At the end of June I visted some cave temples in the Bercham area, north of Ipoh, in Perak. Accompanied by Hong, we visited temples at Gunung Bercham and also Gunung Tambun (the latter is not to be confused with the hill where the Tambun cave paintings are).
During the afternoon we went to Gunung Tambun and found ourselves at the Huat Tian Keong cave temple. This is located right next to the Bourgainvillea Club. Although the media generally writes this temple is at Bercham, it is actually located in Gunung Tambun. I had visited this cave in Dec 2004.
The cave is short, basically a single chamber with 2 entrance pasages. However the main feature of the cave is the fact there is a bar/restaurant inside the cave! It is the first time I have seen a bar in a temple cave. Of course we had a beer or two and then decided to have a late lunch as well. It was very pleasant sitting in a natural cave passage and at the time of our visit there was a nice wind blowing.
The temple has a mix of Taoist, Buddhist and Hindu deities. The main deity is Huat Tian Keong (Datuk Hitam). Outside the cave there is a small turtle pond. Also an altar with several figures of the Earth God, wearing songkok, jacket and sarong etc.
There was an interesting feature about this temple in The Star 18 Aug 2011 as it celebrates the 100th year anniversay.
Second entrance passage -
© Liz Price
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Beer inside a temple???
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