Gua Kelam (Kelam Cave), Tasik Melati, & Kangar

We awoke in the hotel room and ate whatever leftover groceries we had, hard-boiled eggs and bread with kaya (a coconut and palm sugar spread).  It was enough to nourish us until we find some lunch during our sightseeing drive around the area.

I found that there are cave, not far from here, that are opened to the public.  We called to confirm that it was opened and it is.  The guy said that there are actually 2 caves.  Cave 1 you walk through by yourself, but Cave 2 requires a guide.  He said that cave 2 is closed today, but if we could get there in the morning he will be willing to give us the tour.  So, we got ready, jumped into the van, and headed north towards the Thailand border.

This area of Malaysia is beautiful.  There are rice paddy fields framed by mountains as well as palm tree and rubber tree farms.  Here are a couple of photos taken by Peter in the back seat.  His iPhone 14 takes some amazing photos.  As a matter of fact, I have been using many of his photos in this blog.

About 45 minutes later we arrived at Gua Kelam (Kelam Cave).  Just as promised, Aba met us at the entrance and guided us into the main building.

Ava looked at Tim and told him he needed to wear a helmet because of his height.  The rest of us shorties were told we didn't have to wear them, but it was recommended so we put them on and headed to the cave entrance.

This is the cave.  We enter on the far left, Main Entrance, and exit not he far right, Exit (Wet).  He said we will not get wet this time of year, so don't worry.  Sounds good...let's go!

By the way...the entire length all the parts of the cave is 2 miles and is at a depth of 94 yards below ground.

This is the reason we needed to wear helmets...or at least the reason Tim did.  The rest of us were able to pretty much walk upright, but Tim had to crouch down for the first 1/4 mile.  This part of the cave was manually dug out in the late 1930's.  Starting around WWI, this cave was mined for tin by Chinese miners, but there was no good way for them to get the tin out.  I'm actual not even sure where the original entrance was, but in the late 1930's, an Englishman came up with the idea to bore a path through the walls.

Now, there are two paths though the walls, this part of Cave 2 and all of Cave 1, so I'm not too sure what path was cut when.

Anyway...after the first quarter mile, we were all able to stand upright and explore the cave.  There were some formations, in this limestone cave, but nothing too spectacular.  It was cool to see the remnants of the tin mining including rakes, lumber and steel cables hanging from he ceiling, bottles, and Chinese graffiti.

Here you can see timber being held up by steel cables.  I assume they had boards between the timber to create a walkway they can stand on to mine tin higher up the walls.

Here we all are, enjoying this experience.  

Here is some of the Chinese graffiti I mentioned earlier, including drawings of guns and women.

After almost 2 hours we exited into a lush, beautiful jungle where people were below swimming and picnicking.  By the way...if you wonder how long it takes me to blog...it is longer than you think.  Why?  Well, as I typed the word picnicking I was wondering why there is a 'k' in there, so down the rabbit hole I went researching it.  Just one of many holes I fall in while typing this up.

Anyway...down we went onto the jungle floor.

Just when we though it was over, we got to walk through Cave 1, the part that most visitors use.  I guess I didn't mention that Gua Kelam translates to Cave of Darkness.

This part of the cave is a wooden suspension bridge measuring 8 feet wide. Again, there was some formations, but nothing too amazing.  

And then I saw flying and squeaking...BATS!!  Luckily this was at the end, so I didn't have far to run to escape them.

Don't worry...we all made it safe and sound out of the cave.  We said thank you to Aba and paid him 150 MYR => $34 USD.  That is for all 4 of us!  A cave like this elsewhere would cost at least $20 USD each, if not more.  This cost us $8.50 USD each.  Amazing.

Time for lunch.  Luckily, the town near the cave has many Chinese restaurants to choose from.  We chose this noodle place where this plate of noodles and iced chrysanthemum tea cost 7.50 MYR => $1.70 USD.  Oh...that jar of chili sauce or whatever it is, was delicious.  

Next stop on our drive about was Tasik Melati (Jasmine Lake), a recreation park with pagodas, bridges, and lilly pads.  

It was pretty nice, but needed some work.  Maybe fountains to better aerate the water to make it cleaner?  It definitely has potential, but I just couldn't stop thinking that just over a month we will be in Japan and see scenery like this all the time.

The last stop on our tour is to see some murals in the town of Kanger.  Here the artists incorporated props and the ground to add 3 dimensions to an otherwise flat composition.

Propane bottles were hung upside-down and painted to look like SpongeBob.

Pipes in the ground were incorporated into this mural as was other boxes electronic boxes that are mounted here.

Cool...a mural of Gua Kalam, the cave we just visited.

A table and mixer was added in front of the mural.

A bicycle was added and the artist used the inset in the wall to add dimension.

Look! I'm taking a selfie of a monkey taking a selfie. Ha.

As we were finishing up with the murals, it started raining, so we went back to the van and headed back to the hotel.  It was before 4 PM when we got back to our rooms, so I used to extra time to catch up on blogging and figuring out where to go during the next month before we fly to Japan on 30 May.  Spoiler alert... Bali may be moving up in the itinerary to the end of May instead of in August.

It was still raining around 6 PM, so we decided to eat more of our groceries for dinner (cup of noodle soup, mango, mangosteen, & chocolate cake) instead of going out for dinner.  After eating I continued blogging, planning, and watching The Mummy Returns which was actually in English on the TV.

Tomorrow we take a ferry to the island of Langkawi which promises to be a highlight of our Malaysia trip.  Until then...