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Special Edition1

Perak World Of Wonders

2017

This blue planet that we call home is made up of many things and some of them are indeed wonders. Many a times when we travel to these wonders we are struck by a feeling of awesomeness. The state of Perak, the 4th largest state in Malaysia is filled with wonders.

Launch Of Wonders

The government of Perak, led by Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir the First Minister (Menteri Besar) of Perak, launched the Visit Perak 2017, A World Of Wonders (WOW) recently, on the 26th of March 2016 at the Ipoh Railway Station.

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Together at the launch are Y.BHG. Dato’ Mirza Moham-mad Taiyab the Director General of Tourism Malaysia, YB. Dato’ Nolee Ashilin binti Mohammed Radzi the ExCo for Tourism (pic), Ipoh City Mayor Dato’ Zamri Man, Dis-trict Officers, Heads Of Departments, as well as those involved in the tourism industry including medias.

Perak has seen an increase in visitors over the years and for the past few years received the highest number of tourists (domestic travellers) as compared to other states in Malaysia. This is because Perak is blessed with some really awesome wonders such as its state park, great lakes, fascinating history, caves, rivers, and lots more.Pic: Megamind folks from MAPS (Movie Animation Park Studios). MAPS will be opening soon targeted July 2016.

Increase In Visitors

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Oldest Rain Forest

The Royal Belum State Park is one of the oldest rainfor-est in the world. It is even older than the Amazon. It is said to be about 130 million years old. It is located in Per-ak and it goes all the way into southern Thailand.

Royal Belum is home to a lot of animals including the big ones such as elephants, and the big cats; the most fero-cious being the Malayan tiger. It is also home to over 300 species of birds, about 23 species of freshwater fishes, at least 5 turtle species, as well as reptiles such as snakes, frogs, lizards, etc.

Pic: Home to the Asiatic elephants.

Home Of The Wild

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Apart from animals, Belum is also home to many plant species and trees the likes of the gigantic rafflesia, huge Medang trees, and the famous elixir of male strength; the tongkat ali trees. Local aborigines tribes too have long since called Belum home.

Pic: Large Medang tree.9

Great Lakes

The second largest lake in Malaysia is located in Perak. It is the Temenggor Lake. This manmade lake was cre-ated after the construction of the Temenggor dam. This huge lake covers an area of about 15,200 hectares and has a depth of up to 100 metres. It is one of the lakes that anglers go to, to feed their need to fish.

Other lakes in Perak are Lake Raban, Lake Chenderoh, Bukit Merah Lake, Lake Air Ganda, etc. All these lakes especially Temenggor Lake are home to a good variety of fish species, water fowl, and other reptiles. Temenggor lake is also the gateway to nature in Banding and Royal Belum.

Pic: A Hampala barb (sebarau) of Temenggor Lake.11

Caving Adventures

There are caves in Perak. They are Tempurung Cave (Gua Tempurung), Kandu Cave (Gua Kandu), and a few other temple caves such as the Sam Poh Tong Temple cave and the Kek Lok Tong temple cave. Some of these limestone wonders offer up some adventurous activities for those who dare take the challenge.

Tempurung Cave and Kandu Cave offer caving activities. Caving in these caves can be dangerous as one can eas-ily get lost in them as they are really dark and has lots of tunnels; some taking you back to where you were initially. A guide is highly recommended.

Pic: Climbing down into a dark abyss.

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Both Tempurung Cave and Kandu Cave have guiding services available. One needs to purchase tickets to enter the Tempurung Cave with a guide. As for Kandu Cave there are a few caving operators that you can call. Amongst them is Nomad Adventure owned by Malaysia renown outdoor adventure athlete; Chan Yuen Li, who captained the first Asian team to complete an Eco Chal-lenge race. Pic: Zip lining (flying fox as some call this) in a cave.

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River Adventures

Perak is also home to a large number of rivers. Anglers have been catching a lot of huge fishes from Perak’s riv-ers. Amongst them are various carps, tilapias, peacock bass, catfishes, barbs, etc. Perak River itself is famous for blue spincer prawns.

With rivers come river adventures. One of these adven-tures is white water rafting. The Kampar River in Gopeng, Perak is one place where one can take on the rapids. There are a few operators who offer such services such as Nomad Adventure and Riverbug.

Pic: White water rafting with Nomad Adventure

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Historical Sites

Perak has a lot of history to offer in places like Ipoh, Kuala Kangsar, Gopeng, Taiping, etc. The old colonial buildings in Ipoh are well preserved and they are fantas-tic photography subjects. Or one can visit the museums such as the Royal Museum in Kuala Kangsar.

Pic: Old City Council building, since 1914. Pic: White doors of the Ipoh City Council.19

Pic: The Ipoh train station. One of the colonial era buildings that make for good photos.

Kuala Kangsar is the royal town of Perak where the Sul-tan of Perak officially resides. It is here that Sultan Yusuf Sharifuddin Mudzaffar Shah of Perak decided to build a palace by the river in Kuala Kangsar and he named it Istana Sri Sayong (Sri Sayong Palace). From then on Kuala Kangsar has been the residence of the Perak Roy-al Family.

