Right after Padang Besar, we went to Gua Kelam with the aim to walk in the cave. This plan reminded me of my experience with Postojna Cave, Slovenia in which I didn't know before that caves are peaceful places to enjoy.
Gua Kelam, Perlis - located at Taman Negeri Perlis (Perlis State Park), it is about 20 minutes away from Padang Besar.
Once you approached this area, you would be greeted by this big signboard.
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| Welcome to Gua Kelam. |
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| :D :D :D |
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| Syair Gua Kelam. |
I am not that good with poems but I love reading them.
-Syair Gua Kelam-
Di Kaki Bukit tempat letaknya,
26km dari Kangar jaraknya,
Lombong bijih timah zaman dahulunya,
Jadi laluan rakyat melaluinya.
Dikenali sebagai 'Jambatan Gantung',
Asalnya dibina oleh pelombong,
Jambatan kayu sebagai penghubung,
Jasa utama Datuk Loh Ah Tong.
Tahun sembilan belas empat puluh lima,
Kerajaan Negeri membina semula,
Jambatan kayu bertambah sempurna,
Mudahkan pelancong menikmatinya.
Program pembangunan sekitar gua,
Surau, gerai makan dan cenderamata,
Taman Orkid, kolam ikan, Taman Rusa,
Tempat rehat di dalam gua juga selesa.
Tepian mandi sejuk sekali,
Airnya jernih menenangkan hati,
Sesiapa yang datang melawat di sini,
Pasti ingin datang sekali lagi.
Karya: Siti Esah Musa (Harties)
Persatuan Penulis Perlis
From this syair, we can get rough idea about the history of Gua Kelam. :)
For summary, Gua Kelam was originally a tin mine that produced high quality of tin. This area was also used to connect people in Wang Kelian and Kaki Bukit. Here, there was a famous guy named En. Nayan (known as Tauke Nyan) - you can see his name for road as well. He was the pioneer of this mining activity in Gua Kelam before selling this area to Kong Fatt, a Chinese.
The process of mining was done traditionally - through 'mendulang'. And there were some deaths noted there when the workers were unable to save themselves during raining season. Rain will cause the hole used to mine the tin to be flooded.
Only in 1988, this place was rebuilt up as taman rekreasi :)
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| Seems like there is hiking route here. |
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| RM1 for entrance fee (Malaysian adult). |
The funny thing about our experience at Gua Kelam was.... we ran out of cash here! Like, I don't have any money notes left in my wallet. -_-' Simply because I forgot to withdraw money from the ATM and I already used mine to buy souvenirs. I even borrowed some from Puteri hahaha. End up, they had the same situation as well T_T
Korek punya korek beg beg tu, cukup laaa RM 3. Two pieces of RM 1 notes and few coins.
The climax was when we found out later that the cave was closed to public (for now). Hahahaha. Punya lah gigih cari RM 3 sekali tutup.
The cave was closed on that day because the pathway was a bit damaged due to previous flood.
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| Loving this. |
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| Us :D |
Going to repeat Perlis for this place, insyAllah.
SS, Perak, Malaysia
171030
