High up in a cave, the part we shouldn’t have been in, we looked into the deep vast blackness of the caverns that opened before us. It looked like an easy climb, Jer and I agreed that it wouldn’t take long to scale the remaining rock face to the mouth of the dark chamber above. I placed my hand on the rock beside me and was struck with the sudden and scary realization, that we were not at Disneyland and that this cave was a real cave, with real dangers and real animals. I shared this revelation with Jer who said “of course” and laughed, undaunted by this truth and then we heard it, the sickening and unmistakable sound of rushing water approaching in the dark. I froze in terror and all I could think of was how Jer and I were about to get washed down into the base of the cave by the approaching torrent. Would it be a quick death or catastrophic injury? Would we plow into Carin and Sarah before our drowned and lifeless bodies came to rest somewhere in the vast network of caverns and idols? I took a step back, held my breath.
The day had started with excitement and anticipation. Carol told us girls to go to the caves and prayer walk. Jeremiah and Dan had gone a few days before and had amazing pictures to show us, so we were excited to have a look for ourselves. Dan, having gone before decided to take the opportunity to do some street evangelism but Jeremiah chose to accompany us for the day. We walked to the old ground train station (as opposed to the elevated train station) and purchased our tickets for the Batu caves which are at the end of the line. After our 3rd wrong train we watched out the windows as the vast city gave way to jungle and a mountain crept up the skyline, growing until it was all there was to see
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We siphoned out of the train with a variety of pilgrims and tourist into the station. We followed the crowed past increasingly ornate structures. Past platforms and temples and swarms of monkeys, As we approached the main cavern we saw a smaller darker cave off to the left. Jer said it was closed when he and Dan had come before, but we decided to check it out anyway. There was a man with a small boy in a makeshift ticket booth who charged us a ringet a piece to enter. The darkness of the chamber gave way to a spectacle of rainbow colored lights and idols in a variety of scenes and poses. We worked our way to the back of the cave where construction was underway on a precarious staircase into one of the high upper chambers. I asked one of the workers if I could climb the stairs, he said no. I asked if I could climb to the top of the completed first landing if I avoided the narrow second and incomplete third landings, he said no. So I asked again, he said no. I asked a forth time and he laughed at my persistence and waived me on. I scurried up the stairs and over the metal bar that blocked the way, to the top of the first landing and the entrance of dark cave, and then we heard the water. We looked at each other, eyes wide and then in the distant cave below I saw a trickle of water turn into a stream and exhaled, only to see water begin to pour down the rock face in front of me and down a space between the stairs and the rock face I hadn’t even noticed. Disaster averted I hurried Jer down the stairs that were becoming wet and slippery. Having escaped with our lives we went out to visit the main cave.
Climbing up the several hundred stairs would have already been unpleasant without the monkeys who live at the temple jumping from rail to rail, stealing drinks and threatening to bite. Here is rare picture documentation of our adventures.
