Sg. Lembing, the El Dorado of the East

Over the weekend, I went up to Sg. Lembing with Annu to look at the town that was once the location for the world's biggest iron mine site since the late 1880s. Sg. Lembing is about 40km from Kuantan and it is a really small town, with one main street along the river, yet with a very rich history, no pun intended. The town/village looks very much like what it was in the pictures at the museum. It was known as the "El Dorado of the East" - the largest and deepest underground tin mine with its heydays until the 1970s. During the good times, they even had a duty free area, bringing in stuff from England for the foreigners living in the village and around.

The museum is definitely worth a visit. I think its one of the best I've been to in Malaysia. Its situated in what was the former director of the Pahang Consolidated Company Ltd's house and is a beautiful wooden two-storey building at the end of the village. It was a busy day with many different people visiting the museum, including a bunch of boys on the bike:)

Actually we started the afternoon with a walk behind the village (towards Bukit Panorama) for some birdwatching and the bird of the day was the black and red broadbill, a pair really. The others were saw were the red-eyed bulbull, orang bellied flowerpecker and the common tailorbird, of which we saw many on the way down the hill.

Here are the stars of the day, the broadbill, image from one of my favourite birdie sites (pix by Connie Khoo) and the tailorbird (right) (pix by Tee Lian Huat).

We found the trail where steps were being put in, and be assured that its not an easy ascent - that was cardiac work for a week! But the view is great and I'm sure if we went up all the way it would have been even better. A view from the trail and this was at mid-day.

Then back to the city for a great game of basketball with the girls!