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Pic: Royal ware.23

Islands Of Perak

Had enough of land? Perak has islands too with the most famous one being Pangkor Island, and island with a few interesting places to visit such as the old Dutch fort, the mini great wall of China, boat building area, etc. One can also do bird watching and Pangkor Island is famous for its hornbills.

Pic: A nice beach in Pangkor Island.

Head out to the clear waters on Pangkor’s beaches for swim or partake in some water sports activities such as snorkelling, kayaking, parasailing, jet skiing, etc. Un-known to many is that Pangkor island has some pretty good jungle treks that heads out to isolated beaches. Of course should you decide to trek ensure to you go with a guide. Some of these treks are for advanced trekkers.

Pic: A hornbill resting on a tree at Pangkor Island.25

Pulau Sembilan (Nine Islands) is an archipelago of... did you guess it? Ok, nine islands. They are Lalang Island, Nipis island, Rumbia Island, Saga Island, Nyamuk Island, Samak Island, Buluh Island, Agas Island, and Miskin Is-land. These islands are uninhabited. These islands are famous fishing sites. They are also good for SCUBA div-ing and camping. Another hot fishing site is the Jarak Is-land.

Pic: Battling a fish aroud the waters of Jarak Island.

Theme Parks

If nature and history are not your thing, and sitting on boats turn your stomach into a washing machine; per-haps a day at a theme park will be more your choice for a holiday. Perak has a few theme parks to offer. Amongst them are the Bukit Merah Lake Town Resort which is a water and wildlife park resort, The Lost world of Tambun, and MAPS (Movie Animation Park Studios).

Pic: Chair Lift ride at Bukit Merah Lake Town Resort.

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MAPS is the latest theme park being built in Perak and Asia’s first animation theme park. It is targeted to open in July this year (2016). It brings to life characters from vari-ous animation shows such as Mr. Peabody & Sherman, Megamind, The Smurfs, etc.

Pic: Mr Peabody & Sherman from MAPS at our dinner.

Hotels And Resorts

When it comes to accommodation, Perak has hotels and resorts for sorts of budgets from the budget hotels to ho-tels that serve those with pockets that one can get lost in. There are even resorts and various forms of accomoda-tion in the jungles of Royal Belum such as the Sg. Tiang Base Camp with basic comforts. Alternatively one can opt to stay onboard a floating boathouse.

Pic: Sungai Tiang Base Camp with chalets.

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Pic: A basic chalet at the Sungai Tiang Base Camp. Pic: The basic A shaped hut with matresses and pillows.

Nothing more, nothing less.

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For those who need the comforts of urban living in a nat-ural setting, the Belum Rainforest Resort offers up mod-ern rooms with almost all the creature comforts one could demand such as air-conditioning, comfortable beds, hot water showers, full service restaurant, etc. and a price tag that follows.

Pic: A room at the Belum Rainforest Resort on Banding Island.

Pic: Fancy a bath outdoors with nature?

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Ipoh city has lots of hotels for one to choose from. From budget hotels to Luxury suites, Ipoh has them all. Seated right in the heart of Ipoh’s Old Town is Cititel Express Ho-tel, a modern hotel in the heart of historical Ipoh which offers comfortable beds, free channel surfing for TV ad-dicts, and a good choice of room choices.

Pic: The Cititel Express Ipoh.

Cititel Express Ipoh is surrounded by historical buildings and is a short walk to some of the more important land-marks such as the Ipoh Train Station, City Hall Building, etc. If walking isn’t your thing, Cititel Express Ipoh offers free shuttle services to popular food places, shopping ar-eas, and popular tourist destinations.

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Should one prefer to be lavished in luxury, The Best Western Premier resort; The Haven Resort Hotel & Resi-dences Ipoh, is one such place to consider. This urban eco resort offers guests with luxury suites, a 5 level swimming pool, jogging track, gym, badminton court, squash court, outdoor and indoor children play ground, etc.

Many Other Wonders

There are so many other wonders that Perak has to offer including hills such as Maxwell Hill, mangrove explora-tion, dolphin watching tours in Kuala Sepetang, watching fireflies, etc. It is no wonder that the tourism folks of Per-ak coined the term WOW; Perak World Of Wonders.

Pic: One of the white water rafting intructors keeping us safe.

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Special thanks to Gaya Travel Magazine, Tourism Perak, Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM), Civil Defends Depart-ment (JPAM), Cititel Express Ipoh, Belum Rainforest Re-sort, Best Western Premier The Haven Ipoh, Nomad Ad-ventures, Yeos, Julies Biscuits, Funtasy House Trick Art, and wifi from @visondata_MY.Pic: Fish Sanctuary in Belum.

More To Come

Stay tune for more on Perak, World Of Wonders in our up an coming issue at www.theasianpublisher.com.

For further enquiries and information please send an email to:info@theasianpublisher.com

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