It starts at the port, then go through a mangrove, following a glance at the sea.
It’s beautiful at sunset, when the surroundings painted in orange and the sun like a giant spotlight, while the water is still and reflects the sky. It’s breath-taking moment and I bet you would stop for photographs to your instagram collection.
The road is generally good, but some area will be a little bit rough, especially when you reach residential neighborhood.
Following the road and you’ll see dramatic cliffs, amazing curve surprising you with stunning landscape. Silhouette play a main road in this natural painting, especially during sunrise and sunset.
National-garden route
The road takes you through Cat Ba National garden, where you pay a visit to the entrance, buy tickets and join the hiking into the forest.
Most of the time you will be surrounded by solitude atmosphere, trees, sometimes joined by condos above spreading their wings with friends.
There are two caves: one you have to pay at the entrance, the other, Quân y cave, you will pay none if you enter at the end of the cave, which there’s a sign sided the road.
The wooden bridge in Gia Luan neighborhood
At the end of the route, take notice and you will see a wooden bridge on the right, there’s a path where you can ride down to access. It’s worth a try due to the romantic view.
Combining two routes and you will have a:
Perfect loop!
Biking tips:
Remember that there are few lights sided the roads, be careful when you’re out at night.
There are few repair shops on coastal road or when you’re in national garden area, but still people ride by, wave them and use your body language your bike broken-down and need repairs, they will tell the shop to have your bike fixed.
The ferry brings you from charming Cat Ba island to Tuan Chau – a luxurious landmark close to Ha Long city via Ha Long bay within one hour, when stunning landscape in a very comfortable pace is expected.
I love the route, at the first sight.
Compared to those I’ve been to, it is the best! Giant rocks on waters like big guys guarding, evergreen. Still water as massive mirror and you have time to enjoy those, sound great right ?
Get to
From Cat Ba town, there’s a road crossing through national garden to the Gia Luậnpier, where they hold ferry route to Tuan Chau. On the way, you will experience the evergreen and somewhat solitude on the road surrounded by trees, plantations and local garden.
Note: I encountered three snakes: two alive and one dead, so be cautious when riding by.
What to do on the ferry
The trip takes approximately one hour in total, so you’d like to spend your time wisely.
Sightseeing: the landscape is of the the most beautiful in Viet Nam, so you should have a seat on deck and eyes on incredibly natural formation
Have some food: due to the long ride, there’s actually a mini food court where you can have some refreshments.
Selfie: the second floor is a great spot for your selfie as it provides wonderful 180 degree background, don’t forget your stick or have your companions make it.
Sunbathing: on sunny days, benches on the deck directly heated by sunlight are the favorite ones of people love tanned skin.
Photography tips
Corridors on the second floor is the best place for landscape, where your pose touches the sky, rocks and water, they are all perfect for your album. Don’t miss it!
Also, you can take top-down shot to the below people and things.
Budget and schedule reference
A bike + rider cost 100,000 dong
Passenger 80,000 dong
There’s a cafeteria at the pier where foods and drinks are served around 20,000-40,000 dong.
Lan Ha bay cruise tour for one day is such a must-try experience in Cat Ba island. I did it, and these are some reasons why you should do the same.
I add some tips in case you give it a try.
1. Schedule
This is a full day trip. The tour starts from 8:00 and you disembark at 17:00 so, except for the sunrise at dawn, you will experience the bay in mostly every hours on day with so many colors and themes of landscape and sun.
Tips:There’re transit minivan coming to pick you up at the booking agent office. No hassle!
Bánh Đa Cua – local spectialty
There’s no breakfast included but usually free-breakfast of hostels served after 8:00, so if you feel hungry, it’d better getting around early and have some food before. For me, I have Xôi (sticky rice), Bánh dày (round sticky rice cake) or a bowl of local Bánh đa cua (local crab rice noodle), they were all awesome!
When the cruise turns back in the late afternoon, the transit will get you straight forward your hostel, so when you’re back on the minivan, make sure you can look out and mark your accomodation so that the driver drops you by
2. Price
Price depends on the agency you book the tour, ranges from 350,000 – 380,000 vnd/ pax.
The experience covers from cruising, kayaking, lunch, drop you by remote beaches and eventually take a walk around Monkey island.
I find it reasonable and worth a try. I know Cat Ba is a beautiful destination but without eyes to Lan Ha bay, you miss a lot of stunning experience.
3. Experience
I’ll tell you what surprises me most!
The landscape, well, Lan Ha bay (or former Ha Long bay complex) was such a beautiful touch to my every senses. Green, Rocks, Sky – exquisite harmony!
