Dark Cave Adventure Tour (17 June 07)

Batu Caves is one of the tourist attractions which located not far away from KL city centre. But most of us only visit the temple cave and didn’t notice the Dark Cave, which the entrance is located at step number 204 of the 272 steps leading to the temple cave. I decided to organize a trip to the dark cave after hearing Lai’s interesting experience. I browsed through some websites and sent the enquiry email. Eventually, I got the reply from Patricia, the marketing manager of Speleotrend Enterprise. They organized the dark tour together with MNS ( Malaysia Nature Society ). 2 types of tours are offered: educational trip and adventure trip. I would like to go for the adventure trip that sounds more exciting.

Next, I will have to get enough persons to join the trip together. The cost of the tour is RM50 per pax with minimum 8 persons. After broadcasting the idea via email, I had finally got 15 persons that signed up for the trip. 3 persons joined at the last minutes, so altogether there are 18 persons in our group. Although I didn’t know all of the participants, it’s always nice to meet new friends. :)



17th June 07, all of us gathered at Batu Cave by 10.30am. Helmet, headlamp and Wellington boots were provided. Jaya was our cave warden. The tour began at 11.30am. We walked at the passageway that leads into the dark cave. I felt clumsy to walk with the boots and could hardly see the way as the light was very dim. Jaya brief us on the history of the dark cave and a little bit knowledge of the formation inside the cave. He warned us not to touch the formation in the cave. This is because the stalactite and stalagmite in the cave took thousands or even million years to form. We have to learn to appreciate and preserve it. Besides, he also demonstrated how we should crawl inside the tiny adventure path later.

We saw a white snake while we were on the way to the adventure tunnel. It lie there didn’t seem want to move. So, we bypassed it quickly. When we reached at an open space, Jaya asked all of us to switch off our headlamp and then closed the eyes. Then, he switched off his light and asked all of us to open the eyes. It’s totally dark!! We couldn’t even see our fingers. The cave warden, Jaya told us that this was the real dark cave environment. All of the creatures inside the cave live in the dark. If we encounter any creature, try not to disturb them as we are only the visitor to the cave.

I couldn’t wait to check out the adventure path that Jaya mentioned earlier. But just before we want to enter into that 1 feet high tunnel, a guy was crawling out from the tunnel. This is another group that also went for the adventure tour, but followed the path in opposite direction. When all of the members of the other group finally out from the tunnel, it’s our turn to get wet and dirty. The floor was wet and muddy. But we had to do the army crawl to get through the tunnel. At some point, the hole is very small. So, we had to turn the head on one side in order to get through. Foong Kiew took the pictures for when we were in the cave. She was the only person that brought camera in because her camera has the underwater casing.

After crawling for a short distance, I reached the part where ceiling is a big high up. We rested there for a while before proceed for the 2nd part crawling. Once we went out from the tunnel, it’s turn for us to climb up the wall and slide down to a pool. Jaya went down first to the pool and helped us when we were sliding down one by one. The water level is above my waist. We waded through the water and climbed up the wall again. Then, we came to an open space – a place where the light came in from the top of the cave. The exit was not far away from this open space. Our adventure tour ended at 2.15pm.

Our clothes were dirty, wet and smelly. So, we paid RM1 to took shower at the bathroom which provided by temple. Then, we took our late lunch at Air Panas, Setapak. The food there is delicious. It’s a nice weekend with exciting trip and nice food.


p/s: I am receiving the feedback from some of the members after the trip. I am really glad that everyone did enjoy themselves. :)

Mt Benom

2 years ago, when I was resting at the beautiful valley of Mt. Rajah, Hai Poh told me that there is another mountain which located not far away from Bentong. That was the first time I heard about Mt. Benom – a mountain that very difficult to hike, no view, no scenery and the only thing worth to see is giant nepenthes. Hai Poh even use the word “ugly” to describe it. I never want to hike Mt Benom. However, I still turned up for the trip this time with the mindset of “training for Fansipan”. To my surprise, Mt. Benom is not as bad as I thought. Well, at least it’s better than Mt. Inas.
Two 4WD brought us to the starting point of the trek. Berembun Waterfall is located not far away from the starting point. I had been to the waterfall twice but this time will just focus at Mt. Benom. There are two routes, one is from the waterfall which is longer and we took the other route which bypass the waterfall and directly led us to jungle. The red ginger flowers catch our eyes. This was the 1st surprise that Mt Benom gave me. We took quite sometime to photograph these beautiful flowers before proceed our journey. It’s almost 10.30am when we finally set off for the hike.
15 minutes later, we came to a riverside. After crossing the river, we start to climb up the steep trail. The trek was as difficult as expected but not as wild as I thought. This was the 2nd surprise. The trek is obvious and not much fern blocking the way. Only after 1 hour trekking, Hai Poh stung by bee at his nose. He was allergy to bee sting and his face and legs were swollen immediately. He trekked slowly, took break when he felt dizzy. After a while, his legs started to cramp. Evie, Tack and Peng Meng helped to carry some of his belongings to reduce the load of his backpack. I kept on hearing he mumbled to himself “ 争气一点 ”. Although not feeling well, he still able to proceed the journey.

Lai, Tack, Foong Kiew and I reached the campsite (1761m) at 4.30pm. We were busy posing and taking photos without realize that the weather was changed. Rain started to pour and getting heavily. We quickly set up the tents and stayed inside until the rain stopped. After the rain stopped, Evie and Ren prepared for our dinner. The rest of us are either helped them or just sat and wait for the dinner to get ready.

The next day morning (9.40am), all of us carried the light backpack which loaded with food and water, then set off for the ascent to summit. We have to traverse 32 peaks and valleys before we reach summit and retrace the route back to this campsite on the same day. It’s 64 times ascending and descending altogether!!! It’s tough and challenging for me. We reached the 2nd peak after 1 hour trekking. The view here is nice and the giant pitches can be seen everywhere. We stopped for more than half and hour to take pictures and rest. Ren decided not to continue the ascent. So, he separated from the group and went back to campsite. The rest of us continue the journey in rain. After went through a subtle of ascent and descent, we finally arrived at Mt. Benom peak at 3.30pm.

There is a flat ground at the peak where we can admire the scenery. This is the 3rd surprise. Kok Ming and Hai Poh told us that this flat campsite wasn’t exist 3 years ago. It’s almost an hour later when we started to retrace the route to the campsite. This time, we seldom stop for rest and hoping that we will able to reach before sunset. However, I really very tired and can only trek slowly. By 7.30pm, I had to put on my headlamp and trek in the dark. I walked together with Kok Ming and Evie. At last, we back to the campsite around 8.15pm, feeling exhausted.

The 3rd day, the descent began around 10am. On the steep trail, I slide down instead of trek down. :p The 4WD picked us up at the foot of mountain and drove us back to Sg. Klau. The trip ended with the late lunch at Bentong. Mt. Benom, the 10th highest mountain in Peninsular Malaysia is not the peak that thrills hikers, but somehow she still has special charm and it’s a really good place for training.

p/s: Evie said Mt. Benom is difficult than Mt Fansipan. Hmm….how true is it? I will be able to tell after September. ;)