Rawang and Batu Arang

The photo above shows what was once a forest of Acasia trees and now being cleared
bare supposedly for a rubber clone plantation. Anyone would have stared in disbelief at
what was left of the forest now. Vast tracts of desolate and open land as far as the eye
can see, clearly a blatant rape of a once pristine forest.

To see for ourselves the true condition of the place, our ABM president, Datuk Dr.Wong
went with some ABM members to check out the place which is accessible via Rawang.
Of course we took this as a small excursion and took the opportunity to check out other
places nearby too. First stop, the Kovil Sri Maha Thurkai Amman Indian temple (which is
really a mouthful to pronounce for non-Indian speakers). Our member, Nara, acted as our
guide in the temple and it was really an eye-opener for me as this was the first time I am
inside an Indian temple.
Below are some photos of the giant-size deities found inside the temple.

 

As it was lunch time after visiting the temple, we made a bee-line for the famous ‘Lan
Je’ steamed tilapia fish in Rawang town. The fish was good without the mud- taste
associated with this type of fish but the other dishes were just average. As usual we
got to wash down our meals with the “special ” that Datuk brought with him, never
mind the time of day.

 
. The “special”

Going on to Rantau Panjang (Selangor) ‘forest reserve’, the main purpose of our visit,
we drove up a small hilly incline to get an overall view of the whole place. As mentioned
earlier the cleared tracts of forest was too huge for me to describe and you will not
want to be here if it rains. You will be stuck in the yellow mud just to walk a few metres.
The only Acasia trees left was at the perimeter of the forest fronting the roads, a feeble
attempt to cover up what they have done inside.
We all changed into our black PJ Challenge T-Shirts supplied by Datuk to have our photos
taken against the bare backdrop. Somehow I feel this was an appropriate theme, for we
look as if we were attending a burial funeral. A funeral of a forest, so sad and never to
come back again in its pristine state.

Conversely, we were able to see the wonders of nature without the interference of
mankind in our next stop in an abandoned brick kiln in Batu Arang. Initially we just
wanted to take some photos of the chimneys of the kiln when we passed by as
Wun Nok said they look historical. Creeping in through an opening, we found troves
of broken flower pots but manage to salvage some usable ones. Further in we
stumble upon the magnificient roots formation not unlike those we saw in Angkor
Wat but on a much smaller scale. This is an example of nature at its best being
left alone.

Trying to look for any abandoned coal mines in Batu Arang was fruitless
as we found out that the mines had all been flooded years ago and
they are nice, pristine lakes now. But the path leading to the lakes
are still strewn with remnants of coal and we collected some as
souvenirs.

And so we wrapped up our small but interesting excursion by
visiting an orchid farm to buy some colourful orchids to
brighten up our home.

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