Caving in SE Asia

24 April 2011

Sai Baba cave temple 2011

Sai Baba, the Indian spiritual guru, died on Easter Sunday, 24 April 2011. Sri Sathya Sai Baba was revered by millions of followers as a living god. My only interest in him stemmed from visiting the Sai Baba cave temple near Ipoh in Perak.

2001 (white dome to right of gate)

2004 (yellow dome)

2008 (pink dome)

2004

The temple is located near Tambun Lost World, and just before the new Banjaran spa resort. Sai Baba had distinctive frizzy hair and was always clad in his trademark saffron robes, and his statue occupies a prime spot in the cave temple.

2004

2008

One really interesting thing about this cave temple is that there are many statues from other religions. Sai Baba didn't adhere to a particular religion, and his followers were free to keep their original religions. I found it fascinating to see statues of Hindu gods such as Ganesh and Krishna, Christian shrines, Chinese Monkey God, Goddess of Mercy, and Buddha.

Ganesh

Krishna

photo

more photos

elephant?

Christian shrine

Christian figures

Monkey god

Goddess of Mercy

Sai Baba

Buddha

Sai Baba Cave register number Prk 38/02.

© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission

Indian temple, Gunung Lang, Ipoh

This temple is at the end of Gunung Lang, opposite Gunung Cheroh. It is separated by a small headland of hill from the Lang Meditation Monastery,a forest retreat for monks.

There are a lot of dogs at this temple - both living and statues. Also a pond with fish and some huge catfish.

The temple is not really cave related although it is sited at the foot of a limestone hill. Dogs and lions -

Watch dogs

Want a new car?

23 January 2011

Karst Musuem, Java, Indonesia

In 2010 Indonesia opened the karst museum, which is the only one of its kind in Southeast Asia. It is centred around the Gunung Sewu karst in Java. Gunung Sewu or Thousand Hills, is well known amongst cavers and karst scientists. There are hundreds of cockpit karst hills, covering an area of about 1300 km2, which stretches 85 km from west to east and between 10 and 29 km north to south.

The museum is situated at Gebangharjo, south of Yogyakarta, and is located on 29 hectares of karst. The building is quite a strange design resembling a small pyramid on a large base, but we were given an explanation about the architecture. The main inspiration came from Indonesian temples. Although Indonesia is a Muslim country, other religions are practised in the country. So the museum was designed on different temples, religions and cultures.

The shape of the exterior of the building comes from famous Hindu and Buddhist temples in Indonesia. In the surrounding area they are in the process of building a Bali temple, a Buddhist temple, a Chinese temple and a church. There is already a mosque at the museum. It is good to see that a Muslim country is willing to embrace other religions so openly.

The displays are on 2 floors, covering karst for life and karst for science. The exhibits are well designed, and bright and informative.
Don't touch the stal!

Good signposting, easy to follow

We were told the information was prepared by Indonesians. Indonesia has a strong network of karst scientists and also cavers, and there are many caving clubs, which is rare in Southeast Asia.

The displays are in Indonesian and English language. Many examples of types of karst are shown, both from Indonesia and also worldwide. There are features on geology, types of rock etc, and everything you would expect, such as archaeology, biospeleology, use of caves, etc.

The cave looks real. Hippos -

The Indonesians have done a great job setting up with museum, with a wide range of information displayed in a pleasing way. I hope it will attract an increasing number of visitors, both locals and foreigners.

There are some caves in the area -