Sungai Lembing - Kuantan Pahang

Sungai lembing is an ex-mining town, about 30 minutes drive from Kuantan Pahang. You can take the karak highway from Kuala Lumpur and take the exit in Kuantan Tol. Total journey is about 3 hours and 30 minutes.

In the 70s, the younger generation move to bigger cities like Kuala Lumpur and Kuantan when the tin mining industry going down the hill. Leaving behind two rows of shop houses made from wood and zinc, a typical building style for the chinese miners.

Today nobody would believe Sungai Lembing is a favourite place for local visitors especially those from Johor Bahru, Kuala Lumpur and our neighbour Singapore. 

First of all, this mini town of Sungai Lembing is very clean and beautiful. The main road is very narrow but there are huge trees in the road divider. The wooden shop houses on both sides are very old and only two storey high.

There is no big shopping mall, fancy hotels, fast food restaurants or even a petrol station. It is a perfect get away from big cities for a 2 day 1 night stay. Here, you can't find a 3-Star hotel but only home stay and small resort. 

Few things you must do in Sungai Lembing. Firstly is to climb the Panaroma Hill early in the morning, I mean very early like 4 - 5 am morning. Many people from Johor Bahru start driving at 1.00am and reach Sungai Lembing town at 4am morning. The hawker centre already start serving breakfast to the moutain climbers very early so you don't worry about food.

To climb to the hill top is approximatey 1 hour, simply because it is still very dark and tourch light is a must. There are proper stairs and hand rails along the way to make the climb easier. Nevertheless, many people still grasping for breathe and stop frequently along the climb.

Once you reach the top, you will find the sweat and pains worthwhile because heaven is very close you! Yes, it is like heaven and a perfect place for photograpger like me. You can see the milky white cloud engulf the mountains and leaving behind the mountain tips. When the sun rises and shed the amber light on the cloud and mountain tips, it forms a perfect scenery for shutter bugs.

There is a morning market on Sunday so you can do a bit of walk and shop after the climb. If it is a holiday then be prepared for the long queue of food because the crowd is surprisingly big. (Much more busy than Petaling Street!)

Second activity is to do cross the hanging bridges across the river. There are all together 5 hanging bridges located along the river. The locals use the bridges very frequently and sometimes ride on the motorcycles to cross the river. It is also a good place to take photograph.

Thirdly is to visit the local Museum which is within walking distance and located at the hill. It tells you the history of Sungai Lembing subterrannean Tin mining. In fact Sungai Lembing was the biggest and longest underground mine in the world! Check out via Wikipedia.

Biking or riding ATV is also fun thing to do in Sungai. You can rent the bicycle or ATV at the shop in the town and go around the inner village.

Lastly is the waterfall nearby which I do not have the chance to go. I heard from the local, the waterfall is good place to go and you can see the rainbow appear easily. Well, I definately come back again to Sungai Lembing (to take better photos!).

I like this scene but not satisfy with my photography skill

Early sun rise

View from other side

Peace of mind when you look at it 

I call it heaven

You are not alone at the hill top

The wooden shop houses in the town

The huge tress at the centre of the road

You can rent bicycle and ride in the village

I am surprised the back yard is clean although looks old

School library

Old wooden and zinc house

Old is gold!

After the climb you can visit the Sunday morning market

One of the hanging bridges

These shutter bugs are with big lens and camera

See the models with umbrella!

The motorcycle can pass the bridge too

   

Lord Murugan Statue - Batu Caves Malaysia (黑风洞)

Batu Caves is a popular tourist place in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia. It is also a place of worship for the Indian community.

During Thaipusam festival, the crowd turnout is unbelievable. Thousands of foreigner flock to Batu Caves to share the joy and atmosphere. It is an yearly event where devotees pay respect to Lord Murugan. So the best time to visit Batu Caves is during Thaipusam.

The Lord Murugan statue is the tallest in Malaysia. It is a striking landmark when you drive pass batu caves toward Gombak because the statue is in gold color. There are a lot of other small statues and characters representing a rich culture and histroy for the Indian.

Next to the statue is the stair to the caves and estimated to be 270 over steps. On the midway of the stairs, you can see lot of monkey scounting for foods from visitors. Sometimes, these monkeys can be aggressive. My son once stood very close to a monkey which was having this banana and suddenly jumped on my son. Luckily the monkey did not attack but just to scare people away from their food.

Midway to the stair you can do cave exploration activity. There will be guide who will lead the exploration and you need equiped with proper gear like the tourch light and stick. I have not try this but it should be exciting and fun.

How to go Batu Caves? I think the best way is to take the KTM Komuter Railway and stop at the Batu Caves station. The caves is just within walking distance.

