Now comes the main purpose of our recent trip to Perak, to visit the tomb of Perak's 15th ruler, Sultan Iskandar Zulkarnain which lies at a very secluded area...
After the visit to the tomb of Keramat Kuala Bidor (look at My latest visit to the tomb of Keramat Kuala Bidor) we went further northwards where we got locals to show us how to get to the tomb of Sultan Iskandar Zulkarnain.
For the record I have tried to get to the tomb by boat in April. While I then managed to get to its vicinity I just couldn't find the actual site because of the bushes and thick growth.
This time I've learned that the affected area has been cleared and thus made a new attempt using land route.
Mind you we were not using a four-wheel-drive vehicle but just our trusty Kenari, a simple car more suited for in-town driving.
But here we have to 'pretend' that we have something that could match a 4WD...
We have to do that as far as we could for the sake our one-year-old baby who was brought along with me and the wife. Just imagine driving a small 1.1 litre town car through this area and trying to snap pictures too...
Soon we reached a point where the car just can't come in anymore. That's when the two motorcycles brought in by the locals came in handy...
I took one while the locals continued on another. OK. Obviously I can't take pictures while riding with my wife and baby, what more through such growth and bumpy path. Next, came a point where we have to leave the bikes and started walking...
Thank God, the news I got about the area around the tomb having been cleared is indeed true. Through the bushes I could see the tomb building at a distance and sighed a strong relief. At least I know I don't have to go through the bad experience of April where I couldn't even pinpoint the exact location of the tomb. Look at the old article Looking for the tombs of Sultan Shahabuddin and Sultan Iskandar Zulkarnain....
Nevertheless there's still a distance to cover before mission was accomplished...
For one I was still worried about how the bushes, foliage and drains could block our path.
At this juncture I have taken the baby from my wife...
While we still have to pass through drains and such it was not as difficult as before as the whole area was much cleaner...
The tomb at last. I shall talk more about it in a new article for my bi-lingual blogspot SENI LAMA MELAYU (MALAY OLDEN ART).
bro...
ReplyDeleteyou`ve got some will power that I envy...
and you call that an easy task????
I was imagining a straight and easier path to the tomb after reading the Berita Harian article...
I was thinking though...how could a computer geek like us readers be as brave as you are....most of us geeks grew up with computer games and tellys...hehehe...
anyway..cheers bro...I salute your family for the support they gave you....we all pray for the such wonderful and respectful families to bless with....InsyaAllah...
Thanks bro. All praise to Allah. Whenever I have to go out and do something like this I always ask Allah to give the strength and willpower, Qudrat and Iradat to accomplish a task. And also ask Him to make it easy and give some other form of assistance too...
ReplyDeleteFrankly I was scared I couldn't complete this one. If not for the locals I'm not sure I could make it through the land route. I was afraid I have to go by boat again. Last time I had to drive to a place opposite the Perak river, more than 30 km by road from here and find a boat at a small kampung. There's no guarantee you can get a boat, and then you can only get to the tomb during high tide...