GoldStarTransportAgency: LANCHANG: HIDDEN GEM OF PAHANG #travel introduction#

LANCHANG: HIDDEN GEM OF PAHANG

Have I mentioned before I work at a little village in Central Pahang? To most people, including me, it is located in the middle of no where, far from civilization. For the first few days at my new working place, I dreaded the village life and complained a lot about how far it is from my house. But now that I have been working for 4 years at Lanchang, I learnt how to appreciate this quiet village.

Well, the intro is getting too long, let's dive into the few interesting facts about Lanchang. I'll try to make it like one of those top X reasons to visit. Let's see whether it works out!

If you search Lanchang on Google now, the first interesting result that come out besides Wikipedia is always Kuala Gandah National Elephant Conservation Centre (NECC). This is a center designed to take care of Asian Elephants that has been listed as an endangered species since the 1980s. Since it was built, the PERHILITAN management has been tracking down and taking care of these elephants until they are old enough to be released back into the wild.

Adult elephants are trained to perform basic tricks during the special show

Everyday a limited number of lucky visitors get to play with the elephants in the river

Sweet potatoes and papaya slices are sold to visitors to feed those cute baby elephants

The center is located roughly a 15 minute bumpy drive from the Lanchang toll along the East Coast Expressway. It is totally free to visit every day including weekends and public holidays with special shows around 1pm - 2.30pm which includes elephant performance, bathing session in the river, video documentaries and guided visits around the facility.

A short distance away from the Elephant Conservation Centre is another tourist attraction, a private park called Deerland. The location is quite odd for a family themed park/zoo in my opinion, but it sure attracts many tourists from all over the world with not only deer as the name suggests. There are also many other animals in the park such as snakes, hedgehogs, iguanas and many more.

Something special about this park is the chance to get up close to young deers and the opportunity to feed them with sweet potatoes provided by the care givers (included with every ticket).

Play with little hedgehogs in their little playpen

You can always trust a Prairie Dog to give a dramatic pose

Lovey dovey bird couple

Deerland is a wonderful place for adults and children alike and it is totally worth the entrance fee of RM6 (adults) and RM4 (children below 12). The park is open everyday except Fridays from 10.30am till 5.30pm.

If you are interested to visit this hidden gem, here is a map of Malaysia for reference.

Now for a basic history lesson. Malaysians out there who still remember your Form 2 Sejarah (History) may know this. There was a Malaysian warrior who fought a war against the British colonist at the very spot in the picture below, Lubuk Terua, Lanchang. His name was Dato' Bahaman, Orang Kaya Semantan. It was the 1890 when the British took control of Pahang while Dato' Bahaman was the Orang Besar Raja, a leader and administrator of land given by the Sultan. Tension was on the rise when the British set up a police station at Lubuk Terua and he was instructed not to interfere. Resistance against the invading forces erupted when the British forces launched multiple attacks on several local strongholds, resulting in what is known today as the Semantan War.

By 1892, the British instructed the Sultan to form a team known as Gerakan Sultan to attack Dato' Bahaman's forces in hopes that he would surrender out of loyalty to the Sultan. The plan did successfully remove his forces away from Semantan but only for a month before returning with help from Tok Gajah and recapturing Lubuk Terua. Unfortunately after months of defending their fortress at Lubuk Terua against continuous bombardment from the British, Dato' Bahaman's forces had to retreat and ending the war against the British in Pahang completely. He is regarded as one of the great Malay warriors and currently has two schools named after him in Lanchang. Currently there are no remains of his fortress at Lubuk Terua as they were destroyed by the British. However there is a huge tree at the Semantan riverbank said to be the site where the fortress was back then. (Update 2017: Unfortunately the tree was stucked by lightning and was burnt to bits.)

I call it the "Great Tree of Lanchang"

And that is Lanchang in a nutshell, a non-touristy village that is surprisingly interesting and worth a visit if you happen to be in the area. If you are interested in visiting, do check out the Pahang Tourism website. Tourist information about places to visit in Lanchang are very limited, so I hope this article could shed a light to this hidden gem.

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The information provided in this article is a comprehensive report and is purely a reference and does not represent the position of this website. From: GOODY25

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