Tuesday, October 26, 2004
SriSailam Part 2, Bat Cave !
On day 2 of our SriSailam trip, we decided to take the cave tour offered at the boat port. So we got up at around 8 in the morning, ready to head out.
The boat port.
The nice quite boat port that we went to the day before was flooded with people. Why are people there ? Shower, of course !
Just like the pictures you see in books about travelling in India.
Also, they have a very interesting, or should I say primitive, type of "boat" that the local fisherman uses. More accurately, those "boat" should be called plate.
See the "plates" standing ? They use it for boating !
Lost in Sea.
Of course we didn't ride on those "boats". But during our boat ride, our propeller got stuck to the fishing nets that were laid by the fisherman. Luckily, the coast guards came to rescue.
Coast Guards to the Rescue !
Coast Guards taking off after a job well-done.
Man, seeing those coast guards reminds me of a book I used to hate, Lord of the Flies. You guys remember that book from gr. 10/11 english ? I wonder whether the coast guards got a pig on a stick on the island they are from.
After 40 mins of boat ride, we arrived at a sacred entrance to a cave. You cannot find any trace of human existances except for the 3 priests that live there. It is a virgin territory that is not contaminated by profit-driven companies. There was no store, or trail, or path, or lights, or electricity. Just pure nature. We even had to climb up to get there.
Peace, and nature.
(Priests thought:) Chinese ?
Inside the cave, there is a mini statue of a Hinduism god. The statue rose from the ground naturally. It wasn't anything artificial. But that wasn't really the interesting part for Rohit and I. Instead, it's the cave itself that's interesting.
Inside it, there is nothing but total darkness. It was humid, hot, and small. We had to bend down during most of the walk. The tour guide brought 10 people in and there was only 2 flash lights. We had to use the LCD screen from our cameras as the only source light so that we can see where we are going.
Have any of you seen "Exorcist: The Beginning" ? The new one. In the end of the movie, the father had go down into the cave to fight the devil. That is the kinda place we've been to, except it was much much darker.
Don't let the brightness of this picture fool ya. The picture is bright only because of the camera's flash light. It was much much darker inside. If you put your hand out, you won't be able to see it.
After 15 mins of walking, we heard unusual flapping sound in the air. We also felt a light breeze that hit our face from time to time. This is unusual for a small humid cave that has absolutely no ventilation. When we lift up our camera from pointing to the ground to pointing forward so that we can see whats in the air, we saw the following :
BAT !!!
Kid you not. That scared the shit outta us. It was like "Blair Witch Project" + "Exorcist" + "Dracula" + the most scariest shit you've ever seen in your life. Want to see how scared we were ?
No acting involved. You can see the pure fear within our eyes.
Of course, after the 20 seconds of initial shock, we returned to our old cool and calm selves. To see the mini-statue, we had to crawl pass a whole dozen of bats to cramp into the little space to see it. Since the space was so small, we had to do it one at a time. I headed in first. I ducked my head down so that the bats won't get my face. Hearing all the flapping sound all around you while you are crawling in virtually total darkness is one hell of an experience. Now that I think back, I realize I've more courage that I thought. But of course I spent as less time as possible seeing the statue. The only thing that was in my mind that time was "GET THE HELL OUTTA HERE !!!"
After everyone had their chances to see it, we finally headed back out to the entrance. I was never that glad to see sunlight. All of us were sweating like hell.
Anyways, so that was my close-encounter experience that I have with bats. Later.
The boat port.
The nice quite boat port that we went to the day before was flooded with people. Why are people there ? Shower, of course !
Just like the pictures you see in books about travelling in India.
Also, they have a very interesting, or should I say primitive, type of "boat" that the local fisherman uses. More accurately, those "boat" should be called plate.
See the "plates" standing ? They use it for boating !
Lost in Sea.
Of course we didn't ride on those "boats". But during our boat ride, our propeller got stuck to the fishing nets that were laid by the fisherman. Luckily, the coast guards came to rescue.
Coast Guards to the Rescue !
Coast Guards taking off after a job well-done.
Man, seeing those coast guards reminds me of a book I used to hate, Lord of the Flies. You guys remember that book from gr. 10/11 english ? I wonder whether the coast guards got a pig on a stick on the island they are from.
After 40 mins of boat ride, we arrived at a sacred entrance to a cave. You cannot find any trace of human existances except for the 3 priests that live there. It is a virgin territory that is not contaminated by profit-driven companies. There was no store, or trail, or path, or lights, or electricity. Just pure nature. We even had to climb up to get there.
Peace, and nature.
(Priests thought:) Chinese ?
Inside the cave, there is a mini statue of a Hinduism god. The statue rose from the ground naturally. It wasn't anything artificial. But that wasn't really the interesting part for Rohit and I. Instead, it's the cave itself that's interesting.
Inside it, there is nothing but total darkness. It was humid, hot, and small. We had to bend down during most of the walk. The tour guide brought 10 people in and there was only 2 flash lights. We had to use the LCD screen from our cameras as the only source light so that we can see where we are going.
Have any of you seen "Exorcist: The Beginning" ? The new one. In the end of the movie, the father had go down into the cave to fight the devil. That is the kinda place we've been to, except it was much much darker.
Don't let the brightness of this picture fool ya. The picture is bright only because of the camera's flash light. It was much much darker inside. If you put your hand out, you won't be able to see it.
After 15 mins of walking, we heard unusual flapping sound in the air. We also felt a light breeze that hit our face from time to time. This is unusual for a small humid cave that has absolutely no ventilation. When we lift up our camera from pointing to the ground to pointing forward so that we can see whats in the air, we saw the following :
BAT !!!
Kid you not. That scared the shit outta us. It was like "Blair Witch Project" + "Exorcist" + "Dracula" + the most scariest shit you've ever seen in your life. Want to see how scared we were ?
No acting involved. You can see the pure fear within our eyes.
Of course, after the 20 seconds of initial shock, we returned to our old cool and calm selves. To see the mini-statue, we had to crawl pass a whole dozen of bats to cramp into the little space to see it. Since the space was so small, we had to do it one at a time. I headed in first. I ducked my head down so that the bats won't get my face. Hearing all the flapping sound all around you while you are crawling in virtually total darkness is one hell of an experience. Now that I think back, I realize I've more courage that I thought. But of course I spent as less time as possible seeing the statue. The only thing that was in my mind that time was "GET THE HELL OUTTA HERE !!!"
After everyone had their chances to see it, we finally headed back out to the entrance. I was never that glad to see sunlight. All of us were sweating like hell.
Anyways, so that was my close-encounter experience that I have with bats. Later.
