Batu Caves

Batu Caves is a system of tropical karst towers located in Gombak near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. However, when most of us talk about Batu Caves, we are merely referring to the Temple Cave, a site of religious pilgrimage and worship for the Hindu community especially during the yearly Thaipusam festival. The cave is named after its namesake, the Sungai Batu (Batu River) which flows in the vicinity. Since there is no dire shortage of sites offering expert information on Batu Caves, I shall not contribute to the existing information overload on the internet. Instead, this entry is just to pass on the awe-inspiring experience of visiting and taking photos there and a few tips that I became aware of.

Tips for visitors:

1. Bring your tripod along if you want to take photos. It might seemed to be an extra burden to haul up 272 steps, but it is worth it. Else you will regret when your pics all turned up shaken and blurred. Think of the participants of Amazing Race Asia 4 where they had to carry an offering tray and at the same time, count how many steps up to the top of the temple.You might also want to consider doing high dynamic range photos.
2. The steps are not as bad as it seems. Make sure you have some cover from the heat of the sun. The humidity might get to you, so nice breathable clothing is good. Just take it slowly.
3. Beware of the macaques. They are used to being fed, and so would expect you to provide for them if you come with bags that appear to contain food. They appear to be able to read fear and bully those who are afraid of them. I had a bag with muffins and drinks but none bothered me (perhaps I looked grumpy).
4. Try not to get in the way of the macaques' family squabbles. You might be an innocent bystander.
5. Enjoy the sights and sounds of the people going up and down / visiting the temple. The visitors and devotees are just as interesting as the caves and the divinity.
6. The Dark Cave smells of guano. This is normal and if you cannot stand the smell of it, then do not attempt a visit.
7. The Temple Cave, being a place of worship, is filled with the smell of smashed coconut, burning camphor and oil lamps. Be prepared if you have a sensitive nose.
8. Look at the walls of the Temple Cave as well as the inner shrine area with the skylight. They are carved by Mother Nature through the years.
9. The stairs and floors might be wet and slippery, so do be careful. Walk calmly and surely.
10. Try to be calm and contain your awe or excitement or displeasure. There are people seeking solace and/or doing prayers.
11. Bring your own bottled water or snacks as the prices of the foodstuff might be considered a little steep.
12. During non festive periods, there's ample parking in the temple grounds. It cost RM2 for a car when I visited the place
13. Last but not least, enjoy yourself.

P.S. If you do get a heart attack on the way up, think of it as if you are on the stairway to heaven. Jokes aside, make sure you have whatever medical aids that you need and do not force yourself. There are plans in the future for a cable car system to provide access to the Cave temple, so better late than dead.

From the car park to the Temple Cave (warning - picture heavy).

View of the car park.

Koi pond and walkway to Art Cave.

Hanuman : Gives the jolly green giant a run for his money.

The statue of Lord Muruga. Hmm, the steps don't look that bad.

A row of Ganeshas on the roof

Really, it isn't that bad, especially if you take it slowly.

View of the Temple Cave from the Dark Cave area. 228..229..damn, I lost count.

Limestone formation at the mouth of the Temple Cave.

Divine play of light.

View from the Temple Cave mouth to the inner shrine area.

Steps to the inner shrine.

Skylight at the inner shrine area.

Looking back towards the Temple Cave opening.

Wild Pandanus growing at the skylight opening of the inner shrine area.

Limestone around the inner shrine area.

More limestone cliffs with the roof of the inner shrine visible.

View of the main shrine inside the Temple Cave (lit by blue lights).

Limestone formations. Wet with water dripping down.

View of the Temple Cave opening from inside.

Limestone formations at the mouth of the Temple Cave.

Stalls selling garlands, milk and drinks.

Chariot atop the temple roof and Lord Muruga standing watch.

The exterior of the Dark Cave

View of the steps to the Dark Cave from the Temple Cave.

Limestone face on the exterior of the Dark Cave.

Steps to the opening of the Dark Cave. You get a cool breeze blowing out with a nice, strong guano smell.

More limestone.