We saw a big fish, no, giant fish, and there’re only two in the bay.
We kayaked for over one hour. That was the first time I’ve been on a kayak, and got used to it quickly, then we moved around, through caves, find shades among rocks and greens, when the time stood still.
We settled down for a while and jump for joy, well, off the ship, for 1-2 second I didn’t remember and landing on the cool and clear water. We even saw jelly fish and make jokes when guiding people to circle around a imaginary jelly ones (because, you know, it’s said that jelly fish bite hurts you much).
Then we had lunch onboard surrounded by fantastic scenery, open talks about experience, many fellow travelers on the cruise, all around the world and stories keep flowing out of mouth like waterfall.
(Well, it’s a bit annoying when someones keep saying “you know, five years ago, it’s such a heaven on earth, I’ve been there at that time, now, I can’t recognize it anymore.)
After lunch, we took a lazy time resting then heading to a site where offers three tiny beaches (Ba Trái Đào isle). The cruise stopped in deep water and we swam ourselves toward those sands. It is very exciting and relaxing when you lie on the beach, among majestic rocks and an open sky, such a luxurious experience.
The final stop, Monkey island is also amazing when we caught a beautiful sunset, the sand was super fine and monkeys were very friendly (I shook hand with a guy) despite warning that you shouldn’t tease them much or you’ll take claws/ bites.
For hikers, there’s a challenging mountain not far from the house by the beach, you should be careful when climbing up, the rocks are quite sharp but the panoramic view on top is super worthy.
4. How to buy Lan Ha bay cruise tour (one-day)
This is one of the most popular tours in Cat Ba so you have no difficulty asking for it in any hostels, remember the price range as I mentioned above so that you won’t be rip-offed.
It’s better to take a sleeper bus, starting at 23:00 so that you would wake up in the next day at the harbour and take the earliest speed boat trip to the island.
I prefer Phuong Trang open bus due to the wide range of departure time and a flexible transit directly to the harbor. The cost is 150,000 vnd/ person.
There are two speed boat operators: Superdong and Ngoc Thanh. Superdong service: departs at 6:15 and it takes 2,5-3 hours to Nam Du with 210,000 vnd/ person (2018).
All bus and boat are required to book in advance and receive the ticket 30 minutes beforehand.
2. Get out
The last speed boats leave Nam Du at 15:15.
The last Phuong Trang bus to HCMc will leave at 23:00.
Bear in mind the schedule to plan your leaving.
Nam Du harbour from above
3. What to do in Nam Du
Cruise tour
You can book cruise tour at any hostel/ hotel receptionist, with two options: a full-day trip for 250,000 vnd/ person, departing at 8:00 AM and visiting 3 isles: Hon Dau, Hon Mau and snorkel site. A half-day trip will cover the two last, you will leave the island at 13:00, only 150,000 vnd.
Life vest is limited, especially in common daily tour because the cruise crew will try their best to get as many guests as possible, sometimes, outnumber the amount of life vests. Therefore, you may love to be first people onboard and get yours.
Private boat to island is also available, for 75-100 usd/ day. If you don’t have much time, or wanna some private moment, more flexible schedule, this option is for you. Contact through hostel, too, and tell them you’d prefer private tour.
Usually, the agency will offer 75 usd/ half day and 100 usd/ full day but you should bargain down to 50 usd for half day tour and 75 usd with a full day tour. It’d better be clear with agency about what isles you would visit and how long they would take you around. A full day should start at 8:00 and half day at 13:00, all ends at 17:00 as common tour.
Bear in mind that the tour may not be available if weather stays bad, so watch out weather forecast to plan the trip.
Cruise review
Hon Dau, Hon Mau are two popular destinations of daily tour. These are residential isles, beach is beautiful with nice, tiny and colorful rocks, water is super clear, and if you come there in sunny days, you would see how amazing they are.
The last stop is a snorkel site, but the coral reefs is not as beautiful as those of Phu Quoc isles, it’d better snorkeling under sun (at noon) because the sun light will lit up the surface underwater, making it more fantastic and the temperature would be comfortable than in the late afternoon.
4. Accomodation
There are many options: motels, homestay, dorms.
The only dorm cost minium 150,000 vnd/ person for a 8-bed room. A private room range from 150,000 vnd/ night with fan, and over 250,000 vnd/ night with room equipped air-conditioned.
My choice was Khang Vy, a motel locates at the intersection toward fishing village. The room is clean, and equipped air-con, for 250,000 vnd/ night.
