Well, the truth is, the Raya function that I went to was held at the premises of Gua Tempurung, not inside.
Actually the company managing Gua Tempurung is a business client, so all my office staff got invited to the function, which was held at Dataran Gua Tempurung. But since I had never been inside the cave before, I took the opportunity to visit the cave. The only cave I ever entered before was Batu Caves, and that was many years ago. So together with 2 other office-mates of mine, we went a bit early so we could go inside the cave and get out before the Raya function started.
However, given the time constraint, we could only go for Tour 1, which is the shortest tour available, taking 40 minutes. And Tours 1 and 2 are dry tours, so we didn’t have to bring along change of clothing. A good enough start as introduction I guess. I do intend to go the full tour (wet tour) of 3 ½ hours when I can find the right time and the right gang to go with. Pergi full tour tak ada gang tak syok lah!
We arrived at Gua Tempurung at approximately 3 pm.
The staff were busy preparing the necessary at the tents put up for the Raya function. We went straight to the counter to buy the tickets for tour 1 - but when we got there and one of the staff there recognised us, they let us in - FREE OF CHARGE! Since we handle their secretarial and accounting work, they consider us as staff as well and thus, the free entrance. So I guess I can really call it a Hari Raya Open Cave after all! One of the tour guides then led us in together with another group of paying visitors.
My 2 office staff who tagged along had actually thought Gua Tempurung would be just like Gua Kelam - they didn't expect to be going up and down some steep stairs inside the cave (oh well, it would have been worse without the staircases!) Despite me being the oldest in the group that went in, the rest were the ones who were huffing and puffing up and down the stairs. Although we took the dry tour, we still managed to get our armpits wet! :)
So, how was it like inside the cave? Let the following pictures tell the story lah. Apologies though... pics taken by a very amateurish photographer - with some blurry pics here and there. It was dark and I was playing around with the different settings on my camera.
I really really am interested to go for the full tour… going through the complete journey till the end of the cave. For this one you need to bring along change of clothing (which you should leave in your car – if you bring it with you into the cave, it’s gonna get wet too!); and you will need to bring along a torchlight (for Tours 1 & 2, the tour guide's torchlight should suffice). And if you’re bringing along your camera, you’d better put it in a waterproof case. You see, you’ve got to wade through the underground river that reaches chest level at certain stretches, duck-walk and crawl through holes, climb walls and slide down slippery stones. But as I said earlier, got to find the right time (the last entry for the full tour is at 11 am as compared to Tour 1 which you can still enter by 4 pm) and the right gang.
Hmmm… maybe we can arrange for a “Bloggers Caving Trip”? Gua Tempurung is after all quite easily accessible via the PLUS highway… you can check out here for more info.
*Update: Here are some of the things you have to go through if you go for the Grand Tour (Tour 4). All 4 pics taken from Gua Tempurung website.
Going down the lower chamber.
Sliding down a boulder.
Crawling in underground river.
Crawling in the lower passage.
Anyone out there interested for some caving adventure?
JOM LAH! Teringin nak pergi ni…
17 comments:
Hi Pi ... sounds like an interesting adventurous place, but I think I'll definitely pass the wading up to the chest waters and all. The dry tours sound more appealing to me, hehe.
How large actually is the cave?
Kak Pi, saya pun teringin jugak nak pergi. Sounds really interesting indeed. But session baru study saya dah nak start. Adoi~~~takde cuti :(
QOTH:
I think sikit je stretch yang the water reaches chest level - itupun kalau lepas hujan lebatlah. Tapi ye lah, siapa tak berani better not. But even outside the cave, ada recreational areas and you can even rent a bicycle (not to cycle inside the cave lah!)
The cave besar jugak lah. All the way to the other end of the cave is about 1.9 km so pergi balik is 3.8. Doesn't sound too far but considering what we'd have to go through, kena fit jugaklah. For tour 4, pergi ikut jalan sama as tours 1 & 2, tapi balik ikut underground river.
Akmal:
Tak perlu tunggu cuti panjang to go. The place is just about 1/2 hour drive from Ipoh. From KL kalau ikut highway exit Gopeng, it'd take just about 2 hours or so. So a weekend trip will do. In fact kalau day trip pun boleh lagi as long as you make a move early morning.
Jomlah, boleh I join sekali! (Ahh, Akmal must be thinking... baik le aku pergi senyap-senyap, kang kalau makcik ni ikut, buat nyusah aku je... hehehe!)
Pi, thanks for the additional bit of info. Ye lah, kalau claustrophobic, baik jangan masuk, nanti come out batty!
With the outside activities, menariklah. Mungkin boleh singgah on the way to/back from hometown, just to break the journey and stretch our legs :)
Helo Kak,
Great stuff...thank you for sharing the pictures.
Wonder when i can go do the tour...hmmm.
You have a great week ahead now....cheers.
Nightwing
QOTH:
Kalau alang-alang dah sampai sana nanti, you might as well go for at least Tour 1 lah kan...
Nightwing:
If ever you do come over for a trip to this side of the peninsular, do get in touch with me, ok?
Wow.. best nya. Hubby just asked me to name few places to go for our mini vacation next 2 weeks... Hm...
alamak, those pics freaks the crap out of me man. claustrophobs like me can forget about going for such adventure. lagipon saya ni captain kerpman je, macam yang akak cakap laa...hehehe...
Monster mom:
If your family is into adventure, yes, you should consider this. Otherwise kalau nak pergi holiday santai-santai, better think of somewhere else lah.
Kerp:
Even if you're not a claustrophob, sorry to say Gua Tempurung is not for you. Tour 1 pun banyak tangga kena panjat.
Pi, saya claustrophobic with a capital C. Tak bernafas saya kalau masuk tempat2 yg sempit mcm ni. Hanya tengok visuals ajalah jadinya...
Kak Puteri:
Aiseh... ramainya pulak yang claustrophobic. Macam mana I nak cari gang nak pergi macam ni... :(
mcam tu rupa nya gua tu ye? sounds very interesting. So did u do tour 1 with your baju kurung? habislah make up cair. hehe.
rasa macam best jugak ye tour 4 tu. but im not sure abt getting my hair and make up wet. esp the hair. habislah tak vogue lagi after the tour. hahaha. im so vain kan?
Farina:
I memang dah plan nak masuk for tour 1 tu so I went prepared lah pakai blouse and pants. Pakai kain nanti jenuh pulak le nak angkat kain every time nak melangkah anak tangga punyalah banyak. Am not the make up type of person, so no worries about make up cair... :)
As for you my dear, I think kalau you nak pergi pun I tak nak pergi dengan you kot. Nanti jalan sikit nak betulkan rambut... jalan sikit nak touch up make up... ada elok journey 3 1/2 hrs jadi 5 hours! LOL!
Tak baik tau. Sampai hati Pi kata kalau i nak gi pun dia tak nak bagi ikut. Kecik ati i tau! :P
I promise the 3.5hrs journey would only be 4hr50min. Not because i busy betulkan rambut but sbb my langkah pendek. Kaki i ni kan ke pendek, sedondon dgn i yg memang pendek. hahaha.
You can make it in 4 hr 50 min?! Wow! That's a whole lot faster than I anticipated! OK lah, kalau macam tu you boleh lah ikut... ;)
Hey, the cave adventure looks great, especially with those interesting photos. :D
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