She was screaming but I couldn't help chuckling just a little. I know it wasn't funny to her but from where I was standing and watching, it was hilarious. She had been looking at the little guy and making eye contact. Then he came closer and tried to grab her purse. She was holding the purse down by her side with her outstretched arm, at just the right level for him to reach. She started to turn around in circles with the purse still hanging down and swinging like a toy.  The Macaque monkey was in hot pursuit of the purse and she was screaming by now. 

I jumped on the Light Rail Train this morning and went to the KL (Kuala Lumpur) Sentral station, where I got on a KL train to go to the Batu Caves, 8 miles from KL . It's one of the most important Hindu religious sites outside of India. It draws 5,000 visitors every day. They climb the 272 steps to see the caverns.

There is a 113 year old temple in the caves and a lot of artwork and many shrines. During the Hindu ceremony called Thaipusam, more than a million people gather here at the caves and the devoted Hindus perform ceremonial acts. It's a thanksgiving time to Lord Subramaniam for answered prayers. It is also a day for penance for your wrong doings.

The part of the ceremony that grabbed my attention is when I read that some of the Hindus carry their offerings, which are containers of milk, to The Lord Muruga on large ornamental structures, called kavadis. 

The Kardivis are two large semicircular ornate pieces of wood or steel. They are bent and attached to a cross that can be balanced on the shoulders. These frameworks have different hooks and skewers that are hooked into their bodies (skin, cheeks, tongues) with steel spikes and large hooks . The Kavadi is decorated with flowers and peacock feathers. Some weigh over 200 pounds.

The most devoted may also coat their bodies with holy ash, put on saffron robes and insert these metal skewers in their cheeks and tongues and backs. The people that do this are those that have made a vow during the year.

The amazing part is when they start the long, difficult trip up the 272 steps to the top of the caves with these hooks in their skin.

Consecrated ash is sprinkled on the hooks and skewers before they are taken out by Priests waiting at the top. I just missed this ceremony by a few weeks but I found a photo of it. It would have been something to see in person!

The Batu Caves where I am today is one of the major sites where this ritual takes place each year, between mid January and mid February. It is a national holiday in Malaysia .

At the foot of the 272 steps you climb to visit the caves and shrines, there is a golden statue of Lord Murugan. It is 154 feet tall and is the world's largest statue dedicated to this god. It took 250 tons of steel bars to make and 1550 cubic meters of concrete. 300 liters of a special type of gold paint was imported from Thailand for it.

Once you reach the top of the steps you have some really great views of KL below. In addition to this, you have a humorous show being put on by the wild monkeys roaming around. They sit on the steps or railings and watch the people. They are not afraid of humans and will grab your bag or sunglasses or anything they see and think they can get away with. 

I saw one running up the steps with someone's water bottle. He sat down with it, screwed the top off and turned it up to drink, just like a person would do! Another had climbed a light pole that bent over the steps for night visitors and he was jumping up and down making it move like a diving board .

Monkeys can get aggressive  and even bite. The bites can be very serious. My camera had automatically shut off and I could not get it on in time to get the monkey chasing the woman's purse around. It would have been a winner of a video.  I'm glad she finally got away without the monkey grabbing the purse or scratching or biting her.

Inside the caves, once you complete the climb, you are rewarded with many statues and paintings of Hindu deities and several shrines where the Hindus worship. The statues and paintings refer to how Lord Murugan was victorious over the evil demon.

Looking up you see a big opening and through it the daylight! It gives the cave experience a real special touch as you look up and realize how large this mountain and cave is.

Around the limestone mountain that houses the cave you can find the steep cliff walls where rock climbers are. Also, there is a launch pad spot where people jump with a parachute. This is free and nothing organized.

Once I finished the tour of the cave I noticed at the bottom of the 272 steps there were two other caves. In the next entry I will post photos of these caves.