标签： rainbow waterfall

Small village with a big story

Compassion : Mazu also known as Chinese Sea Goddess
By Foong Pek Yee
The tallest Mazu statue in Malaysia is in Sungai Lembing Village.
Measuring 3.65 meter× 3.65 meter and 8.07 meter in height, it is housed in the  Sungai Lembing Hainan Association’s Thean Hou Temple
” Mazu is an integral part of Hainan culture,” says the association chairman Datuk Dr Sunny Chan of the towering statue which went into the Malaysia Book of Record in 2019.
The village is about 45 minutes drive from Kuantan, Pahang.
Always together: Thean Hou Temple and Hainanese community.
Flagship: Sungai Lembing Hainan Association also housed HillVille Inn which is a guesthouse with a Hainanese restaurant on the ground floor.
The association was set up in 1910
Loyal and strong: Sungai Lembing Hainan Association chairman Datuk Dr Sunny Chan (in coat) with members at the entrance to the Thean Hou Temple.
Mazu, also known as the Chinese Sea Goddess, is believed to provide divine
intervention for seafarers especially fishermen.
The Goddess is widely worshipped by Chinese in Asia, especially those living in coastal areas.
Dr Chan harbours hope the towering Mazu statue will  attract more tourists and help revive the economy.
About 3,000 tourists thronged Sungai Lembing over  weekends prior to the covid-19 pandemic.
Another beautiful day : Watching sunrise in Sungai Lembing known for its natural beauty
Old world charm: the little commercial square next to Sungai Lembing Village
One for the album: Tourists flocked to Sungai Lembing over weekends.
Dr Chan who grew up in Sungai Lembing  says the little mining town was home to his forefathers from China who set foot in then Malaya.
The 60-year-old businessman says he witnessed the heyday of Sungai Lembing which last till the world tin market crash in the mid 1980s.
According to him, Sungai Lembing, a thriving mining town since the 18th century, had turned into a ghost town after the crash.
After almost two decades it staged a comeback with  eco tourism and  its rich historical background as selling  points.
According to Dr Chan, Sungai Lembing was once the longest and deepest underground mining point in the world.
Topping the list of must visit places in Sungai Lembing are the  Rainbow Waterfall,Thean Hou Temple and Sungai Lembing Museum.
International wonder : The Rainbow Waterfall in Sungai Lembing drawing tourists from all over the world
Unfortunately, Sungai Lembing is prone to big floods at least once a year.
Under the coordination of the association, villagers will come out in full force to clean up the area.
Dr Chan who is chairman of the association since 2017 , also heads the post -disaster reconstruction committee after a big fire in the village end of 2021, says he has his hands full in rebuilding the village.
He is confident the 112-year-old  association together with the villagers will be able to overcome any challenges life throws at them, and they have proven it time and again.

Rainbow and roast pork makes the day

Natural wonder : The Rainbow Waterfall in Sungai Lembing is popular in the wake of increasing interest in  eco tourism worldwide
By Foong Pek Yee
6 March, 2022
THE tourists get more than roast pork for lunch.
For most of us, that is the first time we see the roasting done in a traditional way –  using firewood inside a huge concrete stove.
Happy together:  At the roast pork lunch in Sungai Lembing New Village after the  Rainbow Waterfall tour.
And the freshly roasted pork (siew yoke in Cantonese) is real good – taste and texture – compared to the ones we have in eateries.
This “siew yoke” lunch is cultural tourism and very popular  in Sungai Lembing New Village.
During the lunch, I met a family of three generations from Johor and Singapore –  grandmother, her children and  grandson.
They say they decided to holiday in Sungei Lembing in Pahang, a popular destination among Singaporeans.
Between 2,000 and 3,000 tourists visited Sungai Lembing over weekends prior to the pandemic.
And the young boy who lives in  Singapore also gets to take a closer look at life in a new village.
Cultural tourism/food tours that promote the traditions of a community is increasingly popular among foreigners and locals alike.
All excited: Tourists getting ready to trek up  the Rainbow Waterfall.
Today, many  Malaysian Chinese and Singaporeans have  their roots in new villages in Malaya dated back to the 1940s
They are the descendants of half a million Chinese in then Malaya whom the colonial government uprooted and re-settled in 452 barbed wire settlements named new villages during the Emergency (1948-1960)
The exercise had saved the Chinese from an impending deportation by the colonial government who deemed the community as communist supporters.
There are still about two million Chinese living  in the new villages to date.
In Sungei Lembing New Village, its popular Rainbow Waterfall tour also tells a story  of  life in a new village.
The youngsters from the  new village and nearby roamed around and discovered the rainbow long ago.
According to a tour guide, the rainbow cast on the waterfall is the effect of sun rays shining through the cascading water.
They called it Rainbow Waterfall-  their favourite hangout.
It was only many years later that the villagers’ search for a living saw them coming up with Rainbow Waterfall tours.
They started off using lorries to ferry tourists to the base, about 12 kilometer from their village.
The half-day tour starts at 5.30am.
The trek up  Rainbow Waterfall involves about two kilometers of jungle trekking and rock climbing after crossing a small stream.
And tourists cheering the moment they spotted the rainbow is not without reason though.
For instance, the rainbow may not appear on a cloudy day.
Note: The tour in Sungai Lembing was before the pandemic.