Quesney 21 (Day 5): A day in Batu Caves

We have international Steemians @macchiata & @nomadicsoul visiting Malaysia, decided to bring them to one of the must-visit caves in Gombak, Selangor because It is nearer to the city, the most iconic and popular tourist attraction. I have admitted that staying in KL for quite some time and I have never been to the Batu Caves. It was my first time visiting Batu Caves. The day where you get to be the tourist in your own country, it's pretty exciting. We were lucky on the day itself because were greeted by the hot weather with blue sky which is perfect for climbing the stairs.

What is Batu Caves?

Batu Caves is a limestone hill which is said has been around for 400 million years old. It's has a series of caves and cave temples in it. The caves are also home to Macaque Monkeys, as for the undeveloped caves & Dark Caves there are Liphistiidae Spiders, Eonycteris, Megabat and the list go on, click here for the full list of Fauna of Batu Caves. The name obtained from the Sungai Batu (River Stone).

It's also referred as 10th caves or Hill for the Lord Muruga. Batu Caves is one of the most famous Hindu Shrines outsides of India and dedicated to Lord Murugan or Subrahmanya, The god of war. The cave​ is also the centre of Hindu festival of Thaipusam since 1892, celebrated by the Tamil community on the full moon in the Tamil month of Thai which usually in​ January/February and it is a ​national holiday for Malaysia. Thaipusam word is a combination name of the month, Thai and the name of the star Pusam.
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In the early pre-independence​ year 1860, an Indian trader which considered the leader of Tamil community in Malaysia name "K. Thamboosamy Pillay" promoted Batu Caves as a place of worship​. K. Thamboosamy Pillay was inspired by the 'vel'-shaped entrance of the main cave and decided to dedicate a temple to Lord Murugan within the caves. He was a wealthy businessman​, moneylenders, tin miner & government contractor.

The world's tallest statue of paint in gold Murugan of a Hindu deity in Malaysia,​ the God of War Statue made of 1,550 cubic metres of concrete, 250 tonnes of steel bars and 300 litres of gold paint. It's also the tallest statue in Malaysia at 42.7 meters. Took 3 years to build from the ​year 2003 and unveiled at the​​ year 2006.

According to @zord189, he saw some news site said that if a ​man carries​ Wife/GF that he loves and climb the 272 steps stairs, it is believed​ that you and wife/GF​ get Hanuman, the God of Monkey blessing and will be together for the next seven birth!

The stairs were​ closed due to the construction and it becomes​ the macaque hang out stairs. There are many of them jumping around the stairs and entertaining all the tourist who climb the stairs.

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What is Quesney 21?
@khimgoh and I are challenging each other to create great content for the next 21 days. Starting 26th of March and ending on the 15th of April. We needed the discipline and motivation that comes from being accountable to each other. Tell us if this is interesting to you, do you think you could benefit from your own Quesney 21?

Check out the other postings for this challenge:
Quesney21 (Day 1): Compilation of February 18 Meet-up Part 5
Quesney21 (Day 2): Teammalaysia CNY Gathering 2018
Quesney21 (Day 3): Steemit Bootcamp March 24th, 2018
Quesney21 (Day 4): Boiler Room Venue at 15th April 2018