There’re many touts asking whether you’ve booked a room and suggesting theirs. Most of first time visitors would choose to walk for a while (avoiding tour traps), but finally, when they’re fatigue, the decision is made for touts.
Tips: check the room, check the price but consider your experience, you may not be back in future so make your first impression good!
The seafood worth your tries due to the variety of creatures. I suggest you spend 50-100 usd to cover most of delicious food in the island. It’s worthy for your curiosity and exploration.
We try a specialty: “lẩu cá xương xanh” (green skeleton fish hotpot), only 150,000 vnd/ 2 people and it’s very delicious. You can buy other kind of seafood and have them well cooked right at the local food-stalls, with a beer and a view towards the sea, it is simply a amazing experience.
A bowl of “bún thịt” only costs 20,000 vnd/ pax, so much cheap. We also bought a tiger beer for 18,000 vnd – same as mainland.
One of special jam drink of the island is “đá me”. You will be attracted by vendors stirring a hot brown mixture.
If you travel deeply enough into fishing village as we did in Bai Ngu, then you will find out more local food with more reasonable price compared to those at the harbour.
The shore
6. Ride around
The cheapest bike rental fee is 150,000 vnd for 24 hour. You’d better ride around the small island without any refuel.
However, if you tend to check every corners then possibly you should buy more fuel from local grocery with 25,000 vnd/ litre
I spotted some bicycles for rent also, it’s also ideal to take cycling as the coastal road is relatively short (over 20 kilometers I guess). Keep in mind that there are slopes upwards and downwards.
Coastal road
Rent a bike and ride around the island is a must-try experience as the landscape is incredible. The cliffs, the shore with colorful rocks, lines of coconut, blue clear-as-crystal water with far far away fishing boats, evergreen forests. You will miss these ones if you don’t ride.
7. Photography spot
These amazing pictures above are shot at some spots:
– “the harbour”: on the way to lighthouse, there’s a site which you can photograph entire shore below. People call it “sky gate”.
– “Xich du”: at Hon Mau, follow the road to the end, there’s a local restaurant with beautiful props as in my photos.
– “the shore”: you can spot these shore after leaving Bai Men few miles towards Bai Ngu fishing village. Stick to the sea side and you’ll spot it.
8. Conclusion
The island is such a wonderful travel site: good food, beautiful scenery, small enough for short trip. The big disadvantage is it requires permit for foreigners, but if you can make it, then it’s completely worth your effort.
So you travel to Hai Phong, and have no idea about the food. Well, this post is for you !
Apart from Cat Ba island, I didn’t spend much time in Hai Phong, a port city in the northeast Vietnam. Most of my time is to find good food so I will review a bit about some local food in Hai Phong.
Only three dishes, no big deal.
Bánh đa cua (Crab brown rice noodle)
Well, when I write these words, my mouth is watering, again. It is such a delicious food with unique flavor.
The bowl includes cá viên (fish ball), riêu cua (like in “bún riêu“), chả thịt cuốn lá sương xông (spring roll by leaves), nõn tôm (unshelled shrimp), nõn tôm tích (unshelled mantis shrimp) mix with rau cần (water dropwort ) and hành phi (fried onion). You can spice up with some slices of hot chilly, a little salt, sauce and kumquat.
What make it special also lies in the noodle quality, it’s brownish, very different from rice noodle as we usually consume. The smell is well delivered via smoke and it is very good to taste on coldish days due to the warmth.
quán ăn at Hàng Kênh street
I enjoyed mine in a “quán ăn” (a mini restaurant) at 148 Hàng Kênh street. It is not really a ‘restaurant’ in term of European standard, but very popular style in Vietnam, but on top of that, the quality is pretty good).
There’s one thing to notice that the pavement is narrow to park your bike, so it would be difficult to find a room for your vehicles, especially when driving. So bear in my that share rides or taxis should be better.
One last piece of information: a pax cost 25,000 vnđ and you should order Thập cẩm (all ingredients mixed) to have every aspects of the topping, apart from your own taste (some may not eat shrimp, for example).
I took a bowl for lunch and it definitely made me full till the evening. Very qualified!
2. Bánh đúc tàu (Plain rice flan)
So this is for breakfast, you can find at around No.186 Hai Bà Trưng street.
There’s a vendor there with lots of bowl in row and “bánh đúc” also. It cost 10,000 vnđ/ pax and the taste is super unique.
As you may know, the northern cuisine tastes tend to be salty, this one turns out to be a little sweet, a little sour. The topping includes shrimp and tiny blocks of su hào (cabbage turnip). You can order more “bánh đúc” if your body need more calorie for a day, but it is totally made of rice with high carb, so, your call.
