Caving

I was away for a week, from Wednesday till 2 days ago with my 3 boys and helper.

It was an impromptu trip actually. Everything was done last minute. What prompted this trip was all because of me, myself and i. Grin.

The main reason for me to go back to KL was to go for white water rafting and caving trip in Perak. Initially, it was meant for me and hb. But as usual, hb couldn't make it due to work commitment so my youngest sis replaced hb.

Then when i told my second sis about it, she wanted to go too! Unbelievable.. the girlie, city girl, brand conscious sister was game for it! Lol. After that, my youngest sis' bf insisted on joining as well. If so many are going, why not all then? :P

I went on to tell my 2 other sisters but 1 couldn't make it as she had to attend a wedding that day plus she has gone before. For a moment, my mother wanted to join too! But we didn't allow coz she doesn't know how to swim. Heh.

For this trip, i was the organiser but the reality is, i didn't do much. Just a couple of emails and 1 phone call and off we go :)

Sisters and i at Gua Tempurung's entrance

Ha! My sis gonna kill me for this! Hahahaha.. haven't gone into the cave and yet already this expression! :P

In the cave

Again, in the cave but can't see much though

The cave was quite a huge one (top right). The first 1.5 hours was spent on climbing stairs and down of course plus introduction to the cave's this and that. Nothing exciting but got us panting alot though due to all the climbing. If i'm not wrong, there were 400+ steps in total!

The real excitement starts 1.5 hours after that. That was where we need the torchlights. Without it, you can't even see your own hands! That was how dark it is. Pitch black.

Not only the real darkness begins. That was also where the real 'river' adventure began too. I prefer to call it stream however. We needed to go through au naturel tunnels, holes, slopes etc. The most exciting part for me was to move forward like an army thru this tiny hole filled with flowing water/ stream. Crawling wouldn't even do! That was also where i got my bruises from. My entire arms got scratched because of the sharp sands and also 1 big blue back.

The rests were sliding down on the slopes where one of the slopes was 1 storey high and the steepness.. i'd give it 60 degree. That scary!

If we weren't crawling, moving forward like an army or sliding down, we would be moving like a duck or do a hunchback almost all the way. Oh, we also jumped. Jumped into a tiny hole (about 5 feet high) into the stream. No other way but jump. Exciting aye?

After 3 hours of excitement, we were out again. Boy, it felt pretty good to see the sun shines once more after 3 hours of darkness :)

The sisters and i, just came out from the cave. All wet.. from top to toes and inside out too!

A good pair of hiking sandals is a must. I got myself Teva sandals as i would be going for more trips like this. Hehe. But my sisters got theirs from Carrefour. Cheap and okay.

Also, thank god for the helmet! If not for it, i think i would be lying down in the hospital bed right this moment. I knocked my head against the stalactites for countless times, hard. So if you do go, do keep the helmet on at all times.

After caving, we proceeded on to white water rafting but not before our buffet lunch. Food was the only word we could think at that moment. Nothing else :P