IN a bucolic valley in the northwest of Perak nestled between the limestone hills and the tangled jungles of the Bintang and Titiwangsa ranges, lies present-day Lenggong.
A meteorite shapes a story before history, and mountains and magma bear witness to 1.83 million years of evolution. A conspiracy of geology and a stable and fertile environment give rise to one of the longest prehistoric culture sequences in a single locality in the world.
The relative abundance of unearthed evidence almost casually strewn over four significant archaeological sites spanning all the periods of hominid history is unrivalled in this region. It is the oldest outside Africa. I’m blown away. Isn’t everyone else?
It is a story so remarkable that the Lenggong Valley was declared a Unesco World Heritage site in 2012. 10 years ago Lenggong was only vaguely known to me for the little time my family had spent at a permaculture farm in the Lenggong foothills run by a mad Czech who taught my two-year-old to fist salute whilst squeaking “I am a farmer!”, but that’s another story.
10 years later and one wonders why Lenggong, Unesco anointment notwithstanding, is still one of the country’s best kept secrets.
The Lenggong Valley comprises three subdistricts – Lenggong, Temelong and Durian Pipit. There are 19 kampungs within these districts. It’s a tiny community of twenty-something thousand people living in the shade of the little understood if epic heritage of The Perak Man, and the cave complexes of open-air museums that were their childhood playgrounds.
There might be an urge to charge around ticking all that pre-history off one’s list (and there is much that is worthy on offer), but that might also be to miss the value of a Lenggong experience – meeting the community on its own terms and steeping yourself in meaningful engagement.
Rumah Tiang 16
There’s probably no better starting point for this than a stay at Rumah Tiang 16. The childhood home of Nash Jalaludin, he now runs it as a homestay offering a fully immersive kampung experience.
Outside there is a vintage car, a discarded bicycle and a freshly hatched birdling nesting in a bush at eye level – be still my pounding city heart! A collection of old tiffins and toys is lovingly displayed in the living room. Perhaps not so much ornamentation, as evidence of lives lived and stories told.
The meranti and chengal structure is a curious mix of traditional perabung lima and kutai architecture. Perabung lima refers to the five ridges of the roofs traditionally favoured by royal homes in Perak. These houses are characterised by having a serambi (porch), rumah ibu (the main body of the house) and a corridor leading to the kitchen. I really want one. Anyone?
Rumah Tiang 16 further differs from most kampung homes that sit on only 12 pillars (tiang) as the late Encik Jalaludin felt his family needed more space.
Nash’s many years working in the global hospitality industry led him, in 2019, to opening his own home and way of life to visitors with the widest-flung open arms. A stay at Rumah Tiang 16 is about cherishing traditional rural living, with its kapok bedding, communal bathroom and a swipe of bedak sejuk (cooling rice powder paste) before bedtime.
What is then practised is Community Based Tourism, wherein Nash strives to collaborate with his fellow villagers to further spread the economic return, through a burgeoning slow tourism industry that invites us into an eco-friendly, epoch-old way of eating and living.
Sila makan – let’s eat
My dinner invitation the first night at Rumah Tiang 16 came with a strict dress code: batik sarong. This was accessorised that evening with a gifted rolled and folded batik headpiece (demonstration included) called supik tangan. It’s a proud party hat that complemented the superb spread of seasonal local dishes, cooked by Elly, a neighbour.
We started with kebebe – a century old salad recipe only found in Ulu Perak, apparently with healing properties. Eaten almost as an appetiser, it is made with 14 ingredients comprising mainly young fruit shoots which include guava, jackfruit, starfruit and pineapple (smashed not pounded), with belacan and chili. You swirl it around in your mouth almost like wine to get the full flavours of salty, spicy, bitter and sweet as a tastebud teaser.
There was also ikan pindang daun seniar, where the fish is marinated in fresh spices and slow cooked in the daun seniar for 48 hours, resulting in a fully edible dish from leaf wrapping to fish bones and ikan pais – fresh water Sungai Perak anchovies wrapped in banana leaves.
The next day we had the most charming lunch in a dangau (an open air thatched hut) overlooking some orchards. Lunch was cooked by Mak Ani, a local housewife who helps on the family farm. When we arrived Mak Ani was scraping fresh coconut using a traditional coconut scraper, while her daughter was pounding chilies for the succulent grilled fish sambal that would accompany our blanched fiddlehead ferns.
There were also yam stems to be eaten with the coconut sambal, poached duck eggs with more ferns in a creamy yellow coconut sauce, and more duck eggs fried as an omelette. Of course there was the ubiquitous pekasam – cured, fermented loma fish that’s fried to a crisp with the roasted rice it is packed in. Pekasam in Lenggong is a bit like olive oil in Greece, every family has its own stash and recipe.
