Caving: Gua Tempurung

I think it is fun to sometimes be in touch with mother nature.

I went caving last Sunday with a bunch of my friends in Gua Tempurung, Perak - approx. 2hrs drive from Kuala Lumpur. At the beginning of the excursion, we had to climb about 500 over steps and at each stop the guide will show us the formation of stalamite and stalatite (I hope I got that right), that he interestingly and rather creatively pointed out to us some of the stones formation which resembles animals such as tiger, elephant, anteater to "Dei Chi Gong" (Chinese Taioist God) and a woman's leg!

A couple of my frens were clearly bored incl. myself cos we were really there for some "actions" which began as soon as the lights were out, literally. Thankfully, we were all equipped with a torch light. A lot of walkin' thru narrow paths and unexpectedly, there were no roaches or many creepy crawlies in sight. I suppose it being a tourist spot, many of these creepy crawlies had "moved" out to somewhere less intervention from the crazy bunch, that's us, the human. The walking, however, turned out to be quite dull at times cos like I said, we were REALLY there for “actions”! The suspense came when we had to crawl on small river streams (it’s not mucky or grimy) a la Rambo or GI Jane. I could see amidst the faint light from our torch lights that some of the gals were quiet wary of crawling tho’ there were informed by the guide prior to entering the cave.

Vivien Siaw was, however, the eager-beaver amongst the bunch and was absolutely thrilled to do it than "just climbing steps". She was also the first to volunteer to get down into a “hole” about the size of a man-hole (abt 1.5ft x 1ft) which is part of the route leading to the exit. Before climbing down, I promptly reminded her of the mafia penguins from Madagascar, the animation flick recently shown on the big screen, and how one of them “hypnotized” the zebra that he didn’t see them plotting to escape the Central Park Zoo (fyi, it was super hilarious, the penguins). This, in turn, inspired her to re-enact the scene which she did with much gusto and absolutely cheered many of us whom were visibly uneasy of the descend.

We exited the cave at abt 1.30pm with a lot of sighs (of relief) and many lookin' like crap - imagine jail convicts who escaped and went thru drains and rivers. Haha... We were all starved but managed to find decent food in nearby Ipoh town (tho the service of the restaurant was pretty bad- imagine shouting and cursing waitresses/waiters; Ong Kee Chicken rice - be warned).

It was overall, a great weekend, rather than my usual Sundays which I'd spend in shopping malls sipping coffee. Oh btw, if you are that sort that like to sip coffee in a trendy cafe in town or shoppin' with friends in upmarket shoppin' malls or have buffet lunch in 5-star hotel on a lazy sunday, then, this might just not be ur cuppa tea - although, I must confess I sometimes indulge all the above...C'mon, I'm born and raised in Klang Valley! Anywaysss, I am lookin' fwd for another similar excursion. In fact, it is already in the planning...until then, I'm outta here.