The pavement is large enough for parking, there’s also a local market near by to explore.
3. Bánh mì cay
I’m not fascinated with the name, well, it’s true, except for its size: very thin.
One costs you only 2,000 vnđ/ stick and there’s nothing much to expect: pate, little meat and spiced up with hot chilly sauce.
What make it become a legend, along with its size, is the bread quality and somehow, the weather. After preparing thoroughly, the cook will roast one more time so you will receive hot sticks. I recommend eat them at site, when it is in perfect condition. If you bring them home, it would be nice to microwave again.
Bánh mỳ cay vendor
The two destinations famous for Bánh mỳ cay is Bà Già (57 Lê Lợi), Khánh Nạp (192 Hàng Kênh). It’s quite popular in the city so you may see vendors here and there.
I had them after a movie at night. The temperature was quite low and it came to right time I needed something to warm me up and fulfill my hungry dream.
4. Thạch găng (Glass jelly)
Oh, I missed this one, and I doubt that it would be a copy of “sương sáo”, “phục linh”, “xoa xoa”, which only means glass jelly, maybe the topping would be different a bit, but the nature stays similar.
By the way, if you’d like to have a glass, it should be found in almost local markets, some travelers recommend Lương Văn Can, Cát Bi and Cố Đạo markets.
The price ranges from 10,000 – 20,000 vnđ. Due to your optional toppings, it would vary the price.
So with 4 dishes, you nearly take a food tour of Hai Phong city now. Have good meals!
Luang Prabang, the ex-capital, destination of monks walking for offerings in a quiet morning, delicious and fresh food from legendary Mekong river, a place where you just wanna be lazy all days in an armchair and read Lonely planet (I mean old versions).
And if you feel cramped a little bit then a ride following river bank and enjoy a cup of hot coffee in the fanstatic evening is your choice. Here we go!
Alms ceremony monks at dawn
Get around
LP is a small town so you can choose either to walk, rent a cycle or motorbike and ride around. If you wish to travel further a bit like majestic Kuang Si waterfall (30 kilometers away), then rent a bike is a better choice, but remember you may be stopped by police.
You can share ride with people to cut cost if you travel solo. I saw many tuk tuk full of travelers. Imagine awesome people from every corners in the world gather in a small vehicle to an awesome attraction. That is totally awesome!
If your time is no rush, you should also take ferry for 8000 kip to the other river bank (we did it, it was windy and beautiful) and visit a local village, as well as the botanic garden (we haven’t been there, if you did, plz tell me how it looks like?)
Accomodation
The riverside is dominated by a lot of beautiful villas and hostels. Price maybe high here but the view is spectacular. My next time in Luang Prabang would be there absolutely!
During our trip, we stayed at Moukdavan hostel. it’s a new guy in hostelworld app with a few good reviews, so I decided to give it a chance. The hostel locates just 500 meters away from downtown, so price is cheaper, 30,000 kip/ dorm bed without free breakfast. The furniture is vintage and some wooden. Honestly, I love it, especially its host Leon and his story.
Attraction
I pick two most typical destinations in our journey.
phou si walk
Phou Si
To be honest, there’s nothing special but a highest spot to view the city. The religious complex situates on a hill at the center of the town. You will take steps to a small worship pagoda at the peak. Due to absolutely green surroundings, it’s very comfortable walking and take photograph.
You can step inside pagoda, fire incense and pray. entrance fee: 20,000 kip/ pax
kuang si waterfall
Kuang Si
The most worthy destination for its price. We had a wonderful time there explore many interesting things like bear rescue actitivies, photography, bathing, trekking. The landscape is amazing and I actually plan to return one day.
entrace fee: 20000 kip/ person and 2000 kip/ bike parking fee if you ride a motorcycle.
Food/ Fruit and drink
The ex capital impresses travelers with its variety of cuisine. We enjoyed most Lao foods in Luang Prabang because their reasonable price and very delicious taste.
The first evening we had roasted meat and sticky price at a food alley. Sitting under jumble steel roofs, brightly yellowish color from the old light and enjoy traditional Lao dishes is a must-do experience.
For fruits, we tasted Mak Tong, a sort of local fruit, very sour, so it usually include a special mix of salt, sugar and seasoning.
luang prabang fruit pineapple
Pineapple is also popular and taste is sweet, just 8,000 kip. And there’s a foodstall at Kitsalat road which sells meat soup at remakably cheap price: 5,000 kip. I see it is the best price “restaurant” in town. Note that it’s only open in the morning.
