Whoville!

The large nose or proboscis of the male can exceed 10cm (4 inches) in length.  Only Jimmy Durante had a bigger schnozzola.

We did see an Orangutan, far off in the distance, eating and swinging through the jungle.  Lucky us.  Not many wild ones left in the world.

No pygmy elephants.  But a real life Who, how exciting!

We didn't need to go on a river cruise to see monkeys.  All we had to do was look up on the power lines.  Of course, it was all fun and games until one of them got electrocuted.

After 3 days, we leave the River and fly to the city of......

Miri

The city of Miri is located in Sarawak State and is only a 30 minute drive from the Brunei border giving the place an interesting border-town vibe.  We came to Miri to see one of the worlds largest cave's, at the famous Gunung Mulu National Park, unbeknown to us, this park is still a 1/2 hour away via airplane.  I seriously thought it was within a 20 minute drive.....so we changed our plans a little and, by driving 120 minutes, we were at the Niah National Park!

The Niah National Park consists of a large network of limestone caves full of geological wonders, cave paintings, and ancient boat-shaped wooden coffins.  The caves are also home to southeast Asia's oldest human remains, dating back to 40,000 years ago.  Aside from that, it is also where the Penan aboriginal tribe members,  using a network of ladders and ropes, collect birds' nests from the cave's walls.

To get to the caves you must first take a ferry across the Sungai Niah River.  A good swimmer could swim across it in 60 seconds but alas, the river is infested with crocodiles, so it's the ferry for us!

Once across the river, we do the obligatory pose under the Cottonseed Tree.

It's a 3km walk, on the raised boardwalk, to the first cave.

The boardwalk has loose boards, it's slippery and they make a lot of noise. But, if you stop and listen, you'll hear the music that the pristine jungle makes.

Even without setting foot in a cave, the walk through this jungle made the trip worthwhile. 

We spotted a Bronzeback Snake lurking near the boardwalk.  Beautiful looking creature, about 1 metre long.  Not poisonous.  It's the snake most pet snake owners own!!  True story!

Our first cave was really more of an overhang; the Traders' Cave.  

As the name implies, this is where early bird's-nest and guano collectors carried on their business.  Selling food and shit all under the one roof!

The wooden structures weren't built to hold the cave up, as it may appear, nor is it scaffolding.  They were built out of ironwood in the early 1800's and is the skeletal structure to which the nest-collectors and guano harvesters would build their homes. 

It's a short walk to the vast Great Cave, one of the largest caves in the world.  

This impressive cavern measures 250m across at the mouth (that's a cool 1/4 km.) and 60m high.

At first the enormity doesn't strike you, but once you start the hike into the cave you realize it will be a full hour of hiking before you emerge out the other side.

One of the four million nesting swiftlets that call the Niah Caves home. The prized nest goes for $6,600US per kg., one of the most expensive animal product to be consumed by humans..... 

....and to get that prized nest, the birds' nest collectors build bamboo scaffolding 60 metres up into the highest crevices of the cave.  They climb a rope up to said scaffolding and then start combing the roof for the nests.   It is a demonstration, at that dizzy height on rickety structures, of the determination and courage of the harvesters.  Good for the Chinese Birds Nest Soup fans, not so good for the swiftlet.

We descend the steep steps into the bowels of the cavern.  The stairs and handrails are usually covered in guano and can get very slippery in places.  And you don't want to slip for many reasons, including.......

.....this thing....this half cricket half cockroach half creepy thing.... this quarter-pounder thing....it has the ability to make Acarophobias of us all.

It's impossible to get lost if you stick to the boardwalk.  Like, you're going to ramble too far off the boardwalk.

The rock formations are spectacular as you slip in and out of the gloom, and when the sun hits certain overhead vents, the cave is perforated by the kind of dramatic light beams that ought to herald the voice of God, or at least Charles Heston.

At times the roof comes so close one could easily self induce a concussion.

There is evidence that the Great Cave had human occupation dating back 46,000 years ago.  This makes it one of the oldest inhabited places in the world. 
If you look closely behind Paul and you'll see a knotted rope hanging down from the ceiling used by the nest-raiders.

Break on through to the other side.

We continue along the boardwalk to our third and final cave, the ancient burial grounds of the Painted Cave.

The stalactites are the most impressive here in the Painted Cave, but that's not the reason we wanted to come here.....

