Dark Cave - The Hidden World

"Let's explore Dark Cave !" I suggested excitingly . Well, it's expected -not much excitment on their faces. FYI: There're about 30+ members in my KPA, but not surprised that most of them won't attend the weekly meeting. So, every meeting you would only see these faces. Again I tried to show my excitment and hope to arouse some interest. "Hei ,you'll have fun ! I experienced that when I visited Gua Tempurung many years ago." "Really ?" Tian ,my secretary who has been pestering me to take them to Taman Negara, raised his eyebrows. After many persuasion I finally make the decision. " Ok, let's go." However, in my heart hee...ee... I'd a little plan : since I've been to Gua T. and so this time I won't join the activity because the remembrance of the Gua T. experience can last forever - actually enough for me ! (hee...ee). When the day came I just said, "Well, guys ,I'll wait outside and look after your belonging. You all have fun- ah :o)!

And so on 30/5/09 the adventure began....

In a small van,10 members + 2 cikgus + 2 Wong's kids , finally reached our destination - BATU CAVE "The Hidden World"

Of course, I changed my mind and joined the exploration.

After climbing 204 steps (another 68 will reach the Temple Cave), we arrived the entrance of DARK CAVE ( discovered in 1889)

Smile ! The fun began after putting on the hiking boots, caving helmet with head light.Mr. Bright, our experienced comical mountain guide leading our steps into the cave.The 1st 35min was the free & easy educational tour on cave ecology & geology.

Mr.Bright:

Looked up guys "can you see the bats (hundreds of different species can be seen hanging in every corner)? "

"Looked at these cockroaches!" ..... aahh ! and "down there, lots of slugs ( small creatures with a soft body) .... wow...

"Hei, there is a snake. Don't disturb..it's resting!"

"Wow, looked at these beautiful formation of stalagmites raising from the floor!

" And this unique cave curtains, flow stones, cave pearls and scallops which took thousands of years to gradually form."

"Can you believe it you're in a four million year old limestone ranges " Lucky you !

Then, we rested on a flat watery ground and "1,2,3 switch off the head light!" In total darkness and stillness we kept silence to appreciate the atmosphere. From far insect singing, water dripping & cooling breeze passing by. Wow,it's million ringgit worth sensation ! Slowly Mr.Bright broke the silence,"hei, guys are you ready for the most challenging part of the cave exploration." Everybody kept quiet. "Well, we'll be doing some adventurous creeping, crawling , climbing & sliding!" After all the woo-ahhing !? Everybody stared at me. If I said let's moved on, I would definitely feel sorry for myself (pss...actually I was a bit scared ) but if I said turned back , I was sure the boys would hate me. So...... apa lagi, let's moved on !

Of course, it was very very challenging especially the creeping into the narrow passage. 14 of us were creeping flat in a single line, you can hardly have any extra space for you to move ! You had to squeeze through the small gap."Ooops, looked after your head, cikgu ! " And I've to make sure I passed the warning to the person (who is quite big size ) behind me.Can you imagine, if one of us panicked and got stuck, then we had to squeeze backward to get out from there. My colleague jokingly remarked in cantonese, " Aiya, really six bao mou ye zou!"

(means find your own trouble).

Wow, I tell you, if I share some more, it'll be a long story. Actually we'd fun although no one said out their worries.After many difficulties and teamwork we managed to overcome all the obstacles & accomplish our "DARK" mission in 4 hours ! After saying goodbye to the magnificent "Heavinly Skylight", Ok, this spot is one of the most beautiful sights inside the cave. As you approaching the site, you can see the sun's rays coming in through an opend cave, this is the place where every evening thousands of bats flying out hunting for food. As for me, it reminds me of Jesus's resurrection where the ray from heaven shine into the empty tomb. The beauty of the site is beyond words.

Ha...ha.... joyful faces !

Here are my angels who helped me going

through this difficult task. Thank you evryone !

* Cikgu, cukgu !Next time do you want to explore other caves ??

Mmm.. Coming home with minor cuts and bruises - still ok-lah !

* Ahhh, No, thank you. This is really 'cukup"for me.

HOWEVER, I do encourage parents to take children to this type of real adventure. It cultivates nature loving and motivate the spirit of team work ! Get further information : http://www.darkcave.com.my/

Yeah,it's once in a life time experience. Take a day off and step into the dark passages from a magical journey back in time and be awed at the enchanting beauty of the Dark Caves.

Reflection: What an unexpected journey . Definitely this was tougher than the one in Gua T. With the dim head light we moved from one chamber to another in total darkness. I wonder how did the path finders locate the route ? Mr. Bright is our only source of helping us to leave this 'darkness'. He led us climbing up slippery rock, sliding down safely like a corpse from a steep slope and crossing safely on stream in a cave. It's like our spiritual journey, we can only rely on Jesus who knows the way to the Father. Although you may have obstacles along the way, fear not as there're others who'll journey with you.Be it a narrow beam of light, there's still hope to move on. Ha....ha.....how it turned out to be a marvellous day for me :o)