My friend really enjoy Khao Soy in nightmarket. Its smell is unique. You may want it with some Lao Beer.
There is actually a morning market, not two far from night business location. You should get up early and take a visit there, and enjoy local specialties, big fish from Mekong river, colorful sticky rice with even a pie of plan cake.
Veggie, meat and all cooking ingredients are available and incredibly fresh so it’s pity that I didn’t join any cooking class (if any). It’s better to buy some to make your own breakfast not only to save money but also to have deeper local experience. It’s absolutely worthy.
Nightlife
If you enjoy weed then a very bar named “Utopia” will be the best place to smoke. I saw an ambiance of twilight dense fog inside, it’s really an ideal destination for smoking travelers.
We decided to enjoy more luxurious style so Joma coffee at riverside is perfect. Drink costs at 15,000 usd. But remember that most coffee close at 9 PM. You should take a walk following riverside, it’s very beautiful and gorgeous with colorful stores, coffees and villas while enjoy soft breeze from Mekong.
Nightmarket is also good place to enjoy local food and souvenir. I bought a couple of natural soap for 10000 kip/ piece.
Phonxavan, land of fire and bomb in history, mysterious Plain of Jars and magnificent road trips along range of pines. Don’t miss it in your Lao itinerary.
Power cut
The city sometimes experiences power cut. When we arrived and was checking room before booking, all the lights were off. My friend admittedly was lucky because of not being trapped in the elevator at that time.
Bike rental
I saw many signboard for rentals, so no problem renting one, price ranges variously from 60,000-100,000 kip, depending on what kinds (manual or automatic shift), date and your bargain skill.
Tips: it’d better choose manuals for safety concern.
Most of Phonsavan stores closed at 8:PM. The first time visiting the city, I was surprised. You know, HCMc is mostly active by 11 PM.
Fortunately, there’s still some Vietnamese restaurant open at night, offering soup, noodle and some specialties.
Accomodation
There are few option for dorm bed but private room is very cheap, just 60,000 kip/fan room, not including free breakfast.
We stayed in Doukoun hostel, which is very large complex of motel. Room is spacious and comfortable.
As Phonxavan used to be a fierce battlefield, like Cu Chi-Vietnam, so there are a lot of bullet and bomb shells stocked inside as a interior decoration.
Phonxavan hot pot
Eat
Well, there’s a hot-pot restaurant by a Wat, quite popular with many locals having chill out. We saw a large party of employees celebrating there, so it’s possibly cheap and delicious.
One set for 2 people cost 50000 kip, including a Lao style hot pot.
The next destination is “che Hue” (sweet soup of Hue, Vietnam), 5000 kip with a big glass (I was full after it). It’s actually a hairdresser, only sell soup in the evening till night. The people are from Vietnam so you can practise Vietnamese (Hue accent). You should order Thap Kam for all ingredients mixed.
We didn’t visit local markets but I think you should do before they close at 7-8PM
At night, you can walk around guesthouse neighborhood to have Chao luon, Com, Pho. I saw no beautiful coffees in downtown.
Phonxavan plain of jars site one
Attractions
we’re heading for Phonsavan mostly for Plain of Jars. Most travelers visit Plain of jars site one as it is the largest site in area. 3000 kip parking fee/ bike and 15000 kip/ foreigner, 10,000 kip/ Lao.
After buying ticket, you can ride your bike to parking lot near the site or getting on transit car.
What you expect is a dozen of Jars scattering on hills. Inside is water pool, or bushes. Far faraway, pine forest beautify the landscape. You should go uphill to see panoramic view. It’s worthy.
A sunflower garden locates near the entrance, don’t forget to take photos.
There’s a cave, quite creepy ambiance, stones stacked stones, piles and piles, an altar at the center, it reflects a small amount of outside light.
Photography tips: visit in dry season, get up early and hunt for sunrise moment.
Phonxavan pine hills
Get out
Toward Nong Tang, there are evergreen pine forest hills among rice paddy fields which is a great spot for shooting photography.
Photography tips:
Nong Tang also is there a small lake with giant rocks scattering, a bit like Ninh Binh (Vietnam), every late afternoon, local fisherman collects produce on boats moving slowly on water.
I think it’s good for using tele len to shoot close up boat or portrait of rocks, fit also good if you wish for human portrait (ask to get onboard and shoot). A wide len for all sky, rocks and water with fishermans/ boats is good for landscape style.
