When JMP and I lived in Kuala Lumpur about a decade ago, we were not very good at being local tourists. We spent most of our time getting out of KL on the weekends, and rarely spent time just looking around town. Today, to fight jetlag, I decided to rectify that a bit by visiting Batu Caves, which is just half an hour by public transport from the center of KL where I am staying, and is also totally free.

The main draw at Batu Caves is the caves, but the site is also an important place of worship for Malaysia’s Hindus. It features, in true Malaysian style, the World’s Most Something Something—in this case, the World’s Tallest Statue of Murugan.

When you climb all those stairs to the caves, you find a series of small temples. Because it is a place of worship, there is no fun of any kind allowed.

About 200 yards away, you can visit the Ramayana Cave, which for 5RM gives you a series of painted statues depicting the Ramayana. Here is the depiction of the awakening of Kumbhakarna.

Oddly, though, the “highlight” is the “natural lingam,” a.k.a. a stalagmite.

The great surprise was the very affordable, interesting, and informative tour of the Dark Cave. Spiders, bats, and guano galore.