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EXPLORING THE DARK CAVE, K.L.
(By Helen Cheah)

     At the invitation of the Selangor Caving Group (SCG), trip leader, Liew Chin Chow led an entourage of 18 members and 4 guests to visit the Dark Cave at Batu Caves, Kuala Lumpur on 17 January 1999.
     Batu Caves, about 12 km north of KL, well-known for its Temple Cave, is a popular tourist attraction. Whether it is for a spiritual reason or a casual visit, one has to scale exactly 272 steps to Temple Cave. And the Dark Cave is one of the many caves at Batu Caves.
     We assembled at the foot of Batu Caves at 10.00 a.m. We took the opportunity to scale up to Temple Cave to have a quick look and partly also for a warm-up. Some superstitious ones asked for guidance and blessings before entering the Dark Cave, which is situated on the left wing of  Temple Cave at 250 steps.
     The SCG, led by Yee 1 & 2, Suja and Surin, led us to the entrance of the Dark Cave and upon entering it, they locked up the iron grill gate which was erected to safeguard the Dark Cave. We were given a briefing on the history of the Cave — its formation, what to expect, etc. We were told that the cave itself is 60–100 million years old and the rock forming the cave is 400 million years old. After the rock had become hills and mountains, water eroded the rock to make the caves, enlarging small cracks and fissures into the passages and chambers seen today. And they have been classified as Chamber A – Chamber E. Now, perhaps I need those over-friendly monkeys at Temple Cave to verify such history!
     It was quite unfortunate that at the start of the adventure, I twisted my right ankle while adjusting my hard-hat light and the fear of those thousands of wingless cockroaches perched high on the roof of the dilapidated zinc shelter of the cement walkway. A decision had to be made — either I find solace from those monkeys for 3 hours or limp in. ME? — with those monkeys, no way. As the British saying goes — in for a penny, in for a pound. Off I went!
     Luckily, the stench of guano had somehow numbed some senses that enabled me to go through the whole adventure. From the exploration of Chamber A to E, we saw various formations ranging from long, hanging stalactites and stumpy stalagmites, where occasionally they had joined and become columns. These formations are of various shapes, sizes and colour and some glistening as the calcite crystals caught our torchlights. Due to the existence of minerals in the rocks, for example, manganese and iron, these formations were either pure white, creamy-coloured, grey or orange-red. And there were some which defied gravity and grow sideways and even upwards — Helictites.
     Fruit bats, crickets and long-legged centipedes were common. We were not lucky enough to sight any trap-door spiders but we managed to find a creamy-white racer – unfortunately it was dead. I took an intense look at some of the ripple-like walls and cracks at Chamber C where later I found out such ripple-like walls would enable us to determine the flow of the water. There were quite a few spots where false floors were found but due to some careless visitors who had trampled on them, they had given way. But the marks on the walls were quite significant. I stepped on one during one of the many caving trips and I know how dangerous it could be!
     But sad to note, before the volunteers from SCG took charge of this cave most of these forma-tions had been destroyed and guano was carted away. Graffiti were found drawn on some of the walls. At the last chamber (E) we were told to crawl into a small muddy hole perhaps as a prelude to familiarize ourselves before the final one, but only 3 of us ventured, probably a need to stabilise, familiarize ? or whatever you may call it. That's the end of our educational part of our visit.
     What greeted us was nothing but mud, water and darkness at the entrance of the so- called "Mud Bath". "One, by one, lie down flat on your stomach and crawl in, just slither through! Free mud facial at no charge from our Malaysia Dead Sea! Just try to contort your body. And there you go — it is so very E-A-S-Y!" said our dear SCG friends.
     After making sure there were no unwanted holes on my pants (you see, these guys forewarned us to wear the dirtiest and oldest clothings) and before I changed my mind, I crawled in second after Aaron Liew. Due to his excitement, he had kept his torch inside his pocket and within seconds, he yelled out it was too dark for him to head towards the second aperture. As his shoes were almost at my face, I could not allow him to be stuck there but to remove my hard hat torch to help him while I hang on to dear life with my other hand-held torch.
     I contorted my body and got through the first aperture, only to be confronted by two even smaller ones. I had to turn my head sideways and put one arm in front and the other arm behind in order to reduce my shoulder width, then breathe out and slowly inch my way forward through the opening!
     Anyhow, Aaron did help me in return by being so comical and gave me the courage to slither through the 2nd and 3rd apertures which were even smaller than the first one. Perhaps, only a small dog could pass through! At the final one — the 4th aperture, Suja was already there to greet us by interviewing us "Is this your first attempt through this?" "Yes! I managed to squeak with my head and hands hanging out at the outlet and at the same time trying hard to catch a breather. "Then, this is your Rebirth!" said Suja. Phew! It was such a relief to breathe again.
     Who said being fat is no good, especially one who needs it for cushioning. After we came out, not only were we soaked in mud, we realised due to the rough and rocky floors of that Mud Bath crawl, there were bruises, blue and black marks on our elbows and body. Frontal effects OR frontal reflexology!
     As the 3rd and 4th member emerged after us. Suja found a bottle of Ginseng look-alike on the floor and quickly Ms Foong claimed it and took a quick gulp. Suja teased, "You Ipoh guys are dead serious, huh! Gin Seng or Brands Essence of Chicken?"
     While waiting for the rest to crawl through, we had fun inside — some slept on the mud while the juniors painted mud on each other faces like the Red Indians. We were all soaked thoroughly, muddy, exhausted and exhilarated. A sense of fulfillment overwhelmed all of us. Even with my injured ankle, I still enjoyed the adventure very much — at least one of my better caving trips.
     From this adventure, we have discovered a new benchmark for the Mud Bath crawl. I understand it used to be Mabel Wong but now we have our Ho Kin Weng who took over. If you are keen to venture through that Mud Bath, measure Ho's shoulders first! "I told you it is Fat-so-logy — NOT flexology!"
     We had a bath at the foothills washrooms where we paid 50 sen and then adjourned for lunch after that. For those who were really serious in rejuvenating, we discovered those stall keepers not only sell nasi campur at RM4.50 but also Birds Nest soup at RM40.00!
     All in, we had so much fun! Kudos to the Selangor Caving Group and all those who had helped to make the trip/adventure so successful. Thanks. 
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Created on 26th April 1999.