Ahhh bright cheery Dahlias

I decided that the balcony needs perking up with a little of colour, and what better flower to do so than the bold and brash Dahlia. The colourful flowers also remind me of the hill stations in Malaysia like Fraser's Hill and Penang Hill. Since Dahlia is synonymous with cooler climes, it is hard to obtain tubers over here in Malaysia. So the only other option would be to start it from seeds. Now, the big issue with Dahlias is that they don't breed true from seed. Hell no, they tend to be way way off from their parent plants, save for a few cultivars, especially the singles and the pompom ones. Even so, a bad looking Dahlia would still add colour to the garden, especially if grown en-massed to provide colour to borders or a patch in the garden. Another drawback of starting Dahlias from seeds is that the flowers do not reach its maximum potential size in the first year, except for singles. Hence you will get smaller flowers the first year, and only if you regrow then from the tubers that were formed in the first year, would you see the potential maximum size of the Dahlia blooms.

Dahlias - Adding a touch of colour to the balcony.

Desperate for colours, I went and bought seeds from one of the locally available brand. The label says Dahlia Exhibition Double. Due to the nature of Dahlia crosses, I would be happy if I can get all semi-doubles. The worst case scenario would be getting all singles. Keeping my everything crossed, I sowed them in March. The balcony is 13 floors up, so the drying breeze should help keep the plants free of fungal diseases.

Dahlia seedling - 9 days post sowing

The seeds germinated within 3 - 5 days. My experience with sowing pompom and mignon Dahlia seeds indicate that by 1 week if they do not germinate, they will not. So this batch of seeds did quite well. Out of 12 seeds, 9 germinated. 2 of them were small and flat seeds - probably empty inside. So it wasn't too bad.

Did the usual fungicide cover to prevent damping off, and then fertilisation with weak fertiliser solutions weekly to boost the growth of the plants. In April, the plants were off to a healthy start, and I began topping the plants to encourage bushy growth. I pinched the main shoot and then pinched the laterals again, as I wanted them to provide as many blooms as possible. Also, I prefer to look at the colour and form first to decide if I want to keep the plant for subsequent planting. With a lot of fertilisation and

Dahlia seedling 5th April - after the first topping with strong laterals

watering, they grew pretty fast and me being lazy, decided not to take them or tie them up, but allow them to grow and flop around to form a thick bushy mat so that they can support each other.

Dahlias peeking out from the balcony

In June (3 months from sowing, the flowering begins). It is exciting as you will never know what colour or form that you might get, though it is usually very disappointing with seeds of fully double dahlias. The first one was an interesting yellow semi-double dahlia with a hint of mauve at the back of the petals. It complemented the snapdragons that were already blooming on the balcony. It was a coincidence that most of the snapdragons were yellow or a mixture of yellow with red or mauve. Next was a double (slightly split ended petals) orange with yellow base and purple back. Then there was a purple-red single that has a tendency to produce misshapen flowers. This was followed by a good sized chilli red bloom, a small, orange coloured one and also one which is a nicely shaped lilac purple bloom. So now I just have to wait for the other three more plants to bloom.

Identification parade No. 1

Identification parade No. 2

Balcony gardening - Peppermint

After moving into a high rise unit, I had to content with growing stuff on the balcony. Now, the balcony of the unit isn't that big. Nay, I should say, it is that small. One of the plants that I started off from cuttings was peppermint. Bought myself a pack of peppermint from Genting Garden, made peppermint tea out of most of it, and saved a few stems. All the plants grown on the balcony were potted in polybags that were either 4" diameter or one with 6" diameter. I prepared two bags of soil in the polybag that gave me a final opening of approx 6" diam. and stuck the cuttings in it.

5th March - In the beginning, they were just sad looking stems/shoots in the bag.

After a while, they started to grow, and grow and grow. Hmm, sounds a bit like the magic beanstalk. Well, I was pretty happy that they grew so well.

The peppermint grew and grew...

A closer look at the peppermints

Then I noticed that the peppermints were sending runners everywhere. One was so long that it reached the left end of the balcony (the peppermints are right in the middle). And another on the right side was trying to beat the record of the first runner! Thank goodness they are in a container on a balcony. Imagine the trouble of trying to remove it had it been growing on the ground.

Jostling with the Dahlias for space - you can see the reddish runners going off the balcony

The periodic harvesting and distribution to friends and colleagues only served to make it grow even faster, like the Hydra chopped of its head and sprouting more to replace the decapitated one. In retrospect, one small polybag would have been enough, unless you adore peppermint so much (read - nuts over peppermint). Having grown spearmint and applemints before, this has got to be the easiest mint to grow; as long as it gets ample moisture, it will run wild and go out of hand. Someone pass me the shears please! It is now smothering my poor dahlias.

Running wild and almost jumping off from the 13th floor.

At this moment, they had grown beyond the balcony parapet and dangle down to the floor below. It makes me want to shout out "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your...peppermint!" every time I take a look at it.