Today papa drove us to Gua Tempurung, one of the largest limestone caves in Peninsular Malaysia. Ever since the North South Highway was opened over 20 years ago and Gua Tempurung made visible to all who travel on the highway, I’ve been wanting to visit this magnificent cave with a breathtaking view.
We left the house at 9 a.m. for Gopeng. Our first stop was at the Gopeng food court, situated next to the Gopeng wet market to have breakfast.
Hawkers food in Ipoh and Gopeng are so much more cheaper than in KL. A plate of standard (with no add-ons) chicken rice, fish ball noodles and curry noodles only cost RM4 in Ipoh and Gopeng while they cost a minimum of RM6 or RM7 in KL.
Alycia who doesn’t like noodles ordered an Indian apam which costs RM1.20 each. The apam tastes like Chinese ‘pak tong koh’ (steamed white sugar rice cake) in the middle while the sides are crispy. All of us pecked on her apam and in less than a minute was done to none. She ordered 2 more pieces later. Love it. Something so simple and affordable can taste so yummy! Real comfort food.
On our way to Gua Tempurung, we dropped by at Gaharu Tea Valley, Gopeng just to have a look-see at this tourist spot. Mum who had been here before told us that there is a buggy to bring visitors up the hills to the tea valley for sight-seeing. But we decided not to do the short tour as our main purpose was to go to Gua Tempurung.
We reached Gua Tempurung at about 10:45 a.m. Papa bought us the tix for Tour 2 (Top of the World) which would bring us to Platform 5 of the cave. Tix are priced at RM9 for adults, RM4.50 for children aged 6 ~ 12 year old and RM3 for senior citizens aged 60 and above. The estimated time for this tour is 1 hour 45 minutes from entrance to Top Of The World and return. But we managed to complete it within 1.5 hours. Without time spent on camwhoring and admiring the caves, it would only take us an hour to go up and down the caves.
So glad that papa (74 this year) and mum (71 this year) managed to climb up the steep steps inside the cave. Some of the steps are very steep and can really exhaust you to the point of gasping for air. Thankfully papa and mum could climb up without any problem, albeit mum had to climb up and down slowly. The steps are quite slippery at certain points where there is water dripping down the steps.
At the start of the climb inside the cave:
Participants of the wet tour ending their cave exploration at this exit, which is a stream with crystal clear water:
Our 3 hyper girls climbed up so swiftly that I could not keep up with them.
Tell me what this rock formation looks like? A teenage boy ahead of us commented that it looks like a ‘thumbs up’ but I think it looks somewhat similar to a errr, penis. Depending on which angle you look at the rock, it may look like a thumbs up at an angle and another image at other angles.
Platform 2:
By the time we reached Platform 3, all of us were sweating buckets from all the strenuous stairs climbing, though it’s pretty cool inside the cave.
Platform 4:
The rock formation here looks spooky. Can you see what I see?! Staring right at you:
Finally at Platform 5 a.k.a. Top Of The World, all sweaty and sticky and stone faced:
This locked gate will be unlocked for participants of Tour 3 and Tour 4, which involves an underground river adventure:
Exit from the cave tour and admiring the stream view and crystal clear water with fishes swimming in the water:
Papa could not resist the cool stream water and washed his face with the water.
Though a short trip, everyone thoroughly enjoyed the cave exploration. Our next visit to Gua Tempurung will be to partake in the wet tour, hopefully with the hubs too. That would be really exciting and adventurous. The girls are looking forward to it.
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Such a fun trip right? My hubby can’t wait to try the wet tour next year but I am not too excited about it. After experience Gua Kandu, I am kinda scared…hehehe
I didn’t read your post on Gua Kandu. What happened eh?