....we wanted to see these things.  Small canoe-like coffins (known as death ships), it indicates that this cave was once used as an ancient burial ground.

The caves' namesake, the painted cave art gallery.  One of the oldest sites in Asia.  The cave was full of the paintings.

Real death ships under the rock paintings of death ships on their journey to the underworld.

After our caving experience we walked to the village of Rumah Patrick Libau.  A tribal village of the infamous Iban people, who were renowned for practising headhunting up to the 1970's.  

About to enter headhunter territory.  Melanie will be keeping an eye out for any indication that a large pot of water might be getting fired-up.

Our guide was Iban.  He told us he hadn't hunted for heads in years, said it was kinda frown upon by the tree-hugger tourist.  

Headhunter! Thank God he's going in the other direction.

Convenience drives up the real estate value.

The only heads the Ibans hunt now are the palm tree nut used in making palm oil.

The traditional Iban people still live in communal longhouses, such as these two massive ones.....

....inside one of those longhouses.  We're told that normally this house would be full of people but today most of the village is away harvesting something or another in the jungle.  Heads I expect.

We have a traditional meal prepared and served in one of the local homes.  Eight course meal and not a head to be seen!

We arrive back in Miri and b-line to the only bar we could find in our 3 days here.

Good job!  We managed to salvage our trip!  We never made it to Gunung Mulu National Park, as originally planned, but the Niah National Park was a perfect substitute.

We leave Miri behind and fly to the capital of Sarawak State, once a kingdom, named after a cat, a colonial relic.....

Kuching

In the Malay language, 'Kuching' means 'cat', a mascot that seems to be exploited at every souvenir stall around.  The city was so named by Charles Brooke, one of the white Rajas, who must have sensed his capital's feline fierceness. With 400,000+ residents, there's a certain cosmopolitan je nas sais quoi that floats through the air, especially in the evenings when the temperature is more pleasant.

The city beats around the Sarawak River and this tastefully developed promenade; in the daytime, because of the heat, it is void of people.  In the nighttime, if comes alive with families and tourist out for a stroll or a snack at one of the many food stalls that set up.

Our hotel is right next to Chinatown, so we spent a fair amount of time there, including at the Hong San Si Temple, Kuching's oldest.

Melanie said I was too old to be doing stuff like this.  I said, 'ride the dragon baby'!

The two amigos checking out another Chinese Temple.  

To know Sarawak today you need to know Sarawak from yesteryear.  In 1842, the Sultan of Brunei loosely controlled Sarawak, and he rewarded Sir James Brooke with the area for his involvement in a suppression of a revolt.  Brooke became a so-called 'White Raja', and he and his family ruled the land until 1946.  The Brooke's kingdom was ruled from this palace.

A young lady entertains us performing the Ngajat traditional dance.

The State Assembly Building, looking somewhat like a gilded circus tent,  looms larger than life across the Sarawak River

One of the things we did while in Kuching was to visit the Semenggoh Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre with the hopes of sneaking a peek at our ginger-haired cousins (no, not the Irish).  There is no guarantee that you will see any orang-utan sightings, because the great apes are free to come and go as they please, but the rehab centre does conduct two daily feedings and hopefully one or two of the 20+ residents will turn up for a feed.

We got lucky!  Two orang-utans turned up to the party! 
"Left turn Clyde!!"

Couldn't take one banana.....nooooo, had to take them all!  Greedy Bastard!

The "Old Man of the Forest", as the name Orang-utan means, is an impressive beast weighing on average 190lbs., and can only be found on the Borneo and northern Sumatra islands.  

We spent another day on the water, at Kuching Wetlands National Park, looking for the elusive Irrawaddy dolphin and crocodiles.  

The selfie miesters!  The start of something great!!!

The only way to gain access to the National Park is by boat.  We start off by going out to sea via the Salak River. 

We spot this monster on the Salak River.  Our guide said a seven metre brute was spotted here a couple of days before, whereas this one is a mere 5 metre semi-brute.

We sail pass the Malay fishing village of Pulau Salak.

The simple life of a local fisherman.

In total we saw four sea crocodiles, including a close up encounter with this 4 metre guy.

And then the mountain erupted.  Fortunately, we were on the water and avoided getting fried in the pyroclastic cloud............OK I'm only joking!  Looks just like an eruption though!!   

