I have heard a lot about Gua Tempurung, which is located 25km south of Ipoh towards Gopeng…

Gua Tempurung is after all, said to be the largest cave in Peninsula Malaysia and I was pretty keen on checking it put despite not having too many cave visits yet..

Personally, I have only ever visited only 4 caves in my lifetime.. that would be the Batu Caves, the Dark Caves (Batu Caves), 6 Mile Tunnel and Ailwee Caves (Ireland)… but have always been keen to visit other caves even though I have a fear of creepy crawlies.. so I jumped at the chance…

However caves can be pretty fragile places which need to be respected and taken care of, and as all places.. we should travel, respect, and take nothing but memories and photos as well as leave nothing other then footprints… However sadly you can see there are some irresponsible people who have cavemen mentalities and leave their vandalism on the cave walls…

We got to see the golden flowstone, as well as all those stalactites and stalacmites that take thousands of years to grow… did you realise that if we break off a small piece, it won’t grow back in our lifetime (they grow only 1 inch every 200 years on average)….

Apart from limestone, marble and deposits of tin ore and other such minerals, you can also spot remnants of tin mining in the cave at various times over the past century…

The cave was carvenous and huge.. with steel and concrete staircases were thoughtfully put in place as well as viewing platforms and railings added for safety and spot lights placed at strategic locations to illuminate the cave’s most attractive features…

We did not have that much time so we only went on the dry tour which was the Top of the World Tour.. which took us a good 1 hr 45 mins….

Being a media group, we had a cave tour guide with us but if you are on your own, you do not really need a tour guide as the route is pretty simple.. just follow the route.. you can hardly get lost…

The Top of the World Tour is a dry walk but it is about 600 over steps (640.. that is like almost 3 x Batu Caves) and covers all 5 domes (up to Platform 5), and platform 5 is about 120metres high. It can be pretty strenuous and tiring if we are not energetic enough with that many steps to climb..

..but we stopped at each platform for a break and for our guide Iktimar to tell us more stories as well as point out to us interesting pictures caused by the rock formation or even guano formations, including this one of the fallen soldier….. can you see him looking at you… ok bye…

Even then platforms have some pretty quirky names.. starting with the entrance platform with the name “Aiyahhh”  to “Wind Tunnel” (practically every one’s favourite platform since you can feel the wind blowing at you…and  the “Top of the World”

Timings: From 9am. Last tour starts 3pm

Price: Adult RM 30, Child & Seniors RM 15

MyKad Rate: Adult RM 12, Child & Seniors RM 6

It is recommended to just wear a comfortable dri fit T-shirt and trousers or shorts and a cap to protect you from any guano or dirt dropping from above…. It can get pretty hot and humid in the cave, especially since we are burning energy ascending the stairs except for a couple of areas where it was just so airy and refreshing… Do put on comfortable hiking or sports shoes or better still those rubber shoes you can get at random shops for RM5 – 10(or so my friends tell me)… and you are all good to go…

Address – Pusat Pelancongan Gua Tempurung, 31600 Gopeng

By the way, ini lah senarai hotel di seri iskandar perak 😜