HERE I GO LENGGONG!
LENGGONG:
Some 15 members of the press and travel agencies were invited to join
in a “Familiarisation Trip in conjunction with Lenggong Carnival
2019”, organised by Tourism Malaysia, here.
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| UBUDIAH MOSQUE IN KUALA KANGSAR |
The
3D2N trip was an eye opener for participants as they got to know more
about the heritage cum archaeological site of Lenggong Valley. They
had a chance to visit villages and town namely Kuala Kangsar, Labu
Kubong Tasik Raban and Ipoh.
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| BEAUTIFUL MURAL ART IN IPOH |
As for me, it has been quite a long time since my last visit to my
maternal hometown Lenggong – many things had changed since then –
with the additional charm of getting the World UNESCO status for
Lenggong Valley's Archaeological Site .
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| PERAK RIVER |
DAY
1
The
trip started off with a tour around the Royal Town of Kuala Kangsar
where there a few stops to view the Ubudiah Mosque,Sultan Azlan Shah
Gallery and KZ Craft Modern & Traditional Sayong Pottery.
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| POTTERY MAKING |
We
then continued our journey to one of the most beautiful kampung
(village) called Labu Kubong. I just fall in love at the site of a
wooden kampung house which stood beautifully in the midst of an open
space field. There is a sense of 'kampung feeling' where we were
feted to a traditional lunch and a silat performance.
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| LABU KUBONG |
Obviously, the
best part of kampung life was the opportunity to eat as much durian
as you canduring the “Moh Makan Durian” session, here. After the
durian session, participants were given a guided tour around the
village to view homestay houses, padi fields and river. We also
visited a bee farm, nearby.
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| KAMPUNG SCENERY |
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| MOH MAKAN DURIAN SESSION |
After
Labu Kubong, we headed to Lenggong area – where we visited two
agricultural farms such as pineapple and rock melon farm owned by
Akasia Business Enterprise, to understand more about the fruit
industry in Perak.
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| PINEAPPLE FARM |
By
the time we finished, it was about 7 pm – we then checked into
Resort Tasik Raban.
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| ROCK MELON FARM |
DAY
2
Highlight
of the trip was in Day 2, where we participated in a half-day guided
cave tour entitled “UNESCO World Archaeological Site Lenggong
Valley Heritage Tour” bringing us close to Kajang Cave, Jawa Hill,
Sapi Hill and Killing Cave, situated outskirt of Lenggong.
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| BRIEFING AT THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE |
Kajang
Cave (Gua Kajang) is located at limestone complex at Bukit Kepala
Gajah. It is situated at latitude 5 07.57' North and longitutde 100
58.87' East, 76 meters above sea level. A huge part of the floor cave
has been damaged due to guano harvesting activity and some parts of
the cave walls have been drawn over with graffiti. This was the first
cave in the country to be excavated in 1917 by Evans, where urn
fragments, stone tools, earthenware, food and human bones were
discovered. Research by Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) had found
evidence that this cave had been used since 11,000 to 5000 years ago.
This cave may have been used as living quarters and burial ground by
the Paleolithics and Neolithics. Besides archaeological findings, the
cave is also known for its unique cave formations, tunnels and
stalactites and stalagmites.
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| GUA KAJANG |
Jawa
Hill (Bukit Jawa) is an open Palaeolithic 104 m above sea level, at a
latitude 507.72' North and longitude 100' 59.55' East. It was
discovered during a Kota Tampan paleaoenvironmental reconstruction by
a team of researcher from USM in 1996. It had been determined from
data that any location that at least 72 m above sea level and contain
river gravel deposits is a potential archaeological site. Evidence
here of early human activities dating back 100,000 to 200,000 years
ago comes from the discovery of stone tool workshop that used river
gravels from the ancient Perak River to produce pebble and flake
tools by using anvils, cores and hammerstones, and that are crowded
with thousands of debitage in the form of chunks, flakes and chips.
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| JAWA HILL |
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| CLOSER LOOK AT JAWA HILL |
Sapi
Hill (Bukit Sapi) is a small hill measuring about 70 sq km was formed
due to the volcano eruption (ash) from Lake Toba, Indonesia.
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| SAPI HILL |
Killings
Cave (Gua Bunuh) is found deep into an oil palm plantation where
thousands of meteorites fell at this place millions of years ago. One
can still find sightings of the meteorites formations left here. A
tourist visiting this place must take a photograph of oneself sitting
on top of a meteorite.
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WRITER SEATED ON METEORITE
|
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| METEORITES |
Definitely,
a 'must visit' place in Lenggong is none other than the Lenggong
Valley Archaeological Gallery – where the Perak Man was exhibited
in a glass enclosure within an air conditioned room, at the top level
of the building.
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| PERAK MAN |
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| LENGGONG ARCHAEOLOGY GALLERY |
In
the afternoon, we went to Veterinary Services Department to view its
Deer Farm, and to learn more about the types of deer and their
livelihood.
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| HI! MR DEER |
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| VETERINARY SERVICES DEPARTMENT |
By
evening, we have an opportunity to see the launching of Lenggong
Carnival 2019, held at Dataran Lenggong.
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| LENGGONG CARNIVAL 2019 |
After having dinner at the
carnival, we leave for Ipoh where we stay overnight at the Casuarina
Hotel, Meru.
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| CASUARINA HOTEL MERU |
DAY
3
The
finale of the fam trip include an experience with the newly set up
Hop On Hop Off (HOHO) bus that took tourists from Meru – Ipoh High
Court – Little India - HSBC Ipoh Old Town – Telekom Malaysia –
Brewster Road – Ipoh Parade – Gerbang Malam – Octogan – The
Majestic – Panglima Kinta Mosque - Meru.
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| BREEZY DAY UP THE HOHO BUS |
This was my maiden ride
on the HOHO bus in our own country. I used to experience similar
rides in Singapore and London. The HOHO bus runs every weekend from
8.30am to 9.30pm where tickets can either be bought on the spot or
downloadable E-brochures.
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| WE LOVE HOHO BUS |
However,
we got down at Old Town and walked along the Concubine Lane before
having coffee at Dong Cafe, here.
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| OLD TOWN |
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| DONG CAFE |
Finally,
we ended our tour back to where we had started, the Ipoh Railway
Station and we bid farewell to all participants.
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| PARTICIPANTS BID FAREWELL AT IPOH RAILWAY STATION |
The
trip was sponsored by Tourism Malaysia.
