Gua Tempurung - My first cave (22nd April - 23th April 2006)

me and my dream bike in ipoh...this baby can prob buy a decetn car in malaysia

"Hidey Ho! I've decided not to write about the last malacca ride cos it's like the 16th time i've been there! besides, it's more of a shopping trip for farewell gifts for my crazy bunch of colleagues in my soon to be ex company. And also acted like a tour guide in herding the fairly new bunch of kruzers around the place." - I wrote this about a month ago....im a procrastinator i know.

so, i'll be writing about the fantastic caving experience i had many weekends ago instead! - this one too...

as u prob realise im been writing this for more than a month...and if not for the fact that the next trip is next week...i prob wait till im 80...so here goes....

the Gua TEmpuRung Ride

caves are places where the dark creatures of the netherworld lives. From the dark elf cities in the forgotten realms series to the orc and balrogs infested palace of moria in lord of the rings, caves are the things of fantasy and evil in my mind.

the preparation before the trip made the cave seemed more intimidating. flash lights and lightwear are advised and stories of claustrophobic seizures in the cave only served to unsettle the mind. but first, we had to get there.......

gua tempurung is really very conveniently situtated near the north-south highway. in fact, im pretty sure one face of the mountain that gua tempurung is carved out from, faces the highway itself. having said that, ipoh is still a pretty far place to ride for some of the old-timers and new-comers.

andrey and yasuko are first timers to the group having only travelled to malacca the week before that with us to "acclimatise" to his new Vmax. having ironed out the initial problems, they are ready to roll with confidence oozing out from every of andrey's pores.

bat is gg 50 and his wife ida also gamely joined for a wholly new experience in the caves, while cysiong, my new gay buddy, rounded up with his first trip as the trips manager for the Kruzers.

gavin and joyce had a fren, mark, driving up with us in a subaru forester and the motley crew gathered at GP esso for the briefing. as usual, the few clowns in kruzers, namely raymond and william the first never fail to turn up and wish us off for a safe ride.

william inspecting the stores

filming it all down but haven see his work yet..muahahahah

with 11pm approaching, we saddled up and set off straight for the caves. Apart from a few sleepy moments, the ride on the highway was as sterile as a needle and we exited simpang pulai at about 630, ahead of schedule. hats off to this bunch of pple who have really taken a beating having rode without windshields and wearing half face helmets. guess im too pampered by now. the hotel was also easy to find, being situated on a slight hilltop beside the main road.

the hotel in ipoh

hanging ard the lobby of the hotel

having dumped our luggage and changed into trekking wear, we were raring to go though we hardly slept much the day before.

but first up was breakfast! i ain't gg no river with an empty stomach....

all cheery for breakfast

this tsunami nasi goreng prob took many lives too...

almost 15km down that same road, we approached a huge mountain with no signs of a gap and in no time, were standing in front of the cave entrance. now, gua tempurung has been designated as a showcave, meaning it's one of the rare caves that are showcased to the public. It is also one of the bigger caves, thus having a larger number of pple to visit wasn't a big problem at all.

a rare nice pic for cy

leaving the light for the darkness within....

parking outside the cave

the nearest pic to a group photo taken b4 entering...

no limits indeed

we had initially thought we were the only ones going in for the tour, but the cave's burgeoning popularity (CNA's rated it as one of asia's best kept secrets) meant that we had to share the tour with another group of cantonese- chinese spewing group. it wasn't very pleasant at first, but we got more comfortable as the walk continued on and on into the darkness......

the imitial part of the cave was very well developed with concrete paths, metal railings and stairs and electric lighting. this brings us the the highest point of the cave, built into gunumg tempurung. (mount tempurung) even as the highest point was reached in the huge volume of space, there was another 300 metres of soil, rock and earth before one could surface through the outer fabric of the mountain. indeed, the huge spaces reminded me of the cavenous halls of moria with orcs peering from every nook and cranny.

the opening of the cave - huge!! and wondrous

the guide was a springly man wearing a beanie and probably 40 years of wear and tear etched on his face. his indication of all the various stalagmites and stalactites as gods, animals and sexual references was amusing and clearly delighted the other group while we were busy with picture taking and taking in the sights and sounds through the cave (we hoped for silence...but it was not to be).

