Gua Tempurung

Chim organized an event to Gua Tempurung, where we spent a night at Ah Fong’s place in Tapah. I have to go through a meeting on Saturday which lasted from 10AM to 4PM, sacrificing my lunch and opportunities to visit the Property Fair for MMW. Mei Ru and I meet-up with Chim and company around 6PM at Siong Har’s place. His leg injury still looks serious to me (still bloated up), but friends and family claims it is getting better and he can start driving next week after 4 weeks of resting and treatment. On the same day, Christ and Wan Kam brought our Tai Kor for a weekend makan trip.

The journey is quite pleasant, where we had nice dinner at Tapah for RM 70++ for 5 persons, with pork, eel, fish, bean curd and “paku” vegetables (it’s a very good deal for me). Ah Fong’s hometown house is an old style wooden house which is super spacious. I saw a post-Atari era gaming console which uses tape cartridges, which is famous for games like Battle City and Galaxian. It was my first gaming console (when I was a kid) and I had so much fun with it, until my neighbor’s Sega and Super Famicon machine invaded the living room. Mei Ru had such a machine at home when she was young as well, thus she is quite addicted to it as well. Mei Ru and I had a few round before all of us hit the bed.

Grandfather Clock and Ah Fong, at her hometown's home

Breakfast at Kampar market, I think

Gua Tempurung is a HUGE cave, and it’s pretty hard to estimate the size of the hole from the outside. Entry is RM22 per person for the grand tour, which involved 3 hours plus of walking and include every corner of the cave allowed. There are cheaper and easier packages, but we are all hardcore mountain climbers with a reputation to keep, so we cannot take wimpy packages, muahaha.

Map of Gua Tempurung

The beginning involves some well paved track and quite some stairs. Our Guide, Mr “Andy Lau” (who happens to be a Malay named Mamat) show us some stones and stalagmite formations which shape like cat, tiger, dinosaur, Mona Lisa, Osama Bin Laden and etc. Some car drawings and wording on the walls by the Communist people, and the rest are just vandalism. The light is quite dim, so my video camera is pretty useless there, and my head lamp is not bright enough for it. Digital camera is still feasible, using the slow shutter, flash and keep the objects nearer.

Entrance

The Cave

Soon we leave the track and venture into the water streams, into total darkness with no more dim light but our head lamp. The water is not too cold, but refreshing. The tracks could get quite slippery and strenuous at some point, but it adds to the adventure. I won’t say that the cave has fantastic view, but it sure is huge and long (and probably easy to get lost as well). Certain part of the cave is extremely narrow and low, meaning that you have to crawl very low to go through it. If the place is slightly flooded, then you would have to hold your breath for a short distance (which seems very dangerous to me). Long pant and head lamp is definitely recommended, and make sure your car keys, wallet and electronic gadgets are water proof. Anyway, I think the most fun come out from the crawling in the water at the last part. I make a lot of effort to keep myself dry along the way, but all the effort is wasted in the end.

Tricky Rocks, crawl people crawl

There is one part where we need to slide down through some rocks, which are a few meters high. There aren’t any proper steps, so we need to slide gently. Chim is the first one to go (after the guide), and the whole cave is echoing when he stomp on the ground. There rest made it easily, as there is someone down there to hold their feet.

Man Hole

At the end of the journey, we get to enjoy some water Jacuzzi in the cave, which is a first time for me. The water is cool, and the ceiling view is one of a kind, and it’s not hot. The rock is smooth but not too slippery, and we could sleep on it and let the water flow across our body. It is nice, relaxing and enjoyable.

One of a kind, Cave Jacuzzi

The entire journey is nice and not too strenuous for us, so it’s quite a fun and relaxing trip. We meet up with Xiong Har and gang at Ipoh for lunch, where we eat at the famous Ipoh White Coffee Nam Heong shop. The food is good, and we try to get as much of Ipoh famous dish such as White Coffee, Dessert, Tauge Chicken, Salted Chicken, Soy Bean and etc.

Ipoh food, 2 thumbs UP!

The day ended safe and well, and thank you Chim for organizing and Ah Fong for the friendly hospitality.

PS: While Blogging about Semeru haven’t completed, Gua Tempurung had passed by. It takes a lot of time and effort to be able to keep track of everything.

Photo Links: Mei Ru's Multiply, Ah Bug's Multiply