Henna @ home

Machika came with bag full of inai.

She was so captivated by this ancient body art since having her hands decorated at Batu Caves, she has big plans for henna art in Japan.

Using a paintbrush

Only JY would think of tranfering the paste and using a piping bag and piping tip instead.

Beautifully decorated hand and foot.

Day 1 with Machika 10March2011

We have been waiting anxiously for Machika since December last year when we met her at the Rotary District Assembly in Shangri-La Hotel. Machika is an international youth exchange, IYE, student from Tokyo, Japan and will be here in Malaysia for a year. She is currently studying in a secondary school in Temerloh and we were told that we can only host her during the school holidays.
We met up with her host family at Genting Sempah and the first place she wanted to visit was Batu Caves.
Another cave?
Han: I don't want to go to the long cave
Fai: The long cave is Deer Cave. We are not going there, Han

I was worried that Han might baulk at the idea but I needn't have worried. The moment he caught sight of Lord Murugan, he said " Oh, I love this cave!!"

The boys chasing pigeons

The 272 steps up.

Long tailed macaque grooming each other while others wait for handouts.

A big aggressive male snatched my water bottle away. When I tried to retrieve it, he got defensive and bared his fangs. Scary!

Han: Hurry up, mummy!

Me: puff, puff....coming!!

Han makes it a point to look after me. Han, my guardian :)

Machika was eager to try out everything. Here, she is holding a paraffin lamp and saying a prayer as she made huge circles in the air with the lamp.

Lighting cubes of camphor. They were instructed to remove their shoes.

JY and Machika comparing feet.
With their shoes off, Machika exclaimed "Such big feet!"

Applying pottu onto each others' forehead.

There were 3 bowls available for pottu. The grey one on the left contains blessed ash, the red and yellow ones are red and yellow saffron.

JY and Machika spotted a mermaid on a statue of Lord Shiva.

JY and Machika wanted henna art on their hands. RM10/hand

Machika and JY showing off their henna designs

The girls' were told not to move a muscle and to wash the henna off after 45 minutes.

From Batu Caves, we headed to the Orang Asli Museum in Gombak. The girls made a beeline for the gift shop.

Fai pulled me to the wood carvings and wanted to hear the folklore behind each one.

Then we headed to Gentings for a whirlwind tour. We were all in shorts and t-shirts and we were half frozen when the chilly breeze blew at us.

Back onto Genting Skyway and home. In the cable car, Machika said that Mount Fuji, Fujisan she called it, was a 'funny' mountain. When asked to explain. She said that it was sandy. That instantly reminded me of Broga. So I said "Tomorrow we are going to climb a hill. Everyone be up by 5!"

Batu Caves, 5 Sept 2010

This my first time up Batu Caves. The 272 steps up needs a well-fuelled body, so I searched the food blogs for good food around the area. One restaurant came up. Pan Heong.
The food bloggers raved about its porridge and kau yoke beehoon. A must-try they all said. So I took note of its location, woke everyone up and took off for Batu Caves.
We passed Brickfields and saw the newly erected arches on both sides of the road. Must be a grand gala this Deepavali.
Kent was taken by surprise by the new highway in Batu Caves. He was lost for once. We had to make a few U-turns before finding Pan Heong.
The place was crowded. I spotted an empty table and made myself comfortable.
I was asked if I had a queue number.
Queue number???!
We were shooed to the front of the shop and told to give our particulars to the usher! There was big red sign that warned patrons that on sundays and public holidays, queue numbers will be given out.
Food must be good.
Our surname and group size was jotted down. Then we waited and waited. We waited for about an hour.
The frog porridge was good. Ean loved the froggie legs. The bee hoon was tasty. But Kent and JY said Yong Taufu in Peel Road is still the best Sunday breakfast.
And I have had it with food blogs. 2 places - Nambawan and Pan Heong - both crowded, long wait before food is served and food that is good but can give a miss.
Kent remarked that food bloggers have no tastebuds whatsoever and that the places he takes me to are still the best.
I won't be blogging about those places because I have noticed the correlation between blogged about places and crowds.

It was a cool, cloudy Sunday morning. Nice for a day out.

The climb up the steps reminded me of Mount Kinabalu. The feeling of breathlessness, constricting pain in my chest and numbing pain in my thighs made me renew my vow - never again will I scale Mount Kinabalu.

I didn't do my homework and couldn't tell the stories behind the dieties that we saw.


Lots of long tailed macaque on the look out for food. They grab and go. So watch out for your valuables.

After the long trek up 272 steps another fleet of steps takes you to a sun-lit cavern.


Nice place for photography. Can play around with light and angles.

Han didn't want to leave. Fai was disappointed he didn't get to see any troglodytes. Looks like I will need to make another trip to Batu Caves again.