This holiday, smarties had an awesome educational road trip to Malaysia. Our first adventure stop was Gopeng. We started our journey in the morning and smarties were really excited about not knowing what’s ahead of them. Yeah, you read it right. We had no plan on what to do and what to eat there. All we did was study a little history about Gopeng, hopped into the car and off we went to do our live exploration!
Unfortunately, the day when we drove up to Gopeng, it was a public holiday in Malaysia as well. Traffic was pretty bad and it took us 5 hours to reach instead of 2 from Kuala Lumpur. But fortunately, smarties were well-entertained in their grand-uncle’s car which provided media entertainment. We were like in a moving cinema. Best of all, we got to select which movie to watch, when to pause and take a break from the show and when to start again.
Once we reached Gopeng and found our lodging, we took a short rest and later headed out to explore the longest cave in Peninsula Malaysia, Gua Tempurung. We were told that it was 3 km long and part of it has been developed for tourists with electric lighting and proper walkways and stairways with different lengths and difficulty. We didn’t know what to expect, all we could do is to wait till we reach and we shall see.
This is the entrance to the cave.
It was raining lightly and we had a check on the map. We couldn’t fully understand what it was detailing so we headed straight into the cave!
Once we stepped into the cave, we were all in awed and mesmerized by the interior. Check out grandpa’s expression. Wonder what he found right in front of him…
Looked at the stairs! Now you know why he was in shocked. Mind you, this is not the only flight of stairs you are looking at. More to come…
For those fit and strong, do explore further up and above as it is a breathtaking sight indeed. Now we know why they have added the lights. It shone and reflected from the limestones beautifully. The tunnel of the cave runs from the east to the west covering a distance of about 2km under the limestone hills known as Gunung Tempurung and Gunung Gajah. It is made up of 5 large domes and is believed to have existed since 8,000 B.C., about 10,000 years ago. For more information, you may check out Ipoh Tourism Board Website.
As you can see from the picture provided, there are lighting and platforms that have been built for the initial part of the cave to enable you to walk with ease. We managed to climb to their 1st level and we couldn’t resist taking a picture.
We couldn’t proceed further as we were not actually dressed for it and we didn’t take up any tour package as this was an impromptu plan. Also, it was getting late and everyone was hungry. Look at how far we have gone and now we are heading back to the exit. It’s going to be a long walk back. On our way back, we were still enjoying the spectacular view of the cave.
Frankly speaking, even though we were climbing up that many flights of stairs, we didn’t actually perspire much as the inside of the cave was rather cooling. The trip to Gopeng and to Gua Tempurung was really worth it. Smarties kept on asking questions here and there and I have to check out the answers on-demand basis. I did not have all the answers that they were asking me on the spot but we definitely had fun learning and exploring together.
Alrighty, this is how we spent our first road tripping day at Gopeng. Everyone couldn’t wait to have their dinner and return to our room for a good night rest. Want to find out what we did on our 2nd day at Gopeng? Do stay tuned for our part 2 of our unschooling road trip. See you soon!