Latest visit to the tomb of Keramat (saintly figure of) Sungai Durian

In the article Looking for the tombs of Sultan Shahabuddin and Sultan Iskandar Zulkarnain... I've mentioned how hard it is to get to the tombs of the said Sultans. Travel after that was practically a breeze. From Kampung Bandar I just have to get back to Kampung Gajah and then head to Teluk Intan to visit a certain tomb which I've visited many many times.

Next, it's time to visit tomb of the last Sultan of Perak in the list. As it lies just next to town I managed to reach it in no time. But I still have to visit one more tomb before calling it a day and it lies 17 km from Teluk Intan. Its position inside a secondary jungle that is quite hard to penetrate would make it daunting but the harder part is trying to reach it before dusk bearing in mind that I left town at 7 pm.

After a quite frustrating traffic crawl I managed to reach the bridge 9 km outside of Teluk Intan. It was 7.15 pm. Could I cover the other 8 km and make the walk to penetrate the jungle before dusk?

This bridge lies 40 km from the Perak river mouth. It is the only option available to cross the Perak river anywhere near Teluk Intan. The next bridge lies another 40 km upstream at Kampung Gajah. If only I could go on a straight line from town... then the place I was heading for is only 5 km away...

I soon reached the place called Sungai Durian. As my wife haven't done her Asar (late afternoon prayers) and the way to the said tomb could be rather challenging, I decided to drop her and baby at the nearest mosque. For the record she has reached the tomb once when she was 7 months pregnant. This time I just can't risk bringing baby along knowing there's a rather hard secondary jungle to penetrate while the sky was getting dark...


Having parked the car at a local's compound I was ready to make the walk. The time was almost 7:30 pm.



You see. I have to get to the tomb before dusk because according to the Islamic Hijriah calendar, a new day starts after dusk. I wanted to be able to call the current string of tomb visits as being accomplished in a day. Behind the trees and growth lies the river of Perak...




There, I've reached the boundaries of the secondary jungle. Mind you, it is probably no more than 100 metres to the river banks while the jungle covers a stretch at most 300 metres long. That's not a huge area to look for a tomb unless it's all covered by thick growth with thorns nearly at every juncture.

The truth is looking for an old tomb inside this area is like looking for a needle in a haystack. The first time I've tried was in 2007 and I failed to find it. In 2008 I came with a cousin and a friend and somehow got a hunch it is located at the foot of the coconut trees seen in the middle. We managed to find the tomb after a hard time trying to get through the growth and thorns and that's the case too when I came in 2009 with the wife. Now I have to go inside again with the clock ticking fast...





This is the closest to a decent path going inside. Then I have to practically crawl under some branches while avoiding thorns...




Thank God I could find the tomb again. And time was 7:35 pm. But I couldn't really sigh a relief until I get back to my wife and baby at the mosque. It is only after I fetched them that the call to prayer signifying dusk and time for Maghrib, the dusk prayers came out. It is only then I could be sure I've succeeded in my mission to reach this tomb, the final tomb in my list before dusk.


OK. In the starting paragraphs of this article I've said that the tomb in Teluk Intan is that of the last Sultan of Perak on the list. With that, I've stepped foot on all 28 tombs of Sultans available in Perak. My list also included a number of tombs belonging to Perak important persons. For the record, the tomb in Sungai Durian, the final tomb in my list belong to a person called Toh Jambu or Tok Jambu.


Apart from being a warrior and a religious person he is said to be a saintly figure. While official records mentioned his ties with royalty as due to the fact that the 18th Sultan of Perak, Sultan Ahmaduddin Shah married his daughter and gave birth to the 19th Sultan, I have reason to believe that Toh Jambu himself was a person of high descent. My private research showed that he was a member of the Aceh-Bugis royalty... in fact he became a Sultan in Perak using a different identity and name but that's all I can say. Cheers! :]