After visiting Sungai Lembing Museum, I followed my husband and his boss together with the production crew accompanied by an officer from the museum to visit Sungai Lembing Mines. Yassin and I were thrilled because this was our first experience entering a mine! There are actually 3 mines opening there but we were guided through the original mine, the part that has been restored and now open for visitors.

We entered the mine by a tram. It brought us to about halfway inside the original mine and later we have to walk. We were also accompanied by few workers working on the restoration of the mines to ensure our safety. They also tell us a bit of history about the mines and the restoration that have been done to the mine.

The original mine displays various collections of mining paraphernalia. There are mannequins, drilling machines, trams, interactive exhibits, info boards and other extravaganzas.

Chronology of Companies handling the mines.  In 1888, Sultan Ahmad Al-Mu’adzamShah of Pahang granted an 80-year tin mining concession, covering 2000 square miles, to the English-controlled Pahang Corporation.

Information board about the pioneers of the mines of how The Pahang Corporation built wharves, warehouses and hospital after their migrant Chinese workers fell victim to beri-beri and intestinal disease.

Mannequins to represent workers working in the mine. Photographs were given as reference to the commissioned mannequins sculptors in India. They were shipped here and placed in the Million Dollar Chamber.

A large scale heist of epic proportions was believed to have happened in this chamber in 1987, shortly after the closure of the mine. It is believed that a band of around 20 unpaid miners took matters in their own hands and illegally mined tin ores under the cover of night. Prospecting RM2,000 to RM3,000 worth of tin ore nightly, over a prolonged period of time, the miners made a total haul at around RM1,000,000. The mined ore was believed to have been crushed manually in their homes before being sol on the black market.

The Million Dollar Chamber.

Yassin got to play with one of the interactive exhibits in the mine: Hit and Measure. He need to use the hammer to hit each ‘rock’ hard and quickly and see what’s his score on the meter. A higher score shows a larger impact. Miners used 10-pound hammer all day to break rocks into smaller sizes. To make work easier, they would always aim for the most impact!

Kerosene lamp on display.

More mannequins at work.

Basically, the exhibits inside the original mines educate visitors about the process of how mining was carried out in the yesteryears as well as discover how tin mining had contributed in the historical path of this country. My son and I had a blast learning about things we never knew before. My husband was busy with his boss discussing about work, so we let them be. We read the information and played along with the interactive exhibits. It was really an educational trip for us. We hope to come back again to see the mine in its full working condition as this visit was actually few weeks prior to its opening on January 1, 2013.

Sungai Lembing Mines, once the deepest and longest tin mines in the world, are preserved in their most natural and original settings. It was operated since 1886 for a period of a century on a big scale thus making Sungai Lembing renowned throughout the world.

Here’s more pictures of Yassin in the mine:

Yassin ‘talking’ to the tired ‘workers’.

Yassin, the little tin miner.

Yassin got his hand on the hand-pump car after getting out from the mine.

The living museum of Sungai Lembing is an award winning tourist attraction (Winner of LivCom award UAE!) that offers a rare experience of exploration and adventure for you and your kids. If you are interested to visit this place, here are some useful information that you need to know:

• Tickets: Adult RM60 (MyKad RM30), Kids RM30 (MyKid RM15). Buy online at Sungai Lembing Mines website to get a discounted price.
• Operating schedule:  Open Everyday! Monday to Thursday: 10 am – 8 pm; Friday to Sunday: 10 am – 10 pm
• Please read and understand the mine’s rules and regulations.
• Visit Sungai Lembing Mines website to get more information.

My husband got some work to do at Sungai Lembing Museum last December and as he knows that I am very much interested in covering my birth state, Pahang, he said I can tag along. So off we went to Kuantan with our son sleeping at the backseat. It was 7am, he was not ready to wake up just yet. It was school holiday so I was not so strict about it.

We reached Kuantan around 11am with a stop along the highway to get our breakfast.

Sungai Lembing Museum is one great looking museum. Being a fan of architecture, I thought this building is very interesting as it has the British verticular colonial architecture features. The uniqueness of this museum lies in the fact that it used to be a residency of mine officer working with The Pahang Corporation Limited (1887-1906) and Pahang Consolidated Company Corporation Limited also known as PCCL (1906-1986).

The Sungai Lembing Museum was built to re-live the glorious days of Sungai Lembing as Pahang’s richest manufacturer of tin. Once, this city was even dubbed the Malay States’ very own El-Dorado as it was here that a special settlement for British officers was located. The town was built in the 1880s when the Pahang Consolidated Company Limited was given a 77-year lease to mine the area. In the 1940s, about 1,400 people worked in the mine. The tin mine were closed in 1986 due to high operational costs and low yields.

We went inside the museum and as the ground floor is still under renovation, we went up to the first floor gallery to see the collection. The gallery is divided into 7 segments; Tin Mining History, Geology and Geomorphology, Mining Arcade, Mining Memoir, Mining Economy and Tin Mining Method and Tools/Clothing. The arrangement of this museum is according to historical chronology so that visitor will understand the history better.

Let’s go through some of the exhibits I captured from the gallery:

A poster that shows (from top) a factory building at Sungai Lembing, V.B.C. Baker, the General Manager of PCCL and his sister Nona Baker and a row of senior officers and their wives, 1941. 

Information about tin mining history.

My son reading about mines before I call him to pose for the camera. 

Trays made of wood used to pan ore.

From top; iron chisel, oxygen tank and tin ore barrel.

Manual typewriter at the PCCL administration office, circa 1940s – 1950s.

Tunnel lamp.

These and many more at the first floor gallery. I am hoping that you take your children here to learn more about Sungai Lembing history. And I also hope that by the time you visit, the ground floor is ready to greet its visitors.

Here are some useful information you need to know before planning your visit here:

Visiting Hours: 9.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m.
Admission: Free
Address: The Headquarters of The Department of Museums Malaysia (East Coast Region), Sungai Lembing, 26200 Pahang
Contact: Tel : +609 541 2377 / 2378, Fax : +609 541 2377

Take the chance to visit nearby attractions like Pelangi Waterfall and Gua Charas after the visit to the museum. Or….if you are up to it, visit the actual Sungai Lembing Mines and experience the living museum. I’ll cover the latter soon. Didn’t get to visit waterfall and cave though. Some other time perhaps. Cuti-cuti Malaysia lagi nanti.

Yassin on mini mox. This mini mox was the main vehicle to carry four people at a time from the office building to the mine area.