Today, we are going to stay in Ipoh and around. Ipoh being a bigger town that what we cross usually, Steph wants to buy some gear. There is also few interesting Buddhist temple mixed with caves to visit in this area. It a kind of resting day today, a lazy one ;-) This is Christmas eve too so give us a nice treat :-)
Map.
The first temple is called Sam Poh Tong and was built by a Chinese monk we came here and decided to stay.
The Sam Poh Tong (Cavern of Three Precious) is a Chinese Buddhist temple built within a limestone cave and is the oldest and most famous cave temples in Perak, Malaysia. Sam Poh Tong Cave Temple built in raw limestone cave in the mountains which is located about 5 km from Ipoh. The temple facade dates back to the 1950s and a stiff climb of 246 steps will lead you to an open cave with an excellent view of Ipoh and its surroundings. Till today, nuns and monks who dedicate their lives to Buddha still occupy the Sam Poh Tong.
It is the largest cave temple in Malaysia and contains art work such as a reclining Buddha figure. The temple also offers visitors the opportunity to release turtles into its turtle pond as a means of balancing one’s karma (Wikipedia source).
This is Sam Poh Tong reincarnated :-) How are you?
Nice decoration.
That’s the temple cave.
It’s really built in the rock.
Let’s have a look inside.
Very impressive.
A little dusty Buddha.
The cave goes on and on. I don’t know if I can go further or not.
Stairs or going everywhere. It’s really nice.
That’s only when I write this post that I realise that I could walk up to the open cave which I did not see unfortunately because the place was empty. I did not meet anybody to ask to. I’m now going back towards the entrance, by the garden.
The nirvana Buddha.
Lots of Encens coils over here.
Dragon!
That was the first temple for this morning. Let’s visit the second one which is not far away from here.
Gua Kek Look Tong, that’s his name.
Ah, that looks more like a cave this time.
A big cave!
Like Batu Cave, there is lots of concrete here but at least it’s very clean.
Nice :-)
Very details sculptures.
On the right hand side the cave has another exit.
Texture.
I wish there would be some quick informations about those sculptures. How long did it take to get to this (certainly millions of years).
Reminds me something like Alien texture ;-) That’s my first impression.
Human sculpture this time.
The cave ends up on a nice garden view.
… with a small lake…
… full of lotus flows.
Really asian style :-)
What?! Why?!
Yesterday night, when we were checking online where to sleep, I’ve found a road on google maps that leads on the other side of this lake. Unfortunately it was a dead end. A gate guards the entrance of a mining company.
So you have a nice temple with a nice garden and at the end of it a nice lake. But on the other side of the lake you have a company that is literally destroying the landscape…
The landscape would be perfect without the work on the left hand side.
Wow! That’s a remote place.
Back to the garden.
I like this: You take of your shoes and walk on this special path. That looks painful!
Let’s go back through the cave again, it’s time for lunch very soon :-)
Rice, veggies and some fried seafood.
This is where the trouble started. Actually the first part of the day was good. We visited a temple and a cave, had something nice to eat. After that, we cycled in the city trying to find an outdoor shop which we never found. At least, Stef found what he wanted in a bicycle shop. After that, we ended in a shopping mall (still looking for an outdoor shop). Nothing there but too much attraction. We decided to have a treat for Christmas eve: eating at Pizza hut haha. Malaysian food is good but everyday is kind of the same.
After dinner, as we were ready to go out and find a place where to sleep, the rain started… We waited a bit and finally were back on the road, at night, looking for a spot. We could not find any place until this one, a petrol station. Well, good one… This is far to be good! Firstly, we asked to a young guy if we could sleep here tonight. His answer was: “The boss is coming at midnight, in 30 minutes”. Ok, we wait then. Later on the guy we expected came to us and approved our request. We could stay in the corner for the night.
The first issue we accounted was that on the other side of the fence, there was a radio, a loud radio I must say. Are we going to sleep with that? Yes we had to… Then, the boss locked the station and just before leaving he put on the radio too! At the beginning, I thought it was a car who stopped around the corner but I realised it was the petrol station itself that has some bloody loud music too! So we had to sleep with a very bad mix of Christmas songs on one side and techno music on the other. Arg! What’s that!?
We knew we had only few hours of sleep front of us but the circumstances tonight were very bad. Around 3am, the rain came. We had to set up the roof as quick as we could in case it would get heavier. Later on, the wind started too (that’s remind me a bad night in Singapore…). What a bad christmas eve night, the worse ever! This is part of the adventure!
Pour ma part je préfère la deuxième grotte. Toutes ces constructions dans la première, et ce clinquant. Bon, c’est leur trip ! Dis donc en France ça ne risque pas qu’on y mette autant de béton dans nos grottes. Finalement un peu de protectionnisme ne fait pas de mal pour certaines choses, surtout lorsqu’il s’agit de la nature ! J’espère que vous avez récupéré de votre nuit musicale !!! Bisous
Oh, what a night. I hope you would have slept better next night.
The cave temple was interesting. It must had been lots of work to match with the natural stone material.