Batu Caves revisited

Our third visit to Batu Caves, but this time with new-found friends and the monks from the Nandaka Vihara meditation society with whom we had followed down from Cherok Tokun in Bukit Mertajam. To recap, we had gone to Dengkil and then Malacca before heading back to Kuala Lumpur.

After checking out from an overnight stay at the Hotel Royal, where we didn't get any opportunity to enjoy the facilities because we arrived so late the night before and leaving at eight o'clock the next morning, the chartered bus took us to Batu Caves.

While the monks went climbing up the 272 multi-coloured concrete steps up to the caves, we chose to have a quick breakfast of puri and ravi thosai at one of the Indian restaurants, after which I suggested a visit to the Hanuman statue. No climbing but a casual walk of about 100 to 150 metres. Before not too long, the 15-metre tall green statue of Hanuman loomed ahead of us. We spent a few minutes in the temple before heading back to the bus.

Next destination was a visit to a strawberry farm at Genting Highlands. Initially we were undecided whether to go in or not, but the farm turned out to be quite fascinating, not so much with the pathetic-looking fresh strawberries - the ones in Cameron Highlands are better - but the flowers within. Quite worth the time spent there for the blooms!