If you travel Malaysia Capital and make a plan to visit Tugu Negara, so don’t ignore ASEAN Sculpture Garden in Kuala Lumpur.
Location
It is a beautiful garden along Parlimen Road, about 100 metres to the National Monument (Tugu Negara) as well as very close to the Lake Gardens and 15-minute walk from the Masjid Jamek LRT station.
Asean sculpture garden entrance
What to explore in Asean Sculpture Garden in Kuala Lumpur
You should spend 15 minutes take snap of pictures as the garden features the works created by award-winning local artists of the six founding Association of Southeast Asian Nations, namely Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia and Brunei.
The garden was officially opened in 1987 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of ASEAN. It’s quite interesting if you know more about the meaning behind every works as there is few information at site.
It shapes twenty slabs in a curving movement from a low profile to the upwards, symbolising the growth of ASEAN during the first twenty years, created by Syed Ahmad Jamal with material including Malaysia marble slabs on reinforced concrete.
Towards Peace (Singapore)
There are six sculptures symbolising the progress in unity, growth, peace and harmony of ASEAN with 6 members together, created by Han Sai Por with Malaysia Marble.
The Gate Of Harmony (Indonesia)
The Gate symbolises communication among ASEAN countries: independent wings and pillars represent the interdependence of the nations while the concrete block implies the nations create communication, conference and harmony. The structure is made of reinforced concrete and created by Dolorosa Sinaga.
Barong-Barong (Philippines)
A modern interpretation of old type architecture popular in ASEAN region, made by Jerusalino V.Araos and of many material including steel and glass.
The progress
Progress (Thailand)
The artist use stainless Steel – an industrial material to emphasize the industrial progress of ASEAN. The maker: Itthi Khongkhakul
The Asean Dance (Brunei Darussalam)
It’s simple: to preserved the old and welcome the new. Created by Abu Bakar bin Abdul Rahman
Final thought
The garden is free entrance, beautifully green and well-maintained, so most of travelers would take a visit on their way to National monument, but it will just an ordinary visit due to the lack of relevant information on structures.
the structure needs to be maintained regularly.
In addition, these ones seem also in need of some restoration and sustain like the garden. It’s good to understand the success of the region in over the last few decades, which will match perfectly with the surrounding history site.
vNo-one travels to Kuala Lumpur to miss a visit to Batu Caves – a very attractive destination close to the capital, featuring the popular Hindu festival – Thaipusam, holding the tallest Hindu god statue in the world and the labyrinth of spooky limestone caves in Malaysia. So amazing !!
Besides, you will be given a challenge to take quite steep 272 steps to enter a giant dorm-shaped cave with numerous religious activities conducting inside and a panoramic view toward the metropolian area. Don’t miss it !
Batu Caves actually includes three main caves featuring temples, Hindu shrines and a system of small-scale caves to explore.
1 – The history
statue on a rooftop
Some quick fact to know: – The limestone forming Batu Caves is around 400 million years old.
– The caves were first used by indigenous people (Temuan) for sheltering, then by Chinese pioneers collecting guano to fertilize their vegetable gardens in early 1860s.
– Over 10 years after that, the limestone hills attracted an American naturalist William Hornaday (1878) and also colonial authorities including Daly and Syers.
– But the turning point for Batu Caves was when K. Thamboosamy Pillai, an Indian trader, used it as a place to worship Hindu gods (Lord Murugan).
– In 1890, Pillai, who also founded the Sri Mahamariamman Temple, Kuala Lumpur, set up the Murti (consecrated statue) of Sri Murugan Swami in Temple Cave.
– The Thaipusam festival in the Tamil month of Thai (late January-early February) started celebrating there in 1892.
– Wooden steps up to the Temple Cave were initially built in 1920, then replaced by 272 concrete steps later.
Trivia
– Batu Cave is named after the Sungai Batu (Stone River), which flows through the hill. It is the tenth (Pattu in Tamil) limestone hill from Ampang. – Batu Caves is also the name of a nearby village.
– Batu Caves is also referred as 10th Caves since there are six holy shrines in India and four in Malaysia, including three others are Kallumalai Temple in Ipoh, Tanneermalai Temple in Penang and Sannasimalai Temple in Malacca.
2- System of Caves
Coming to Batu Caves, you should pay enough time to visit totally 3 main Caves (Temple cave, Dark cave, The Ramayana Cave) and maybe some small caves.