The statue at the entrance when you reach the top of the stair

Lots of people during weekend

You need good fitness to go to the top

A striking landmark when you drive pass Batu Caves

Majestic look

Cheng Yoon Temple Melaka - World Heritage 青云亭

I never have deep interested in Chinese Temple Achitecture until one day my business friend came all the way from Hong Kong to see an old temple (Guan Yin) in George Town Penang.

That puzzle me a lot. A guy from Hong Kong flown all the way to Georgetown Penang to see a temple? He must be nut! There are plenty of Chinese Temple in Hong Kong and thousands in mainland China. What is so special with Chinese Temples in Georgetown?

My friend explained that neither Hong Kong nor China that he can see the well preserved and maintain old Chinese Temples. China has developed so fast and people demolish the temples to build sky scrapper. Hong Kong's Wong Tai Sin temple is nothing special, it is just a "commerical' temple for tourist only.  The Chinese Temple in Geogretown is different. It is well preserved and maintain. He described to me that he could feel the atmosphere and environment and that brought his memory back to the 1940s or 50s! Wow, that good?

I never realized that we preserve our temples so well after my friend explanation.  Having said that I must clarify that  not all our buildings are well preserved, there are some crazy politicians want to demolished it and make way for development.

Another crazy thing that happened a few weeks ago was the town council want to bring down the hundred-year-old rain trees in my home town Taiping just to build some handicraft and souvenir stalls! The plan was eventually scrapped because to much of protest from the people.

Sorry, got carried away back to temple! A month later, I pull a night in Melaka on my way back from Johor Bahru. The next day, I got the chance to visit an ancient Chinese Temple - Cheng Yoon or QingYun. It was then I started to appreciate more the achitecture of Chinese Temples (Not all of course).

This Chinese Temple is more than 300 years ago (I don't know the exact years. Just google and search). It is the oldest temple in Malaysia and was built by the Kapitan (Chinese leader) back in the Portugese occupation of Melaka time.

The temple has gone through 6 times renovation and 3 times expansion. The recent renovation was done not that long ago and about a mix of 20 carpenters, painters and skilled "sifu" were brought in from China to do the renovation and preserve as much as possible the original look. Materials were all import from China and the total cost was more than 1 million ringgit Malaysia.

Looking at the architecture of the temple, I start to appreciate more of our heritage. Everything in the temple is carefully crafted and painted.  The roof, door, window, frame, beams, table and many more are so unique and each has a story to tell! (I don't the story but I am sure there is one).   

You can spend few hours to look at every part of the temple and feel fascinated. This temple is worth to see when you drop by Melaka. The rest are just complimentary. Cheng Yoon temple is along Temple Street (Jalan Tokong) just next to Jonker street in the Melaka Town.

The main entrance to the temple hall

 Burning is done outside



 The main hall of the temple

 The woodcraft

Even at the roof you can see ancient figures

At the roof gutter

 The side entrance and the window are special

Out of word to describe this.

 The dragon at the door

  

  

Maldives Paradise

Maldives is the paradise for divers. The country consists of many small islands at the south of Sri Lanka. Almost each island is a resort by itself and own by the Maldivian.

It was because of work that I was invited by the resort owner to visit their resort in an Island.  The airport was situated in North Male Atoll, near the capital Male. After reaching Male airport, I had to take a small airplane to the resort. The plane was small with only about 10 passengers. Surprisingly the plane could reach quite an altitude and no whobbling what so ever.

From the plane, one could see so many islands that even the local Maldivian could not recognized all of them. I knew this because I saw a Maldivian in the plane holding a book that showed different islands.

Upon arriving at the Jetty, the resort gave a warm welcome with cold towel and drinks at the tropical style wooden hut. A buggy then drove me to the room and I was astonished to see what appeared in front of me.

A row of beautifull two storey wooden chalet was built above the water and facing the Indian ocean. It was usually in TV that I could see this but now it stood in front of me! As I walked pass the wooden walkway toward the room, I could see the crystal clear water underneath. You just couldn't wait to jump into the sea!

The balcony was facing the sea and you could take a nice sun bath at the balcony with privacy. The room was clean and every furniture was nicely decorated. The resort also provided a lot of entertainment and game activities within the island. The food was fresh and cook on the spot.

Well, nice to spend a holiday in Maldives but the price was also awesome. I was told that the room cost was US500 per night!

Small airplane but very stable

Can talk to the pilots!

This is common scene when look out from the plane

Arrival at the jetty

Lovely two storey wooden chalet

The walkway at the back!

Different view

The entrance.

The front balcony is facing the open sea

Crystal clear

Can do sun bathing

Bathtub in front of balcony

Living room

Bedroom is upstair

Shower room!

Sandy white beach

Sunset at jetty

Fresh cook dinner