Chinaraj Cave monastery aka Thai Monk Cave, Gng Lanno

Thai Monk Cave at Gunung Lanno is now known as Chinaraj Cave monastery. It is located at ground level on the southwest side of Gunung Lanno in Perak, not far from Kong Fook Ngam temple. 

I first visited in May 1996. At that time it had a concrete path leading up to it and inside the cave. But about 10 m in there was a locked gate and we could see the cave continuing. There was a store room. To the right was a series of cement tanks/gours and a passage to another entrance. The cave is by a bend in the Sungai Raia. 

My next visit was May 1999. The cave had been developed since my first visit. Half a dozen cars were parked inside the first chamber of the cave. A concrete walkway with electric lights goes through to a wang, with a pond. A new "temple" has been established - more of a meditation place for the monk.

Next visit was July 2001, on a recce for the 2001 Gunung Lanno expedition. The gate was locked but a man was inside and let us in when we spoke to him. The place is only open on Sundays when people come to the monk, although people look after him during the week. He lives alone, from Thailand. We went through to the house and pond. Lots of catfish and they aerate the pond. It is a long distance to the opposite side of the wang. There is a pond and swamp outside the front of the cave. After this visit I named the cave as Thai Monk and gave it the register number of Prk 18/07.

The Gunung Lanno expedition took place in November 2001. We were unable to survey the cave as we couldn't get access. However a nearby cave was surveyed, Gua Kera Mati aka Dead Monkey Cave, Prk 18/32, and this was found to connect into Thai Monk Cave.

During the expedition, we were able to hire a 4-seater plane and fly around Gunung Lanno. From the plane we could clearly see the flooded wang of Thai Monk Cave. 

2001 views -

Sg Raia outside the cave

My next visit was in May 2014. A building had been constructed inside the cliff and the swamp is part of the garden. There is an ornate metal fence outside. 

The Sungai Raia

The track that leads further around the hill was closed off by a large gate by the temple -

Now (2024) the cave is known as Chinaraj Cave monastery - a Buddhist temple, Tokong Siam. I don't know when this was established. In Feb 2022 The Star referred to it as Persatuan Penganut Agama Buddha Chinaraj. It was one of 19 caves in the Kinta Valley to receive an eviction notice, to vacate in 30 days. However a few days later the notices were revoked. 

According to Google Maps, the temple is open mornings and evenings. There are hundreds of photos on the page. 

Cave location 4°31'8.12" N 101° 8'18.01"E.

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See my Cave Register .

Chinese and Japanese writing in Perak caves

The Star on 27 April 2019 had an article "Japanese, Chinese writing dating back to 1913 found in Tambun's Gunung Datok cave".

The article, by Manjit Kaur, says writing believed dating back to 1913 has been found inside Gunung Datok in Tambun. This would pre-date WW1 and is from the Japanese Taisho period.

I first visited Gua Datuk in 1991 but don't have any photos of the graffiti.

Other caves in the Kinta Valley have a mix of Chinese and Japanese writing, which I was told by a Japanese friend Menju, that the writing is Kanji. Kanji means Chinese characters in Japanese. In the Japanese writing system, the characters are adopted from Chinese ones. Caves on the west side of Gunung Lanno show these characters. Although much of the graffiti there dates between 1930-50.

Gua Pulau (Prk 18/16) and Gua Batu Nesan (Prk 18/17) and Gua Selari (Prk 18/15) all have graffiti. My friend Law Siak Hong translated some Chinese characters as "continue to fight the battle" and "may our comrades continue to strive [for the cause]". There are also lot of names - Chinese, Malay and Sikh, also police.

There is also what we guess to be war graffiti, of a soldier shooting a man

See my more detailed blog about these caves, "Lanno revisited" in 2013.

© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission

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This is the majority of the Star article :
"Japanese and Chinese writing believed dating back to 1913 has been found inside Gunung Datok in
Tambun near here.
State Tourism, Arts and Culture Committee chairman Tan Kar Hing said the inscriptions that were written in charcoal mentioned the year 1913 and the Taisho period.
"1913 is even before World War 1. We believe soldiers were at the cave probably as intelligence troops.
However, we need more experts to come down and have a look, especially the Japanese embassy," he said.
He said the cave is located within the Banjaran Hotsprings Retreat.
"However, we will be writing to the embassy, and we will get experts to tell us what the writing is
about," he added.
The Taisho period in Japanese history dates from 1912 to 1926, coinciding with the reign of the Emperor Taisho."

Rubbish dump at Gunung Lanno, Perak

I had a letter published in Ipoh Echo, No 216, 16-31 July 2015, about the rubbish dump at Gunung Lanno, in Perak, Malaysia.

Rubbish Dump At Gunung Lanno

Posted on : Thursday 16 Jul 2015 12:01 AM

 Topic > Letters

The article on waste management in the last issue of Ipoh Echo, 215, mentioned 1629 illegal dumpsites. I wonder if the rubbish dump at Gunung Lanno is a legal one. I first noticed it last year, when I saw a lot of egrets flying around and resting in the trees. I went to look at the birds and realised they were all flocking around the site of a huge rubbish dump. It is located in a secluded valley of Gunung Lanno. I can remember when that valley was in its pristine natural state. It was a beautiful place. Although no caves are known inside the valley, so are some in the surrounding area.

I went back again this year and the dump was still in operation with lorries going in and out. There is no signboard outside so I don’t know if it is an authorised site.

Liz Price

Tags : Ipoh Rubbish Dump, 216,

Another Perak limestone hill being quarried, near Lanno

In Feb 2015 I noticed the small hill immediately north of Gunung Pua was being quarried. This hill is unnamed, and is Prk 11 on my register and No 35 in the MNS 1991 report.

The hill used to be totally covered with vegetation. Now the quarried side is clearly visible from the old trunk road. On the east side is Gopeng Kalsium (GK). This whole area is being taken over by a huge industrial estate.

Here are some scenes from Google Earth over the years, you can see the increase in development in the area.

2015 view where the quarrying can clearly be seen on the right side

 

 

 

 

2 small caves have been revealed

Hill from east side

 

A video I posted on YouTube -

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I went back on 21 March and there wasn't much change, just a flatter top from 28 Feb -

Lanno rubbish dump, Perak

There is/was a nice secluded valley on Gunung Lanno's south side. Gunung Lanno is a big limestone hill in Perak, south of Ipoh. So I was shocked in May 2014 to see smoke coming from the valley, so went to have a look. And to my horror and disgust, I saw the valley had been converted into a rubbish dump. The only 'good' thing was that the trees were absolutely full of egrets - it was early evening.

The dump is cicled in orange -

Google Earth images from 2008, 2010, 2012, 2015, showing the changes in the surroundings and also the valley

The dump

The dump attracts plenty of birds, particularly egrets (you can also see them in the trees in the first 2 dump photos above)

They are Cattle Egrets (Bubulcus ibis). Their colours become more brownish/ orangish during breeding season (breeding plumage). Thanks to Andy Paul for the ID.

Doomed Cave crystal chamber, Gunung Lanno

Early May 2014 a crystal chamber was exposed after the limestone hill had been blasted. As the hill will be removed later on, I was lucky enough to have the chance to photograph the chamber on 11th May.

The single chamber, which we named Doomed Cave, is located at Gunung Lanno, Simpang Pulai, south of Ipoh, Perak. The chamber is in a single rock pillar. I had actually photographed the pillar in 2001 (photos not shown here as they are on private property).

This is a 2011 view

2014 views

The cave entrance

A ladder had already been put in place

Inside was a stunningly beautiful crystal chamber

 Looking up at the ceiling

The crystals were translucent

 There were an amazing number and variety of helictites -

 

There were 'huge' crystals, in fact much of the floor was a crystal 'ledge'

 The crystal stal was damaged when a piece of roof fell due to the blasting

View from the cave

And this will be the final result

I was able to pay another visit before blasting on 19 May and took a quick video of the cave -

 

© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission