Sg.Lembing - historical, legendary....fun

At Sg.Lembing arch...

I have always been intrigued by history, legends and real people experiences. Upon chancing an opportunity to experience such event, I wouldn't pass up. After being told by my friend, Abby that Sg.Lembing Museum was a great experience, Errol's family and mine decided to make a trip there during one of our weekend trip to Kuantan. It was also meant to be a "nice & easy " weekend trip o unwind. In all honesty, wee were not disappointed by what we see, what we experience and what we could imagine happened in those times. It was a great experience indeed for all of us. ( Errol, Jessica, Josephine, Jocelyn, SLing, SYuen and myself )

Sg.Lembing Museum

Sg.Lembing is about a 35-40 minutes drive from Kuantan town and the greenery scenes were much much nicer indeed. We took a leisurely drive there from our hotel after breakfast so that we could go up there early to savor the nice environment. We weren't disappointed with the view and the museum itself. The township is small and mainly consisted of buildings made of partly brick and partly wood houses. It was so eclectic and simple yet life goes on each day. The Market Street which houses the food stalls were crowded and nice food were particularly sold out by the time we finished our morning tour of the museum and the mines. Bah! It was disappointing not to have tasted the specially mentioned Curry Yong Tau Fu mee but we were easy about it. 

Equipment Room at the museum

Coming back to Sg.Lembing Museum, it is situated atop on of the nicest scenery backdrop of lush green hills and cool weather. It was easy, nice and cooling indeed. The museum charges RM 2 per adult and we were more than willing to pay for the entrance fee. Such a nicely kept museum surroundings and huge engine block plus huge cable winch which reminded us of the times of mining activities there. You see , we learn through our history books in our yester  years that tin mining has always been about "kapal korek" and the bucket system and so on, right? Well, folks, I've go news for you. This Sg.Lembing mines were systematically mined using explosives, hard labour to break up the tin ore in stones form, brute strength winches and pulleys system and rail carrier system to extract out the tin ore to the surface. That's pure hard work,man!

Museum steps....

Looking back at the size of the tools, the headlamps,the scales and the utensils used, I felt that I was temporarily transported back to the mining shaft. As I browsed and read through the explanation boards and writings, I could help but feel very transported back to the mines and working it all out with the shirtless workers down the mining shafts. I was even more amazed that these workers actually dug approximately 1,400 feet downwards with three other connecting mining shafts; all supported with square support of good chengal wood. The museum opened my eyes to what rich culture and heritage we have at Sg.Lembing. 

Entrance of Sg.Lembing Mine

I must thank Uncle Phua ( Abby's dad ) for providing a lot of information in regards to the mining activities there as he had been there as a young lad and his father ( Abby's grandfather ) used to be an important person at the mines. Uncle Phua explained to us in detail in regards to the exploration system used by the British to locate the tin ore and also in laborious details in regards to the mining shaft underground. Though he was more than happy to show us the history and the mines, we wanted to experience it ourselves and we did not want to trouble the fine old gentleman, Uncle Phua. So , by him relating his experiences there, we wanted to make him proud by locating the picture of his father ( Uncle Phua's dad ) , take a picture of it and tell him that we have had the experience of "meeting" that great man of his. After some calls to Abby, we managed to locate the picture, snapped it and it is in our memory now.

Rail into the mines...

As I walked around the museum together with our families, I was able to see what Uncle Phua was talking about. It excited me a lot and my ever intriguing senses were immediately triggered. I always imagined what would it be to be a miner; experiencing the stuffiness and small mines conditions plus the rewards of it all. We noted that the men in the mining shafts were built with natural six packs as they worked in the mines. The equipments, the utensils and mining tools were big and heavy stuff. I was amazed when I saw an old ice-cream maker machine among the exhibits. Truly remarkable historical story cramped into one old nicely maintained kampung-style house on top of a hill. 

In the mines....

As it was still early, we went out to the mines exploration which was located at the side road of the museum. We did not want to waste up this opportunity and we decided to take a trip down memory lane down the mines. Upon arrival, we were informed that the entrance fee to the Sg.Lembing Tin Mines were RM15 per adult. At first, we were quite taken aback by the entrance fees but I must say that it was worth every ringgit of it after the mines experience. We were taken to the the rails where there was a so-called miners coach waiting for us. It was actually a modified tin ore carrier but with cold metal seat to transport miners into the mines. We certainly felt like miners that morning. It was a cool experience. Though it was only a short time travelling on the coach, the walk into the mine was aired nicely. We all thought that it was some sort of air-conditioning system and all that but we later found out that the miners had cut passage ways in the mines to allow cool air to pass through the mines. It was really a brilliant idea indeed.

Activities to do along the way in the mine.....

We walked about 600 meters into the mines and came smack to the place they call The Kiew. It was a clearing place whereby gigantic winches and cable system which will lower down miners into their respective shaft and also a place to carry out the raw tin ore. It was great to see the what could have happened here a long time ago. We were also able to walk to the place whereby tin ore estimated to be worth RM1million at that time were taken out illegally when miners were laid off and were not paid in salary for several months. These fella would have to feed their families too, right? They would do what is needed to be done to feed their families, right? I would have done the same if you were to ask me. There birth that illegal mining myths/legends which is still unresolved until today as to the identities of these people who worked illegally at that time. Lips were sealed and families were fed. Love the shrouded mystery and the story behind it too...

The Kiew mine shaft....

The mine was such an intricate web of lateral, vertical and horizontal shaft mines system and it's is truly insane and mind blowing. I love it very much. I love the experience in the mines and I love the mines. I just wished that they could have left the road rail tracks alone and not remove them to give it a natural feel of the transportation of the tin ore at that time. I also wished they could have displayed the Washer Plant of the tin ore and the Smelting Plant as well to add up/spruce up the already wonderful experience being in the mines. I learned a thing or two from Uncle Phua la....I totally agree with Uncle Phua that leaving rail tracks , the washer plant and smelting plant would make a big difference in enhancing this tourist attraction. We really had a good time that morning and we had to pre-thanked / post-thanked Uncle Phua who had provided so much info to us which made it so much easier for us to understand the mining activities then.   

The Kiew steps & rails

As we left the mines, I was wondering if there are still people mining "illegally" at the mines...maybe, just maybe, it wasn't one million they were after....I was told by a friendly bird that there are also precious stones there too and there is still a mother load of tin ore which had yet to be mined.... I was told that the mother lode of the tin ore was so close to be extracted when the owner pulled the plug on the operations.... so near yet so far..........

Now, listen, wouldn't that be interesting...........anyone interested in mining, perhaps? I wouldn't mind, actually....

A happy "miner", I would say......