I did it again – I cheated and got myself on an organized day trip. Main reason: Batu Caves – while it would have been possible to get there on myself, it would have taken time and a few transfers on public transport – – hence I decided on an organized tour – and ended up with one that did combine Batu Caves with the Genting Highlands.

The first stop of the tour – indeed and as ordered – was at Batu Caves. We were given a bit more than an hour and sent off to explore. The Batu Caves are a limestone cave system with the main chamber, reachable via 272 stair, passing by the statue of Murugan. The main chamber houses a Hindu temple and a number of further Hindu shrines.

From here it was on to a shopping shop (which our tour guide touted as the highlight of the trip) with various Malaysian products available to try and a change to buy them for ~cheap~ a good prcice (supposedly). Well, I had an ice cream and watched the other folks on my tour buying like crazy.

We were up for another buying option at the Genting Highlands. We got off the bus at an outlet mall (!!), moved on into a cable car and then up the hill for not one mall – but multiple interconnected malls, an indoor and a full-blown outdoor amusement park, as well as a casino (in a Muslim country, where gambling is illegal).

The highlight here really was the middle station of the cable car – at a Buddhist temple – the Chin Swee Cave Temples. On the surface a full-blown Buddhist Disneyland … but behind the curtain (and a bit away from the big buses)a proper Buddhist temple. An interesing one here was the “Journey to Enlightenment”, a footpath depicting the Buddhist chambers of hell …. which felt verymuch like a Buddhist version of Dante’s Inferno ….

For me the real “Inferno” was at the top station of the cable car – shopping, shopping and more shopping. At least – this being the highlands  – temperatures  were much more  bearable than down in KL.