IF IT SCARES YOU, IT MIGHT BE A GOOD THING TO TRY.

ipohbackpackers
May 29, 2018
4 min read

Updated: Jun 14, 2018

Written by

Rohan Hinchcliffe

People are scared of so many things in this crazy world we live in and i understand that!

I hear time and time again people telling me "oh that sounds scary" when i explain my time on the Gua Tempurung Xtreme caving tour, so let me just say this before we begin, sometimes facing your biggest fear can be the best thing to ever happen to you!

so say F it to the world and just DO IT!!!!

HOW TO GET TO THE CAVE AND WHY YOU SHOULDN'T BE SCARED!!

Getting to the cave is about to become a EXTREMELY easy task with Bug "N" Boat Backpackers starting up their travel service from hostel to cave door step and return from the 20th of june 2018 and beyond!.

Unfortunately for me at the time of going to explore the cave there was no cheap and easy service available!

So grab car it was, not so bad and only around 15RM each way per person, The cave is located around a 15-20 minute drive from Ipoh city and Bug "N" Boat, on the way you see some pretty interesting and beautiful scenery especially as you get closer to Gopeng and Gua Tempurung.

Arriving at the cave by a smallish lake to your left with a few little local food stalls with 2 small cafes and the cave entrance on your right.

The dreaded sign up stage

Actually the sign up stage was an absolute breeze, mainly because Bug "N" Boat had arranged everything and we literally paid our 50RM for our ticket and were given helmets, headlamps and shoes.

READY TO EXPLORE!!!!

Follow the leader

Entering the cave is done like your playing a game of follow the leader, guide up front, everyone single file with a guide up the rear.

The first part of the cave tour is the dry tour , its a pretty mellow walk through the concrete pathways of the darkly lit show-cave and up the 600 hundred and something steps of the steel staircases.

Climbing to the top of the world

Once you have stepped off the concrete paths your world is about to change, you climb through the fence and prepare to drop down a tiny hole in the rock , it is at this moment when you start feeling a strange sensation run down your spine, the child within forcing their way out as your mind begins to wonder what the cave has been through and seen over the 400 million years of its existence.

After jumping down the small crack in the cave floor, you begin your trek into the deep dark and wonderful that is Gua Tempurung, first stop get ready to get back into single file and army crawl through space high enough for you to just lift your head up(slightly)

Once your on the other side, its back onto your feet to continue on the 3.8KM trek through the darkness.

The next Break is located in what feels like an extremely deep part of the cave and just above what looks to be a small cliff face, we have some water then its on our butts to slide our way down to the next level, After continuing the Hike for a bit longer we arrived at what looked to be a small hill with a few rocks on it, I was wrong, once you start, its not so bad you can see the end insight as you rock crawl up the mountain and arrive at the top! well what you thought was the top until you look up and see another fair chunk of a hill in front of you :) As you near the top, the hill gets steeper and steeper to the point where you may as well call yourself a rock climber but the guides are great at what they do and seriously help you along the way!!.

Jurassic Park

Getting to the half way mark is a sweet moment, the main reason being the trek has already been going for a couple of hours so you kinda get the feeling your at the end but instead your walking through ankle deep springs on your way out into the beautiful Jurassic park like surroundings of the epic Malaysian Jungle, here is where you have time to relax and have a chat with the local guides before you head back in for the extreme part of the tour!!!

River Thrashing

Back into the cave and now the fun Begins, following the guide through the knee deep river back into the darkness, As you pick up a lil speed and start thrashing through the river avoiding banging your head, things start to become a little more exciting as you crawl through the water under rock and through tunnels swim under and around the rocks of Malaysia's Largest Cave and work your way winding with the river back to where it all began!

Things To Bring