KUANTAN: FOR RM15.90, visitors can take a stroll back in time to the last century in an underground tunnel in Sungai Lembing, which was once a major tin producer.
The tunnel for tourists, spanning 700m, is part of more than 300km of subterranean passageways once used by 1,500 miners when Sungai Lembing was a prosperous tin mining town from 1888 to 1986.
Located 45km from here, Sungai Lembing, with its pristine environment, is an ideal place to visit for history buffs and nature lovers.
Kuantan Municipal Council’s Sungai Lembing management unit head, Aiman Kamarizan, said visitors should go to Sungai Lembing on a Friday, fill up Saturday with activities and leave on Sunday.
He said accommodation in the town included homestays, chalets and resort-style hotels.
“For budget travellers, a room can be rented for as low as RM50 per night.”
He said visitors could hike up Bukit Panorama at dawn on Saturday to catch the sunrise before descending the hill for breakfast.
“Then, they can take a tour of the tunnel, where they will get to see the working environment of miners back then.”
Aiman said the entrance ticket was RM7.95 for children, but would be discounted to RM5.30 per child for a group of 15 or more.
He said a rail carriage would take tourists on an 80m ride before they start their walk in the tunnel, adding that the tunnel was reconstructed at a cost of RM8 million over four years and was opened to the public in 2013.
He said the state government had strengthened the tunnel’s walls and had installed lighting, as well as providing a video presentation and having notice boards in the tunnel describing the history of mining.
Aiman said there would be a theatre performance, with an entrance fee of RM7.30 for adults and RM 3.20 for children, on the first and third Saturdays of each month in a refurbished cinema near the tunnel.
“The play’s story revolves around the history of Sungai Lembing, such as its floods, fires and the period of Japanese rule.”
He said visitors could tour Sungai Lembing on a tram bus, with a fare of RM5.30 for adults and RM3.20 for children, to visit sites such as a former tin processing factory.