Grace Said.: Kruzer: Subterranean Trip (Part 1)

Over the past year, I've been on several touring trips to various places in Malaysia with each trip having a considerably small number of bikers.

But last weekend, dear and I tagged along another Motorcycle group - The Kruzers, on their trip to Gua Tempurung where they will be visiting the caves.

12:00AM - Despite the jam at the Singapore customs, dear and I arrived at the meet up point - GP Esso punctually. One by one, other bikers from the group arrived and I was quite surprised to see so many bikes on this trip! We had a total of about 20 bikes with 29 people.

12:45AM - Before we moved off, Isaac - The president of the group, gave us a briefing. After which, we moved off at about 1:00AM

03:00AM (thereabout) - We arrived at our first fuel stop in Pagoh.

05:00AM - We arrived at our second rest stop at N.K.V.E, where the bikes had their fill of fuel and we had our breakfast at Mcdonalds as well.

06:30AM (thereabout): After a hearty breakfast, we travelled for a while before we stopped at our third rest stop at Tapah. When we left, it was dawn and I was so glad to see the red and orangey glow across the horizon.

Riding along the highway, we finally arrived at the winding roads that led us to the caves. I was so amazed at the morning fog as if I was in some mystical adventure of Lord of the Rings or some sort. It was all too beautiful and surreal.

We finally arrived at the entrance of the caves and boy we were early! It was a good thing anyhow, because we could change out of our touring gears into our spare clothes (ready to get wet and dirty in the caves), and get some rest before we begin our adventure in the caves.

Well, looks like dear and I got all prepared for the caving trip! Waterproof Casing: Check! Spare clothes: check! Head lamps: check!

We are good to go!

Before we entered the caves, we regrouped for further instructions. As you can see from above, we are a pretty large group. Some of the riders however, didn't enter the caves with us because they have been inside before.

Walking along a little bridge, we soon arrived at the entrance of the caves. Welcome to Gua Tempurung!

Inside, one can be immediately blown away by the magnitude of the cave's interior. I was definitely amazed.

Following the walkway, we soon arrived at the inner parts of the cave.

Further into the caves, it got really humid and stuffy and DARK. Unfortunately, my waterproof casing started fogging up and the picture quality were compromised. Well, better that than nothing.

Despite my knowledge that it was a CAVING trip, it totally slipped my mind that I had to do several "dangerous" acts such as sliding down a one storey high rock formation! For a person who is afraid of heights, I was screaming and screaming!

Wait. Did I forget to mention that I'm afraid of insects as well? Gosh imagine being forced to slide down the rocks upon seeing a big spider near you? Way too freaky!

Then there's this part where we had to jump down about 2 to 3 metres high. I'll definitely hurt my ankle if I'd jumped, so dear carried me down slowly instead.

Yeah I know, I'm pretty useless so far. Sigh!

Like sliding down and jumping off rocks isn't adventurous enough, we waddle through narrow spaces in cold freezing water! Majority of the group "leopard-crawled" their way through. Well, I duck-walked. Hehehe!

After one and a half hours of walking in darkness, fear, and rocks, we soon arrived at the opening of the cave. Just as I thought that we have finished the whole caving experience, we were told that we were only halfway through the journey! We had to walk back into the caves and come out by another way!

I didn't take as many pictures while walking back into the cave because I was tired and hungry. But it was basically the same thing, more water, more rocks, more adventure, and some bats.

There was a funny moment where we had to exit through a small opening on the ground, and the guide was nice enough to lower me down with his hands. But just as he was about to lower me down, he pulled me right back up again. Yup, hence the funny expression above.

After about 3 hours in the caves, we finally arrived near the end of the caves. There, everyone just soaked themselves in the cool stream of water while waiting for the rest of the group to catch up with us.

Tada! We are finally out of the caves! Finally the light at the end of the tunnel!

All in all, it was a good experience despite it being a fear factor for me. I had fun nonetheless!

Next up, we travelled another 30 - 4o km to Impiana hotel where we resided for the night.

I was pretty impressed with the decor and outlook when I arrived. In contrast to their building's physical appearance, their internal decor is much more classy and simple.

Dear was even more impressed with them than I am. Simply because, they offered cold drinks and cold towels! See, he goes "aaahhhh" and instantly cooled down. Thanks to those towels.