I wrote in my Gunung Chabang post that I had dying toenails. That was on 14 April 2013. On the last week of May, I managed to cut off these dead toenails. I pulled them out without feeling any pain at all. Now, I can see pink again. My nails have yet to grow. I hope they grow pretty and normal. I never realise how much I miss my toenails until I lose the 'normality'. I appreciate everything about myself now. I am thankful for how I have grown because I am able to experience things for myself. Thankful especially to my parents because they gave me this body. I have been entrusted to take care of myself, and I will do so.
01062013 - I registered for a new activity today. Well, I registered for it like a month back, knowing I have no plans on most weekends now. I need to get back on the Web and look for places to visit during the weekend. Today, I am doing something new for the first time - CAVING in Gua Batu Maloi! I have read about caving and it scares me because it is dark, and I was afraid there is a need to swim. I decided to join this activity organised by Menarik Adventure Team in Facebook because there was a lot of people participating and it is opened to 12 years and above. So, I figured this should be good for a beginner. I paid RM70 where it includes a certificate and late lunch. I am sure if this is liaised directly with the caretaker of the cave, it would be much cheaper.
On this very day, I woke up pretty early, because it was going to be a 1.5 hour journey to the destination. I was driving from Selangor and heading towards Alor Gajah Exit, Melaka. From Alor Gajah exit, we are headed towards Tampin. We drove together to the cave which is located in Johol, Negeri Sembilan. In total, it was about a 2 hour drive to the entrance of the destination.
And this, I present the entrance of the destination. We passed by many villages to reach this place. There was a big space for ample parking.
Here, I present to you the caretaker, Nazri (in green T-shirt) and his assistants (the ones in blue). Nazri is a licensed guider (for the states of Selangor, Negeri Sembilan and Melaka) under the Ministry of Tourism. He is assigned to Gua Batu Maloi and knows the place like the back of his hand. If you would like to contact him directly to arrange for caving, his number is 012-2577137 / guabatumaloi@gmail.com.
See what I mean when I said there is a large participation - there were 62 of us! It was very organised. And the youngest in the group was an 8-year old girl.
It was about a 5-minute walk to the entrance of the cave. We walked on a flat trail and waded through a stream.
Ta-da, the entrance of the cave! Here is a bit of history on Gua Batu Maloi. The cave is formed beneath the masses of large rocks and is one kilometer in length. A clear shallow stream makes its way around the stones and boulders that make up the cave floor. There are 24 checkpoints in this cave. One can complete this activity within 1.5 hour but we took about 4 hours because there was a lot of us, and we stopped a lot to snap photos!
Although you have a headlamp, you still can't see how deep or shallow the water is. So, you have to be really careful when you wade through the water. There was a part in the cave where I could not feel the bottom in the water (even the tall guys could not too), and I crossed to the next rock with a big step. In this cave, I did these actions - crawl, walk, climb, pull myself up with a rope (because of the strong water pressure), submerge for 2 seconds to go over, lean against rocks and push myself up, and slide down. I shall let my photos speak for themselves.
Gua Kelawar (Bat Cave). I did see a few bats and the place smells.
Stone formation that look like a yacht.
Waterprint image of Buddha and his consort. We were informed that water used to drip in this place and this print came out. Then, the water stopped dripping but the image is still there. Another interesting thing to note is that the surrounding of this image is dry.
There were a few locations with strong water pressure. It is really difficult to climb up with strong water pressure. Even with a rope. If it rained the day before, the water level can go higher and one cannot proceed with the caving activity.
This is a cool branch that is very sturdy. I sat there and it was not shaky at all.
At the end of the caving activity, we soaked ourselves in this small pool.
I saw a hut that belongs to an 'orang asli' - the aborigine.
After caving, we continued our way to a huge rock, Batu Maloi, where the cave got its name from. It was a very huge rock where we climbed up using either the rope or root. On top of the rock, there were trees. We climbed down using the roots. The roots were very strong and in place. Me being afraid of heights was terrified in climbing down.
That mark the end of my activity. It was a very interesting experience. One just has to practice extreme caution. Do not be worried if you are slow. Safety is always the first priority.
And that is the beautiful sunset I witnessed on my drive back. One hand on my steering wheel and the other hand snapping the photo.
No comments:
Post a Comment