Inside Temple caves
The biggest – Temple Cave, has a very high dome-shaped ceiling and features decorated Hindu shrines. Actually, it’s a joint of 2 separated caverns. The first cavern contains six abodes of Murugan carved into the walls and the second is where the temple of Valli Devanai, Murugan’s wife, locates
Entrance to Dark Caves – regularly limited access
Below the Temple Cave is the Dark Cave, with rock formations and a number of unique animals. It presents a network of intact caverns, but the most stunning things is that the harmony of thousands-of-years stalactites and stalagmites creates complicated formations such as cave curtains, cave pearls, flow stones, etc. It will blow your mind and make you fall in love at a glance.
In order to maintain the cave’s ecology, access is restricted but there’re still regular adventure trips to Dark Caves organized by the Malaysian Nature Society. Along with Dark Caves, there are a variety of undeveloped caves holding a diverse range of cave fauna like bats.
Lord Hanuman statue at Batu caves site
The Ramayana Cave, featuring the story of Rama along the walls of the cave in a chronicle sequence, is situated to the left. On the way to the Cave, there are a 15m (50 ft) tall statue of Hanuman and a temple dedicated to Lord Hanuman.
At the base of the hill, there are Art Gallery Cave and Museum Cave with full of Hindu statues and paintings, which then was renovated as the Cave Villa in 2008.
3- The gold statue
One of the reasons making Batu Caves distictive and worthy your visit is virtually the huge gold statue right beside the steep stairs to the Temple cave.
Murugan statue
For your interest, that is the golden statue of Lord Murugan, 42.7 meter (140ft) in height (so highhhh!), and merely considered as the biggest one ever in the world. It took 3 years to accomplish the wonder. Wow !
4- Annual Thaipusam Festival
A temple inside Catheral cave
The Batu Caves is a renowned pilgrimage site, mainly dedicated to the annual Thaipusam festival of Hindu community worldwide. So you have a chance to take a close up to prestigiously religious activity if you’re kind of people interested in the topic.
So this is how its take place: A Thaipusam march starts in the morning light from the Sri Mahamariamman Temple in KL, heading to Batu Caves as a religious undertaking to Lord Muruga. It takes about eight hours totally and devotees are required to carry containers of milk as an offering to Lord Murugan, either by hand or in large ornamented canisters on their shoulders called ‘kavadi’.
“The kavadi may be simple wooden arched semi-circular supports holding a carrier foisted with brass or clay pots of milk or huge, heavy ones which may rise up to two metres, built of bowed metal frames which hold long skewers, the sharpened end of which pierce the skin of the bearers torso. The kavadi is decorated with flowers and peacock feathers imported from India. Some kavadi may weigh as much as a hundred kilograms” – Wikipedia
Devotees are bathing in Sungai Batu (or Rocky River), then enter the Temple cave by making a arduous climb through the center staircase while influx of worshipper and observer filling the balustrades on the sides.
Priests approach the kavadi carriers, sprinkle sacred ash over skewers and hooks on devotees’s body then carefully remove them. It’s noticable that no blood shed when people do piercing and removal, but it’s still very frighteningly watching the process.
5-Travel to Batu caves
The attraction is actually a limestone hill located in Gombak, Selangor, 13km north of Kuala Lumpurr, Malaysia. So there are various ways to reach the Batu caves:
KTM train service: Batu Caves complex is easily reached by commuter train at Batu Caves Komuter station in KL Sentral. A one-way ticket cost RM 2.6, which is the cheapest transportation.
Bus: From KL Sentral, take the monorail service to Titiwangsa station. Alight here and take the bus to Batu Caves, also bus 11/11d from Bangkok Bank Terminus (Near to Puduraya Terminus) or bus U6 from Titiwangsa
Car/ Taxi: You can drive/ take taxi to Batu Caves because it locates beside the main highway of MRR2.
6- Things to do
You will see many paintings in temple at the base
Cultural art hunting
Well, there are paintings and scenes of Hindu Gods exhibits in the Ramayana Cave and the temples at the base.
Photography
As a iconic attraction of Malaysia, Batu Caves also an ideal place to perform your photographic skills on ritual, naturally dome-shaped caves and for the best, the giant Hindu god guarding at front.
Stunning rock formation of Batu caves
Rock climb
Batu Caves is the hub of rock climbing in Malaysia recently, as you can see in Vang Vieng also. Actually, the caves locates on a limestone hills rising to 150mm, so it’s no surprising that the surrounding site offers many climbing routes scatteredly (I read that there are more than 160 climbing routes) . You should contact local adventure companies for your own safety, but some would seek to do it themselves by reaching Damai caves, locating in the north eastern area.
