Bats screeched overhead. I cringed as the guide turned her flashlight to the ceiling of the Dark Cave.
I hadn’t even entered the cave and I felt goose bumps on my arms. This cave was alive.
(View a slideshow of Batu Caves here.)
I had just finished exploring the Batu Caves, one of the most sacred sites for Hindus in Malaysia. Just off to the side, a loud speaker announced on a continuous track, “Thirty minute guided cave tour.”
For $35 RM (around U.S.$10), Adelaide and I had decided to escape the heat and tour the cave.
Inside the cave was crawling full of creepers. Bats hung from the ceiling, insects buzzed in the air.
Several meters into the cave, thousands of cockroaches were feeding on bat guano (bat feces). The bugs scampered across the pathway lit up only by the lantern on my helmet. I walked carefully so I would not squish any under my black converses.
Earlier in the tour, our guide Deva had pointed to a white line visible through natural light near the entrance of the cave.
In the 1860s the British had come to the cave and extracted all the bat guano for fertilizer. Two hundred years later the walls were still scarred from the mining.
The more I travel through South East Asia, the more I am realizing the effects of colonialism are still a reality for many people here.
Malaysia has been independent for over 51 years from colonial rule. On the other hand, East Timor has only been independent for less than a decade.
East Timor is South East Asia’s poorest and newest country, according to Britain's Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
The East Timor president Jose Ramos-Horta was shot by rebels outside his home in Dili on February 11. He finally woke up February 22, according to an article by the AFP.
Just for some history, East Timor was colonized by the Portuguese in the 16th century. Eventually it was invaded and controlled by Indonesia in the 1970s. When the now deceased Indonesian President Haji Muhammad Suharto fell from power in 1998, East Timor was able to procure independence only in 2002.
Less than ten years later, the country is still undergoing political instability and social turmoil. (Listen to the NPR report here.)
These scars do not fade over night.
Back in the cave, Deva moved her flashlight back and forth across the path, looking for what she said was a friendly, albeit poisonous snake.
I kept a watchful eye on what I could see of the path, not wanting a fatal bite.
I hadn’t even entered the cave and I felt goose bumps on my arms. This cave was alive.
(View a slideshow of Batu Caves here.)
I had just finished exploring the Batu Caves, one of the most sacred sites for Hindus in Malaysia. Just off to the side, a loud speaker announced on a continuous track, “Thirty minute guided cave tour.”
For $35 RM (around U.S.$10), Adelaide and I had decided to escape the heat and tour the cave.
Inside the cave was crawling full of creepers. Bats hung from the ceiling, insects buzzed in the air.
Several meters into the cave, thousands of cockroaches were feeding on bat guano (bat feces). The bugs scampered across the pathway lit up only by the lantern on my helmet. I walked carefully so I would not squish any under my black converses.
Earlier in the tour, our guide Deva had pointed to a white line visible through natural light near the entrance of the cave.
In the 1860s the British had come to the cave and extracted all the bat guano for fertilizer. Two hundred years later the walls were still scarred from the mining.
The more I travel through South East Asia, the more I am realizing the effects of colonialism are still a reality for many people here.
Malaysia has been independent for over 51 years from colonial rule. On the other hand, East Timor has only been independent for less than a decade.
East Timor is South East Asia’s poorest and newest country, according to Britain's Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
The East Timor president Jose Ramos-Horta was shot by rebels outside his home in Dili on February 11. He finally woke up February 22, according to an article by the AFP.
Just for some history, East Timor was colonized by the Portuguese in the 16th century. Eventually it was invaded and controlled by Indonesia in the 1970s. When the now deceased Indonesian President Haji Muhammad Suharto fell from power in 1998, East Timor was able to procure independence only in 2002.
Less than ten years later, the country is still undergoing political instability and social turmoil. (Listen to the NPR report here.)
These scars do not fade over night.
Back in the cave, Deva moved her flashlight back and forth across the path, looking for what she said was a friendly, albeit poisonous snake.
I kept a watchful eye on what I could see of the path, not wanting a fatal bite.
*The Hindu god Lord Murugan at Batu Caves looking out over the city of Kuala Lumpur.
1 comment:
HI from Malaysia
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