Deep inside a lime stone mountain just outside the city of Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, there is a cave. A huge cathedral like cave with the walls that stretch almost to the sky, with birds flying high above, and wild monkeys running up its rock faced walls.

This is Batu Caves.

The most important Hindu temple outside of India, dedicated to Lord Murugan, and Indian deity. It has become a pilgrimage site for not only Malaysian Hindus, but Hindus worldwide from countries such as India, Australia and Singapore.

Of course we had to go check it out while we were in Kuala Lumpur! These mountains are located 13 km north of Kuala Lumpur. We were met by some huge and colorful Hindu gods. To the left of the entrance is a gigantic (15 meter tall) version of the Hindu god Hanuman, and a temple dedicated to Him.

Hanuman was a devotee of Rama according to the Hindu legends. Hanuman participated in Rama’s war against the demon king Ravana, and in several texts also present him as an incarnation of Lord Shiva.

Once we had passed a couple of temples at the foot of the mountain, we came to a huge open area, and from there we got the first glimpse of the steps we had to climb to get to the main temple. And there were a LOT of steps to climb! 272 steps to be exact. Yep, I can tell you our thighs hurt, it sure was a good workout though.

And at the left of the stairs is the world’s tallest statue of Lord Murugan (43 meter high). Many of the shrines also relate to the story of Lord Murugan’s victory over the demon Soorapadam.

This gigantic Murugan statue was quite a poject to build too! It costs approximately 24 million rupees or 393,000 US$ and it is made up of 1550 cubic meters of concrete and 250 tonnes of steel bars, and used 300 liters of GOLD paint. All materials were brought from Thailand.

Finally, up to the cave turned out to be HUGE The Batu Caves temple complex ,consists of three main caves and a few smaller ones. The limestone forming Batu Caves is said to be around 400 million years of age.

Noticeably, there were several Hindu ceremonies taking place inside the cave while we visited.

The biggest cave is called Cathedral Cave or Temple Cave, and houses several Hindu shrines. It has a very high ceiling, also with a hole that leads up to the jungle and the sky.