The photo above is of the Nam Then Tong Temple, built in a limestone cave in the hillside of Ipoh. According to the Ipoh City website, the Sam Poh Tong Temple is the most famous cave temple in Ipoh, and is found in this same limestone rock face. We could not find it on our first attempt, so Lawrence and I returned the following day for another look and found it hidden behind a huge metal gate. We could see nothing though that said why it was closed or when it might re-open. If you happen this way, look out for the following gates just in case they are open.
There are several temples along this side road just off Route 1, and I am sure they are all of interest. We investigated the Nam Thean Tong Temple on a very rainy Saturday afternoon, making the weeping cave even more atmospheric. This temple featured dragons of all sorts:
This is still a working temple, so we walked around, climbed some stairs to no where, and left before they shut us inside for the night!
By the next day, the sun had come out in time for us to visit the neighboring Ling Sen Tong Temple. This was a much more colourful temple with a large number of striking statues outside, again featuring dragons.
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