Gua Tempurung, Ipoh
This is another “I’ve past it so many times… always wished I’d stopped!” deals! Well this time I did stop and was really surprised at the outcome.
Gua Tempurung is a huge cave just 25km south of Ipoh on the old No. 1 road. There’s a fantastic walk through the caves and is really worth the effort although it does seem sort of intruding to walk through a 400 million year old cave. Thankfully its a guided tour and so humans are somewhat restricted in their ability to destroy such natural splendour!
There are 4 walks available that depart at regular intervals. In true Malaysian style, things are nicely relaxed and inexpensive (about RM 10 for an hour forty five minute walk). If you went the whole way, all ten platforms, it would work out to 1.9km’s. The chamber is huge and it would have been an incredible task to construct all the walkways and platforms within the complex of caves.
It’s really worth the effort as it is pretty indescribable to tell you how big it is! The steel walkways and platforms are about as low impact on the environment as was possible. The guides are well versed on the intricacies of the complex and its open from 9am – 6pm.
At the caves entrance is a small river that disappears somewhere into the darkness. There’s an incredibly vast array of rock textures inside. At one point it is as if someone through the air-conditioning switch on as a strong blast of cool air funnels down from above.
Ipoh is an old tin mining town and as you drive in from the Expressway you’ll be treated to some great limestone cliffs. Sadly some of these have been scarred by marble mining but it comes as no surprise then that such a cave network exists in the area.
Unfortunately my skill with my camera in complete darkness leaves much to be desired and so I now have a mission – read the instructions and revisit the cave!
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