Local fisher!  I gave him my best wink and nod and politely asked, "got 'arn fish?"

On another day we take a 'Tambang' (water taxi) out on the Sarawak River for a different perspective of Kuching......

Known as the Indian Mosque, it's Kuching oldest mosque.  Even built before the country was known as Sarawak and Mr. Brooke ruled.

Friendly old-sort.  Every river got one!

The Kuching City Mosque in the background with the Brooke Dockyards.  

Further down river we came across the ocean going Kuching fishing fleet.  Not sure how seaworthy they are.

On our last night in the city of cats,  we hooked up with fellow Canadian friends, salt-of-the-earth people, Sandra and Joseph Toner.  We first met Sandra and Joseph while travelling, in 2020, to Sri Lanka and later we hooked up with them in Thailand and now we meet once again in Kuching.  Small world. 

We feasted at the Top Spot, an open-air food court located on the top of a parking garage.  Then we made our way to the Big Bottle Bar; passing this cat monument.  The people of Kuching take their pussy very serious here. 

Let loose at the Big Bottle Bar with Sandra, Melanie, Paul and Joseph.  The Big Bottle Bar is the one of the most unique and cheapest bars I've ever patronized (I've patronized a lot).  You grab a bucket, you go to the cooler and you add as many beers as you want to said bucket.  You then fill the said bucket with ice and you proceed to pay.  You now have cold cheap beers in your very own ice bucket.  Repeat as required. 

We say good-bye to the Malaysian side of Borneo and fly to the island of.......

Langkawi

Swaying palms, a cool colour contrast of jungle green and ocean blue, brilliant white sandy beaches, Pulau Langkawi should have the 'tropical island paradise' nomination signed, sealed, and delivered.  The problem, for those that see it as a problem, is that most Malaysian islands are dry when it comes to alcohol.  Langkawi is an exception, but having a long-tall-cool-one on the beach simply ain't going to happen.  Otherwise, it could've, it should've, it would've been a perfect spot, but c'est la vie.

The near deserted beach of Pantai Cenang, Langkawi's most famous beach.  It had it all, except that 'happy-go-lucky beach vibe', that one expects in such a location.  Plus, to add insult to injury, the jellyfish were spawning, so the sea was full of electrically-charged jellyfish larvae waiting to light you up like a Christmas tree.

With beachside frolicking firmly out of the question, we turned to more civilized matters of entertainment, namely a kayak at the Kilim Karst Geoforest Park, located on the other side of the island.

"Kayaking is all elementary Melanie.  First you get in the boat, then, by paddling, you create forward motion, then......."

".....where did everyone go?"

The Selfie Miesters about to enter the forbidden forest.

One of the more unique places I've kayaked.  

Our guide lead us through a maze of exposed roots and narrow channels that only a kayak could navigate.

Got to see some critters, including the deadly Mangrove Pit Viper.  Thank God we had our Pit Viper repellant on.

Some fun.

We were three hours paddling through dense mangrove and karst cliff-sides. 

The roots looked like they were about to swallow you up only to spit you out the other side.

Some would say a 'foothold'.  I'd say more of a 'stronghold'.

We even got some open water paddling in.  A good way to spend a day in mid-January.

After our paddle we took a water taxi to Bat Cave, for a look about at the critters both inside and outside. 

Checking out the mud crabs!

Am I only person that sees Star Wars Chewbacca's face in this stalactite?

The cave's namesake just hanging out.  Excuse the pun!

And outside the cave, Tree Rats - so the first one said to the second one there, "I hope you're having fun".  Monkeys on the Run.

And with that our trip to Langkawi comes to an end.  We fly to the Malaysian island state of........

Penang

For many Georgetown, the state's historic capital, is Penang, to the point that the two names become interchangeable.  If your image of Penang is tumbledown Chinese shop-houses, British Raj-era architecture, rickshaw-wide alleyways and strings of paper Heavenly Lanterns casting street hawkers under a blood-red glow - well you'd be right on!

We arrive in Penang just in time to celebrate the Chinese New Year, which in this part of the world, is bigger than the regular New Year.  Last year was the year of the Rat, this year they celebrate the Wascally Wabbit.

Apparently, the Chinese New Year celebrations go for 15 days, and a key component in the celebrations are these two dancing prancing Whatsamaycallits.  The Whatsamaycallits' choice of music is a huge drum and hand-cymbals, making music akin of two eight-year-olds banging on a metal garbage bin.  

The Whatsamaycallit has two guys in the suit.  The arse-end guy must remain bent over, and thus subject to the arse of the front-end guy.  The irony is not lost on me.

We went strolling around Georgetown old town.

Umbrella Street.  True story.  No idea why it is called that?

I got an hankering for a good cold beer and cake.  Couldn't find anything, except cocktails and pie.  Damn the torpedoes. 

Because of the humid climate, concrete will blacken quickly here, a street artist captured the picture by incorporating the blacken concrete wall into the picture.

Red Heavenly Lanterns hang by the hundreds over many of the streets.  Red is apparently the colour of good luck in China.

We walked up to Little India, which as Little Indias go, is quite small and it's intensely, well Indian.  

Melanie sizing Shiva up at an Indian Temple in Little India.

Little India's Big incense.....really BIG incense, blaring scratchy Bollywood music, bright colours and small mountains of spices, all take turns attacking your sensory apparatus.

As quick as you walk into Little India, you walk out of it, and into the British Colonial area with the imposing colonial-period administrative buildings.

Georgetowns' Town Hall was completed in 1880 by the British Overlords.  With wide avenues and freshly painted buildings it seems like you walked out of downtown Mumbai into downtown London in less than 2 minutes.

We check out the waterfront Chinese Clan jetties, a collection of homes built on wooden stilts on the seabed and inhabited by the descendants of the original Chinese who arrived in Penang over 200 years ago.

There are several of these jetties jutting out into the bay with perhaps 50 - 60 homes on each.

To live on these jetties you have to be a member of the Chinese clan that owns them.  In our case, we visited two jetties, one belonging to the Lim clan and one to the Chew clan.

Laundry day.

We had originally planned on going to Penang Hill, the island's highest point, but human logistics got in the way.  Plan B: Kek Lok Si Temple, 'The Temple of Supreme Bliss', Malaysia's biggest Buddhist Temple and one of the largest in SE Asia.  

Built in 1890, this massive site is accessed by passing a tightly packed turtle pond (notice them sunning on the opposing bank).

An inner courtyard with a view of the Temples most famous landmark, the Ban Po Thar, a 30 metre, seven tier tower, that is called the 'face' of Kek Lok Si.  Paul and Melanie climbed up it........

.....the view from the Ban Po Thar tower.  The pagoda on the hill (only reached by cable car) houses a 37 metre high bronze statute of Kuan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy.  Unfortunately, we never made it up to the pagoda as the cable car required us to wear a mask, and we didn't have one.

One of the many beautiful gardens within the Temple complex.

The big fat happy guy is known as the 'Smiling Buddha', and he has reasons to smile, as he sits among the token gold coins donated by the faithful.  No wonder it's called the Temple of Supreme Bliss!

There are thousands and thousands of Heavenly Lanterns all around the Temple.......

....not to be outdone, there are also thousands and thousands of Buddha's.  You may notice the swastika on the Buddha's chest.  This is an ancient and cultural symbol of both Hinduism and Buddhism, unfortunately, it was appropriated by the Nazi's in the 1930's, and now, in the western world, it is associated with evil.

Supremely Blissful.

After O.D.'ing on the Kek Lok Si Temple, it was time to PARTEE!! And in Georgetown, the place to partake in party-time-wasting is Love Lane.

Love Lane in Georgetown is akin to George Street in St. John's NL.   Apparently George was quite the PARTEE animal. 

The infamous Love Lane comes alive in the evenings and the PARTEE goes all night.

Paul: "How do I love thee, let me count the ways!"

After weeks of sweating in the jungles, beaches and lowlands of Malaysia, we sought a reprieve from the heat in the country's most extensive hill station, the.........

Cameron Highlands

The Highlands are situated between 1300m and 1800masl, among the alpine scape of blue peaks, green humps, tea plantations, and small towns.  This is where the average temperature rarely exceeds 21C, making it a perfect spot to relax for a couple of days.  

The Cameron Valley Tea company.

After the bus dropped us off, we set out to locate our hotel in the cool (some would say, cold) temperatures.  Some nice!

Having a cool beer and needing to wear a jacket, is a foreign concept to us after 4 months of bumming around in the hot tropics.

Besides getting in touch with my inner Englishman via tea and strawberries (both available here in copious amounts), the main thing to do here is hike.

