Temerloh

An old town by the banks of the Pahang river, I was told a visit to the colorful Temerloh Sunday market is a must. And so we did. The drive took us about an hour and a half from Kuala Lumpur on an early Sunday morning. We reached Temerloh about 9am, starving. So we decided to have our breakfast at this old kopitiam named Mahawani Enterprise before walking to the market.

Mahawani served very good noodles and chicken rice.

Temerloh town

I loved these old shops, especially this particular one where the husband was working and the wife was reading newspaper!

A walk towards the market named "Pekan Sehari Temerloh"

The entrance of the market

Putu bambu - steamed cake in bamboos, made out of rice flour and palm sugar and grated coconut.

Pahang river

Handwoven mats

Dragon fruit

Quacks and Cockadoodledooooooos

Apam Balik @ Turnover Pancakes, filled with black glutinous rice

Petai @ Stinky beans

Tempoyak @ Fermented durian. Famous in Temerloh as they make it into gravy to serve with catfish.

We paid a visit to Restoran Claypot Patin Tempoyak to try their Ikan Patin (Freshwater Silver Catfish), cooked in fermented durian gravy, served in a claypot.

Patin Tempoyak - YUMMY!

A 45-minute drive to see Gunung Senyum @ Smiling Mountain. I read that this is a recreational forest that housed 25 caves and traditional herbs were planted around that area. Some of the caves are known as Gua Kolam, Gua Tapa, Gua Gudang Kelawar,Gua Kolam Tujuh, Gua Batu Merlap, Gua Kambing, Gua Gajah, Gua Mayat, Gua Nesan, Gua Gong and Gua Silat.

Gua Merlap was known to house supernatural beings because the locals have witnessed shining rocks from that cave.

One of the famous legends from Gunung Senyum was Tok Long who had married a supernatural being. Because of a broken promise, he could not find his wife in the supernatural world. So he dedicated his life in meditation at this mountain until his death.

Unfortunately for us, after such a long drive via narrow roads, we reached Gunung Senyum and found the area totally deserted. Not a human around. The area was unkempt. It looked as though some clean-up work was going on. I wished it was really so for this place is simple beautiful. I wanted so much to explore the caves but decide against it as there was no guide or guard. We left the place with a heavy heart. So much potential as a tourist destination. I hope the state will clean the place up and make it look majestic again.

From a distance, the mountain sure looked like a sleeping giant.

Kuala Gandah Elephant Sanctuary. This sanctuary was set up by the Wildlife Department to provide shelter for orphans and injured elephants. Entrance is free. If you come early, you may have a chance to bathe with the baby elephants in the river.

We fed the elephants with veggies. They were gentle giants.

Beautiful landscape

Deerland Park, Lanchang. It was s surprising stopover. Not only did we feed the beautiful gentle deers, we also saw some interesting animals in the park.

See its blue tongue?

Had to cuddle a new friend here