The sound of children's voices were unbelievably loud on the bus, as everyone was excited for today's field trip. We were making a turn into a place with a massive cave, which was home to the Trapdoor Spider, the rarest spider in the world.
We were all visiting this cave because we were currently in our Earth changes unit, and we were here to learn more about erosion. There was lots of erosion in the caves, but there was 272 steps to climb. Really, 544 steps, because we had to go up, and we had to go down.
It was hard for even our teachers and parent chaperones to get our attention. Everyone was chatting with their friends, not wasting the rare opportunity.
We stopped for some pictures, and then began the tiring journey of climbing the stairs. As we climbed the stairs, we counted at the same time. We wanted to know how many steps there were, and if the 272 steps was correct. I stopped counting after 30, because I was just lazy to count. I had to admit, those stairs were actually pretty hard to climb. It was full of steep steps and monkeys, that everyone was terrified of. Normally monkeys would be scared of us, but those monkeys got so used to humans, as that place was a tourist attraction in Malaysia, they would try and grab your food or anything valuable.
It was still 30 minutes until our tour in the dark cave, so we decided to walk around. We found lots of stalactites, and also stalagmites, but stalagmites were rarer. We also managed to find some pool spars which looked quite cool, actually. There were also quite a few columns, which were like pillars hanging supporting the top of the cave (it's kind of hard to imagine that because columns are also called pillars).
When it was finally time for our cave tour, we wore helmets and kept hold to our flashlights as we listened to the tour guide blabbing on about the rules of the cave. It was great that didn't last long, because I might have fell asleep there.
Going in to the cave was my favorite part of the field trip. Batu Caves held a variety of animals that called that cave home, and we were just visiting, so we had to listen to the tour guide, as he knew what was bad for the animals. We couldn't make loud sounds, and we also couldn't shine our flashlights on the ceiling of the cave, because we didn't want to disturb the bats.
"Now, lets all close our flashlights, and see how dark the cave is without lights." The tour guide said. He still had his flashlight on, while everyone else's was off. "See you in complete, dull darkness in 3,2,1."
Click! The tour guide shut his flashlight. The cave was just complete darkness. I couldn't see anything.
Wow! I never thought that caves can be this dark, when we are just in the twilight zone! I was not able to see any source of light as everything was just complete darkness. The sky was pitch black, and so was the ground.
The tour guide turned his flashlight back on. "Ever been in complete darkness before?" He asked. "Well, that's what it feels like."
"Now that I've experienced it, places with no lights won't be considered dark anymore!" J said.
We journeyed on, and we got to see some flowstone. Sadly, we weren't allowed to touch it because or hands may have lotion, moisturizer, or oil that may prevent the rock from growing. If there was any of those things that came in contact with the rock, the rock would not be able to grow anymore. The flowstone was beautiful, and I looked in wonder and awe at it's smooth surface.
We finally came to this part of the cave, where there was wind everywhere. It had things to do with physics, but I had no idea about whatever the tour guide said. Maybe our teachers would know, but we didn't. Standing there, there was wind all around us. It was so refreshing and windy.
Adventuring ahead, we eventually reached the end of the tour. We took some pictures, and the tour guide told us to like them on facebook, if we had accounts (but I don't have one). We also could review them on trip advisor, which I probably will not do. Going out took about 15 mins, but it felt like just 5. The tour had come to an end.
Sadly, we were not able to see the Trapdoor Spider, the rarest spider in the world, but the trip was still really fun. It was a great and fun day, full of awesome adventure.