The trails generally pass through relatively unspoiled jungle, including another first for me, Lodgepole Pine Trees.  Like, where did these come from?

Our hike took us to the top of the hill which had more unusual vegetation.

The one type of vegetation we were hoping to see is the very rare Rafflesia flower, the world's largest flower, at 1.5 metre diameter.  It can only be found in a few places in the world and this is one of those places, unfortunately the flower eluded us.  
"I think one may be in that hole straight ahead Paul.  Go have a look will yeah?"

Fern Trees.  Only saw these in New Zealand and southern Brazil.  Again, like, where did these come from??

With our internal temperatures brought back down to normal, we board the bus for our final destination in Malaysia, the capital city of........

Kuala Lumpur

Known around the world simply as 'KL', this sultry 21st-century capital of high-rises is a feast for all your senses.  With a population of nearly 2 million, KL is recognized for numerous landmarks, including the Petronas Twin Towers, expensive shopping malls and an overabundance of gastronomic delights. Unfortunately, Paul had to leave us here, but for our remaining 5 days in Malaysia, Melanie and moi bummed around KL. 

Getting around KL is easy with many options, but the best way to get a feel for its vibrant atmosphere is to walk.

The old KL Train Station built in 1910 when Malaysia was a British colony.  

Right about now you're probably thinking why has he included a picture of Toronto's CN Tower reflected in a high-rise?  Actually, this is the Menara KL, a 267m tower that looks identical to the CN Tower.  

This odd-looking building, the Merdeka 118, is the second tallest in the world at 679m.   The top 17 floors is the Park Hyatt Hotel, a tad above my budget, actually it's a tad above everything!!

Wandering around a green space complete with a pissing whale.

KL's most famous building, the iconic Petronas Towers, held the title as the world's tallest from 1998 to 2004 at 452m.  

My fav; a street full of painted buildings. 

"Melanie, I see something swimming in there."

We would walk to this crowded outdoor market for our supper and people watching!!

Looks like it's lamb for supper!

The Bukit Nanas Forest Reserve sits smack-dab in the middle of KL, and comes complete with a canopy walk.

Finally, the elusive giant Rafflesia Flower!  If you think it looks like a giant ashtray, you'd be right! Fakery I tell you.  

Just 13km north of KL, a towering limestone outcrop is home to the impressive Batu Caves.  The caves are home to one of the largest and most popular Hindu shrines in the world outside of India.

The giant golden statue of Muruga (to whom the caves are dedicated), stands at the foot of painted steps leading up to Temple Cave.

This is a functioning Hindu Temple so there were many devotees carrying offerings to the Gods.

272 steps lead to the top.  It wouldn't be so bad except the temperature is 33C and the humidity is 82%, making the climb a hot slow process.

The offerings, which the devotees normally carry on their heads, consist of rice, fruit and nuts.  Not sure how much the Gods actually eat but the monkeys look healthy!  

Once you conquer the stairs you enter Temple Cave.  You immediately notice just how massive this great cavern really is, with a ceiling that looms roughly 90 metres above you.  The cave features several Hindu shrines.

I've been in countless churches, several mosques, and many Buddha temples, but I never witness the inside of a Hindu Temple (they are usually off-limits unless you're a Hindu).  So watching the devotees doing the do, was interesting!

At the far end of the towering main cavern lies another, thankfully, smaller set of stairs to a second open-air cavern.

Here in the upper cavern is the Sri Valli Deivanai temple, dedicated to the wife of Muruga (the huge gold dude at the base of the steps).

The atrium-like cave with its high cliff walls and daylight pouring down with a healthy infestation of monkeys scampering up and down the sides.

Mama monkey with an air of superiority.  

Going down will definitely be better than going up!

Beautiful grounds within the temple complex.

The next cave is the Ramayana Cave which is guarded by the blue dude.

Inside, the cave is full of various Hindu gods arranged to tell parables of Hindu scriptures.  Very few tourist here, except the three you see in the picture, other than those, we were the only ones here.

Imagine growing up with this guy as your brother.  The car trip to Town would sound like: "Mom.  He's looking at me again."

Some of the passageways were lit up to resemble a journey through the cosmos.  

I'm Brian, and this is my brother, Daryl, and this is my other brother, Daryl.

And with that, our time in Malaysia comes to an end.  We hope you've enjoyed the show!