Highlights of Sungai Lembing Photography Trip

On 25 March 2016 morning, five members of the AUPE S&R Club, Shutterbug@295, led by leader Yau Loong went on a 3D2N personal photography trip to Sungai Lembing. 

Sungai Lembing is a tin mining town in Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia. “Lembing” is Malay for spear, and "Sungai" means river. According to legend, the local ruler saw a vision of a spear in the nearby river and thus named his town after this vision.

Our first stop upon arriving was a visit to Gua Charas, a temple cave found in a limestone hill called Bukit Charas which is a 400 million year old limestone and granite massif reaching 355 metres at its highest point. The cave is a holy site for both Hindus and Buddhists and their symbols and statues are dotted around the interior. Inside the cave is a reclining Buddha about 8 metres long.

Group photo using Tripod.

On Day 2 our group woke up early and had breakfast at 5.45am at the one and only hawker centre in Sungai Lembing town before heading to Rainbow Waterfall in a 4WD (Four wheel-drive) which can seat 10-12 passengers.

The journey to Rainbow waterfall took around an hour, going through muddy paths, small streams and rocky roads.  Upon reaching the end of the road journey, we began our 45 minutes trek to the waterfall on foot.  The first obstacle we encountered was crossing a river which was both rocky and slippery.  After that, we had to trek through forest vegetation and at times uprooted tree trunks and even clambering over giant boulders.  The not-so-fit were thankful of the many pairs of helping hands ever ready to pull someone up a difficult obstacle. Upon reaching the waterfall around mid-day, we witnessed the phenomenon of a beautiful rainbow created when the sun shone on the cascading water near the base of the waterfall. 

After lunch, we went on a guided tour of the other attractions found in Sungai Lembing.  Our first destination was to the Crystal house.  The owner, Mr Lee used to work in the tin mines and had over a span of twenty-one years collected over 3000 pieces of crystals from the mines. Interestingly, there are two tunnels which Mr Lee personally dug out from the hillock behind his house to show visitors how the old mine tunnels were like.

After our tour of the Crystal Housel, the tour guide brought us to take some photos of a Hanging Bridge.  Sungai Lembing has a few hanging bridges to connect people from the other side of the river to the main town. 'Jambatan Gantung' means hanging bridge and it is used by the local to walk and one can even find the occasional motorbike crossing the bridge.

Our next destination was to the Sungai Lembing Underground Tin Mines.  The place was recently opened to the public in January 2013 and contained information and exhibits on the tin mining activities during its heyday.

Finally, Day 2 ended with the group at Sunset Hill before proceeding to a barbeque spread. 

On Day 3, our trip to Panorama Hill to see sunrise was one of the major attractions of coming to this small town. The unforgettable beauty of the scenery was worth the trek up the 400-metres hillock at 5.30am, climbing about 1100 odd concrete steps.  The average trekker took about 45 minutes to an hour to ascend whilst the locals had been known to reach the peak in 20 minutes!  We were fortunate and amply rewarded when we witnessed the sun emerging in glorious red and then golden hues.  We were also treated to an awesome 360-degree view of Sungai Lembing, seeing far into the mountain range and the valleys and literally standing above the clouds! 

 

The finale of our trip was to the Pandan Waterfall, formerly known as the Panching Falls, as it was located near a settlement named Panching.  The waterfall which lies within the Berkelah Forest Reserve is multi-tiered, with a big constructed wading pool at the bottom. The cool and refreshing water are a great draw for family outings.   

After Pandan Waterfall, it’s time to head back to Singapore. It was truly an exciting and memorable trekking trip for all of us.

Looking forward to Home Sweet Home 😊

~ The End ~