Batu Kurau update 2014

In July 2012 I did a blog on the barber shop at Batu Kurau in Perak. This shop is built right along the limestone rock face.

The names can be confusing, as the rock is called Batu Kurau and is located at Anak Kurau which is about 6 km from Batu Kurau town!

I was back at Batu Kurau in April 2014 so took some more photos. There have been quite a few changes.

Firstly a large new school has been built on the paddy fields between Batu Kurau town and Anak Kurau.

Major work is being done at the Sg Kurau. This river flows alongside the rock face and there used to be thick vegetation between the water and the cliff. Now it is all cleared and the river bank seems to be widened

View looking downstream across the road -

New kampong sign

Riverside café and cave

The amount of graffiti has increased. This one says River Side Café

 

The motor bike and PAS sign were there in my 2007 photos

but these seem to be 'new' pieces -

The barber shop has been painted since my last visit. I don't know if it is still used as it was closed and there were no signs

Some of the  houses in the village were also painted with this pink paint!
Batu Kurau register number Prk 59/01.

© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission

Gua Kelawar, Batu Kurau, Perak

Batu Kurau is an isolated limestone outcrop, near Anak Kurau in Perak.

My first visit to Batu Kurau was in August 1998. On that trip we surveyed Gua Kelawar, which is the biggest cave. It is 157 m long. To reach the cave you have to walk through the river

This entrance is quite small and hidden by vegetation in 1998

We used this entrance in 2007

The main feature of the cave is the bats. Lots of them.

The eye shine of the fruit bats can be seen on the bats

The main chamber was amazing. It was packed full of bats. The floor had a semi-solid lake of liquid guano. It was brown when stirred.

There was an incredible heat given off - I've never experienced this before. The noise of the bats was also new to me, as noisy as a steam train whistling. The bats were packed solidly on the roof. Their eyes were quite bright. They are probably all fruit bats. Even the Bat Cave at Gunung Tempurung doesn't seem to have the heat of this chamber. Needless to say we couldn't survey very accurately here due to the stench and the fact we weren't going to cross the guano lake! There were cockroaches on the walls.

There is a nice shaped 'window' leading to the main chamber

Looking out from the main chamber

Bats in the smaller passage

Evans wrote about the Batu Kurau caves in 1920 but doesn't seem to mention this particular cave.

Gua Kelawar register number Prk 59/11.

See more on Batu Kurau barber shop.

© Liz Price No reproduction without permission

Batu Kurau barber, Perak

Batu Kurau is an isolated limestone outcrop, near Anak Kurau in Perak.

The village road passes the northern end of the hill.

An enterprising barber has built his shop against the cliff.

Entrance to the shop

When we visited in 2007 my friend Jan couldn't resist having a hair cut. It cost just RM4.

Batu Kurau register number Prk 59/01.

See Gua Kelawar at Batu Kurau

See 2014 update.

© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission

Lenggong, caves, waterfalls & Batu Kurau trip

On this trip, Jan, Aric and I stayed in Lenggong town, and checked out some of the archaeological caves.
Gua Badak -

 Gua Gunung Runtuh, home of Perak Man

The Perak river near Bukit Jawa, Lenggong

We then went onto a deer farm near Lenggong, and then to Lata Puteh falls. We managed to climb almost to the top of the falls.
Lata Puteh -

After we washed off in the Lata Tebing Tinggi falls.

On the way back we stopped at Batu Kurau and Jan had his hair cut in a cliffside barber shop.

We also visited the Bat Cave.

See also Jan's photos.

© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission