A Nice Outing

On 22 October Free Malaysia Today had an article with the intriguing title Mysterious 135-year-old temple in Perak’s jungles .Of course I was interested and wanted to have a look myself. But where was this temple located? The article mentioned Jeram and Jalan Chenderiang. Still a bit too vague. Fortunately my friend Siak Hong Law had visited the temple many years ago, he gave me the exact location. The temple is actually on Google Maps, named as 石山脚寿仙岩观音庙, which Google translates as the Shouxianyan Guanyin Temple at the foot of Shishan

As the temple is still a two hours drive from PJ, Aric and I decided to make it a day trip, combine the temple with waterfalls and food. We started with breakfast in Tanjung Malim. The Thye Fah coffee shop is popular and well patronised.

Their special ice coffee has a frozen coffee heart on top. I had my half-boiled eggs, the buns with butter and kaya were really delicious. A good start of the day.

After our breakfast, we drove to Jeram and from there to the temple. In the left picture you see how to drive, first following the Chenderiang road until you turn left into a small road. I forgot to take a picture of the junction, so I took a screenshot of Google Street View. The description by the author of the FMT article of the temple as “hidden in the depths of a thick jungle.” and of the road as “you have to travel along a stretch of dirt road snaking through an oil palm plantation” shows that he has a rich imagination. The road is tarred, passing a few industrial sites, then following the peaceful Sg Dipang. No jungle at all.

After less than 2 km, this road ends at a clearing, next to a former tin mining lake. Peaceful surroundings.

The entrance of the temple

The temple complex is partly built inside a limestone cave. Overgrown with trees. It is a Taoist temple dedicated to Guan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy. According to the FMT article more than 135 year old.

Here is a collection of pictures, taken inside and outside the temple.

Left a statue of Guan Yin, right a statue of the White Guard, one of the Heibai Wuchang deities, escorting the souls of the deceased to the underworld.

The friendly caretaker told us that the temple bell was quite old and that attempts have been made to steal it. The bell is now tied with metal chains to its scaffolding.

Outside the temple there is an interesting Datuk Kong shrine.

Next to the temple there is a fascinating collection of idols, left there by devotees who had no place for them in their home and didn’t want to destroy them.

We walked around a bit, there are many small caves

It was a very rewarding visit.

Quite near the temple complex there are popular waterfalls, the Salu Falls. We had a look at the lower fall, easily accessible on a cemented path

It’s only a short walk and you can see and hear the fall from some distance already.

Here is the waterfall. There are more upper tiers, but they are more difficult to reach..

The Salu falls have now been upgraded to the Taman Eko Rimba Sungai Salu. Taman Eko Rimba is a fashionable concept, you can find them now all over Malaysia..

I had to smile about the warning signboard. Started in 2011, counting yearly accidents and fatalities. I guess that when nothing had happened in the following 6 years, they gave up updating the signboard.

Time for lunch! We were not far from Tanjung Tualang, famous for its udang gala restaurants. We had our lunch in the You Kee restaurant. We knew that the prawns would not be cheap, but they were delicious, We had three big prawns each and there was Tofu and paku salad. The bill was RM 97, value for money.

On our way back home we noticed that we were not far from the Lata KInjang waterfall. Most Malaysians will have seen this waterfall, driving on the North-South highway. Not many will have visited the falls. Also these falls have been upgraded and are now named Taman Eko Rimba Lata Kinjang. Access is not cheap, we paid RM 21! (Foreigner RM 10, Malaysian adult RM 6 and car park RM 5). Here are some pictures. It was already a bit late in the afternoon, we just walked to the hanging bridge and back again. We reached our car just before it started to rain.

We made this trip on 16 November 2022, three days before the GE15 elections. This is the small town of Chenderiang, near Lata Kinjang.

A rewarding day trip, very Malaysian. A combination of Culture, Nature and Food. Malaysia Boleh!

4 thoughts on “A Nice Outing

  1. Is Salu the place where you Jan and I got lost until we met two men cooing from the interior with necklaces of petai they had harvested?

    Regarding the hidden temple, the figures remind me of the Terracotta Army at Xian, China

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