the staircase leading straight into the cave

various spots of the cave were also highlighted like the wind tunnel, a spot in the cave where it was strangely windy. stepping out in front or any other direction from that spot guarantees still, dank and warm air. creepy and amazing....

graffiti were also present and it is sad to see such natural beauty defaced. As much as many of the artworks were good, most were just idle declarations of love or just announcements of their presence at sometime in their lifes. a pity really, opening such a nice place up only to fall victim to ignorant pple intent on destroying everything they see.

just as we were leaving the concrete path, we descended into the darkness as our walk took a turn for better (at least to me). the concrete tracks and electric lights are gone, replaced by loose sand and pitch darkness. being at the rear really brings out the true nature of the place.

hollering in the darkness behind

it is then that our very own batman had a surprise. turning 50 on the 22nd, we bought a cake and stuck a candle to signify half a century of saving the world. it was also supposed to be his first ever birthday cake with candles laid out for him. wat a way to spend it...his very own bat cave.

the bat is 50!

the next phase of the walk consists of a underground river and squeezing into some really tight spaces. there are times where we were crawling on all fours or duckwalking thru a certain passageway.

mam jo getting wet on her shins

the underground stream in the early part of the morning

the light at one end of the cave

after a while, the water level risen causing some of us to almost wade low with a couple of inches to the ceiling. all electronic stuff were hastily dumped into our ziplock bags. i tried as much to take the pictures of us walking and crawling through but the combination of water and crawling made whipping out the camera almost impossible, unless it's waterproofed.

time to crawl and get wet!

one of my fav rock formations - an underground fountain

the 1.6km walk and crawl even consisted of sliding down a rockface about 3 to 4m metres high! as expected, a bottleneck of pple clamouring to slide down grew. As it's only possible to slide down one by one, the sliding took some time. to make matters worse, the descent is intimidating, causing a couple of pple to hesitate before alowing themselves to slide down. for the vertically phobic ah siong, it was quite an achievement, as was ida who was physically tired out after the long walk and crawl.

geronimo!

respect to IDA for this!

and right after that was the drop into a hole barely 1by 1.5m.....



the walk continued on and on.....crawling into water when necessary.....

it's depressing to be in the dark for such a long time

by the time we were out of the cave, it was almost 1pm and exhausted....but boy did we have a good time!

one of the things some pple enjoy but wouldn't admit to is to be be riding completely drenched and enjoying the cold cold ride. there wasn't a single person in our group who wasn't tired and yet we trooped down to the restaurant for a late buffet lunch.

plans to move out to kellie's castle was bandied ard and while some opted to get some much needed rest, the rest of the guys carried on and moved onto the bikes in search of the euporean themed castle nestled on ipohean lands, complete with moats.

a missed turning later, we descended onto the castle in the midst of blistering weather. doesn't really seem european in that kinda weather but nonetheless, quite a weird sight amid the kampungs.

It was bleeding hot and i was sleepy...bad combi. The castle was interesting just because it IS a castle. something u probably can find closing your eyes in eastern europe. anyway, it's just like singapore making fort siloso a tourist spot.

Kellie's Castle

the roof of Kellie's

the kinky boys and girls getting their tans

the customary bike shot

taken from the roof

cameras were out for unique angles and more camera tricks.....after a while, we ascended up the roof and the sight made up for all the castle's deficiencies. i aint gonna bother writing abt the castle's history. u prob can google it anyway.

after the customary bike shot, we headed to ipoh town for dinner. came to this english sounding cafe with english sounding food with gigantic drinks! had a nice wind down with wat else...beer...nice cool chilled beer to cool the heaty body...

one of the newest member - Andre

before i knew it, i was lying dead on the bed. wat a day.

the next day is a ride intensive one. from ipoh, we took the NS highway out and headed for Fraser's, this time heading southwards instead of the usual north. this is the first time the new route is opened to us as well...no more one way traffic and meeting timings!!! boy, i miss that now..the grass is always greener on the other side. partly cos the new route up is pretty boring and simply lacking in excitement. oh well, win some lose some.

my gay buddy

lunch was slow

not much pictures taken for the 2nd day cos it's mostly places we been and done. only the company's different and the ride is as always an extremely therapeutic experience......a biggie trip up next!!!!

Back to where it all started for vanwa, enedfea and also benny..........and the beginning of many memories for the newbies...

do the right thing..and Ride Among Us.