Feed monkey
Coming to Batu caves and I’m sure you would enjoy feeding its numerous macaques, except for someone involuntarily. These creatures may bites tourists so you can carry a stick as “weapon” against some “bad guys”.
Tour de Dark Cave
The cave is so famous that every one loves studying nature shouldn’t miss learning about the natural history in the area.
7- When to visit
The best time to visit Batu caves and enjoy all of its religious color is in late January or February when over thousands of pilgrims make their way to the Thaipusam festival.
For the other day, you should travel to the complex in the early morning, 6-7 AM is the optimum choice, when you can enjoy the sunrise and sense of tranquility before the site are overwhelmed by influxes of tourists.
If you want to see how Hindu rituals happen then notice that Prayers are held at 8.30am and 4.30pm.
8- Budget travel tips
You should notice that although the Temple cave is free, the other come with various entrance fees and opening hours.
Ramayana Cave is RM5/ pax for entrance
Travel by KTM at KL Sentral saves you most money and time.
Back from the memorable trip across mountainous country, to my best recollection, I can list 5 reasons to travel Laos. If you love these ones, why not arrange to make a trip to the heaven destination.
Live slowly
This the number one of reasons to travel Laos. If you’re drown in 9-5 lifestyle, you will love it – the country of slow pace.
In the morning, when it must be time to get up and prepare to work, local people still remain sleeping. The first morning we visited Vientiane and thought it should be a little bit crowded, well, just few people appears and it was hard for us to ask for guidance due to few people to ask.
It seems Lao people have no worries but enjoy their daily life as much as they’d like, especially when you come into remote villages, it’s 4 PM and ladies start their evening shower while men are relaxing at front.
Enjoy the slow-pace lifestyle in Luang Prabang
And we absorbed the slow-pace lifestyle when we stayed in Luang Prabang. It was magically turning us into lazy worms that we just let all the whirlwind away and enjoyed ourselves in armchairs reading books, listening to music and let dreams burst out, or felt hungry and made a ride to local market and had a full meal like nothing to worry at all.
In Luang Prabang, your soul is quite, your inner voice rises loud and all sorrows flow away through Mekong rivers.
One reasons to travel Lao is food. What you can expect the local food is healthy. Very healthy in way that you may not be familiar with. For me, it’s taste. The rest is good after all.
Most of dishes are bland, so you would need sauce to spice it up, but less intake of salt on daily basic is good, right? The popular dish we take is sticky rice, then larp, a sort of local salad made of buffalo meat with various veggie, fishes from rivers, not ones produced in industrial manner, even tiny corns that my friend joked us that they were food for pigs in her country, well, I simply thought it was produce of the traditional method.
Everyday, you feed your lungs with very fresh air.
I know downtown areas are still somehow populating but just a few walk and you soon get gallons of health-friendly air.
In Luang Prabang, if you wake up early and stick to streets at dawn, you’re likely to see monks walking slowly in row, taking offerings from the local (and tourists, too). It’s very cultural tradition and also suggested as must-do in some guidebooks.
While there’s still controvery over whether you should attend the experience while you’re not really a buddist or not well-prepared both knowledge and appearance before partaking, I think that moment your heart opens wide and selfishness is collapsed. You start the morning with something good and your day turns bright.
A life lesson metropolises won’t teach you.
Kuang Si waterfall
Harmony with nature
I used to have a trek to Fansipan – the highest summit in Vietnam. The trail was set up neatly so that all the trekkers wouldn’t get lost and worry about finding right path to the summit. They are all there: stacked stones put in the order like stairs for you to step on, two camps made of steel with well-furnished interior. I also noticed a very small detail you might ignore: in some areas, the handrails are made of cement and iron but shaped to look like thin trunks.
It’s very different in Laos, especially Kuang Si waterfall, which I prefer the way Lao people perfectly mix their artificial features along with indigenous creation. The bridge and balcony to watch the fall are wooden, and I believe most of bridges you encounter during your trip here will be wooden. Handrails, fences at the top of the fall are all produced from local wood at a very basic treatment: they simply cut off all the branch and nail them together.
We strolled streets by streets in Luang Prabang and always find ourselves surrounded by green color of old trees spreading their shades, which makes the atmosphere often moist, cool and comfortable, your mind just remains relaxed all the time.
Besides, maybe you’ve ridden through many passes in your journeys around the world but ones in Laos will give you an impression of how the purest green passes look like, fewer plantations than most of areas you’ve seen, except for Vientiane province, it is partly industrialized by overseas companies.
If you love gorgeous nature, so it should be a stick in your reasons to travel Laos