It’s worth breaking the diet to keep going with the ikan bakar sepuh at Warung Nasi Talam. Sepuh is a method of cooking where the baked fish is thrust sizzling into the air lawa sauce to seal in the flavours. Do also try the full seafood spread at Uncle 7 Seafood and for breakfast, I have it on good authority that Loh Dee Wantan serves the best homemade noodles cooked over a wood fire.
Walk-about sit-about
An unhurried stroll through Lenggong town is a little like opening a time capsule from a gentler era. The shophouses, so similar to the rows in most small Malaysian towns, sell clothes, personal care and essential services. Set back from the main strip is the skeleton of a beautiful single story timber structure that used to be part of the old girls’ school. A formerly lovely old cinema lies abandoned from the 80s.
Somewhat unexpected that the tiny population then would have warranted their own cinema. Perhaps evidence of a time when local folk had a little extra for entertainment and way before the advent of a Netflix subscription. The town has seen the waxing and waning of lucrative industries like tobacco and tea. What will be the next big thing?
We stop at Kedai Kopi Mamunyi, now being run by the third generation of this family eatery, for coffee and a chat with Pak Su, who sits on the local council. Donning his penglipurlara hat (traditional oral-storyteller), he remembers when Mamunyi would sell kari tiga kupang (30 cent curry) in discarded condensed milk tins for hungry cinema patrons to take home after the evening show.
He feels the supermarket and fast food chains starting to appear in Lenggong are a definite sign of an economic upswing. Maybe so, but will they have the treasure-trove charm of Nash’s favourite superstore, Kedai Runcit Eng Cheong Chan, established… well, everyone’s childhood ago?
Water water everywhere
Chenderoh Dam is the oldest hydroelectric dam and power station in South East Asia. The dam is located in Tasik Chenderoh which forms much of the stunning vista in and around the Lenggong Valley with tiny islands dotting the waters, and the Bintang Range a majestic backdrop.
There is little more idyllic than a sunset cruise on these waters. We pushed off from the Kampung Beng end of the lake where almost every man, woman and child is a fisherperson. Clusters of pandan and coastal putat trees line the shores, their young buds reaching down to the water in streamers.
In a few weeks they will burst into feathery blossoms that will fall into the waters below, turning both trees and waters a spectacular deep pink. It really is akin to a 'Water Sakura' season and I make a mental note to be there for it next year.
We pass Kampung Beng Homestay – only accessible by boat - and the jetty famed for its supporting role in the movie Anna and the King. We move into Sungai Perak, floating under bridges and navigating patches of lotus.
In the setting sun, everything is magnificent and magical. Pulling your supper straight out of the lake and into your kitchen is a life-affirming experience. The Lenggong staples of fresh vegetables and fish were cooked up by Nik whose husband Buii was our skillful fishing boatman.
At the Kampung Kelantan end of Lake Chenderoh sits Suka Suka Lake Retreat. A lovely cluster of 10 kampung houses have created their own little village on this bank. The wooden houses have been passionately sourced, dismantled, transported and reassembled by the owners, Encik Aziz and his wife, who have hosted guests from over 130 countries for the past 26 years.
The communal dining area is housed in a charmingly detailed timber dwelling they found in Sayong, Kuala Kangsar that dates back to 1942. Guests often return with friends and so their clientele has largely spread by word of mouth. 'The kind of guests we want' who fish, kayak, enjoy the adventure of village culture or just sit, write and dream by that enchanting lakeview.
Postscript
An open and curious mindset deepens ones’ exploration of the world, supports inclusivity and diversity and really that’s what makes travel so rewarding in the first place. Conscious and conscientious travel should be the way forward as we all strive to travel more thoughtfully.
Journeying is a two-way relationship between visitor and host. Visitors will always expect a degree of familiarity and the comfort they are used to even within their spirit of adventuring.
The magic formula is to align visitor expectations with that authentic experience. And investment in the local community is only successful in the long term when local people benefit, are stakeholders and can direct this business of receiving guests. And with all that in mind…
Joh Kito ke Lengow! – The Vibes, November 12, 2022
Rumah Tiang 16
Jalan Hj Md Nor, Kg Kubang Jambu, 33400
019 336 8807
Suka Suka Lake Retreat
PKK 19/27 Kampong Kelantan, 33040
019 509 3404
Shireen Zainudin is a freelance writer whose last book The Lockdown Chronicles is in selected bookshops now.
This feature was commissioned under Think City’s Cultural Economy Catalytic project for Lenggong, Kuala Kangsar and Taiping in Perak, Malaysia.
The opinions expressed here are solely the author's and do not reflect the opinion of Think City.
