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Hordes of tourists visit Batu Caves, a 25¢ bus ride north of Kuala Lumpur (I took the number 11, which stopped almost in front of my hotel and several others also go to the entrance gate of the cave complex).

Hardly any tourists visit Batu Caves town, about a mile from the caves and location of the post office.

English is widely spoken in Malaysia and after I had visited the caves (one of which is truly a natural Hindu cathedral), I had little difficulty learning the general location of the town and the post office, around to the right near the main road leading past the entrance gate as one looks outward from the complex.

But it sounded a little more complicated than that, so I decided to squander $1.25 on a taxi outside the gate. It paid off; I never saw a bus on that road. Sure enough, the post office is in the middle of the town, on the left side of the main street that leads right from the first major intersection, in a group of shops about 100 meters from the road I started from.

Selling stamps is one of the lesser functions of the post office; accepting payments of utility bills and a lot of other functions were taking most of the clerks' time. When I finally got to the stamp window, the clerk weighed my covers, gave me stamps and
pointed to the mail box. I pointed to the canceller at her window and made canceling signs. Quickly she realized I was a collector and called a supervisor who was happy to handstamp several handbacks for me and advised that I should NOT put mail in the box for Batu Caves "chops".

As in too much of the USA, currently all mail in their box is transported to the main Kuala Lumpur post office and cancelled there. Registered mail may be an exception; I didn't think to ask. The post office is open six days a week, often till 6 p.m. It may be possible to obtain "chops" by mail addressed to Postmaster, Batu Caves, Selangor, Malaysia with a self-addressed envelope.

I didn't ask but they certainly were accommodating. US$ are widely accepted in Malaysia; the exchange rate currently is a bit better than 2.40:1 US$. Handback letters cost 1.10 Ringgit; postcards are 0.50 Ringgit. If more than one handback cover is to be included in the SASE, the SASE will cost more than 1.10 Ringgit.

The minibus stop for Kuala Lumpur is about a block away, on the other side of the little business district. It only took about 5 minutes to catch a bus showing a destination at a shopping center just a block from my hotel. A very nice morning excursion, recommended for all speleophilatelists.