Hutan Lipur Sungai Bantang, Johor, Malaysia

4GAN L 5:00 PM Aug 26, 2020

Cooling place
Unspoilt nature , covered with old, tall trees and water from the waterfall running through the rocks. Plenty of resting place to stop and rest. We went on a weekday as there would only be a few visitors. On weekends and public holidays, the place is packed. Some of the signboards need to be replaced as the wordings cannot be seen. The toilets too need to be upgraded. If you bring your own food and drinks, you would need to pay a deposit of RM10 which will be refunded when you leave the place by bringing down your trash and place in the allocated dustbins. You can enjoy a walk with nature, take a dip in the pool of water, hike for 1.8km to reach the waterfall or just sit under the shady trees and enjoy the greenery.

4UT67A 5:00 PM Oct 7, 2014

Back to the Nature
Hutan Lipur Sungei Bantang is one of the nature reserve in Johor Malaysia. I can’t introduce this place without mentioning Bekok, the nearest town (actually just a kampong) with lodging and food. Hutan Lipur Sungai Bantang Bantang is pretty close to Bekok, but you need a car, which takes about 10-15min drives, just ask around for direction, a straight road through the palm plantations, then turn left. Sungei Bantang is a recreational forest where you can go for picnic, setup your BBQ pit and spend a day with family and friends, no entrance fee, though there is a big guard house, or rather Taman Negara office besides the carpark. It is a scenic place, with rocks and stream, a little rugged, but safe enough. Go there for a rhythms of the wafer flow, sounds of the cicadas and photogenic bugs. It is a very relaxing and quiet forest to visit during non public holidays. A tidy and clean place, mosquitoes bite is minimal, and please do not leave rubbish when you leave. You can’t stay overnite as it will turn into total darkness when the sun goes down. Where is Hutan Lipur Sungai Bantang You need to find your way to Bekok first, it is a a small kampong that is about 160Km from Singapore in Johor, Malaysia, somewhere in between the two more popular town of YongPeng and Segamat. Driving from YongPeng takes 60 min and you will pass a town call Chaah and just follow the road signboards and turn right. Btw, Bekok has a train station where you can go by train from Singapore via KTM. I would suggest you drives, as there is no public transport or taxi in the town itself. Bekok is basically a doorway for three things: 1) Hutan Lipur Sungei Bantang (one of those Taman Negara), 2) Gathering point to the entrance of Taman Negara and 3) See stars. Photography It is all about shooting in the greeneries and refreshing air. We were at Sungei Bantang for macro (bugs) and its mini waferfalls (stream flowing through the staggered rocks). As I said, mosquitoes bite is bearable, it is a pretty nice place to shoot. I did not try nite macro, will do it in my next trip. This region is surrounded by hectares of palm and rubber plantations, it is relatively ideal for shooting Milky Way with low light pollution. Lodging There is no lodging at Hutan Lipur Sungei Bantang, you nearest bet is Bekok. If I am not wrong, this is the only hostel in the entire town, the Rumah Tumpangan Homestay, located just besides the train station. Operated by a very friendly boss, Mr Peter Chai. This home stay is unique in the sense it has a mini museums. It does not have expensive chinas or paintings or artwork, but collections of what you see in the 1950-70s in Malaysia and Singapore. It is very difficult to describe them it in words, suggest you visit them their FB website Bekok Hostel 吗咯民宿(https://www.facebook.com/bekok.hostel) to take a look yourself. The boss, Peter is very helpful and friendly who hang around and socialize with the visitors and guest in the evening, he is a local and you can find out all about Bekok from him What to do in Bekok? Don't plan, it is a sleepy town, basically nothing is there. But the locals (mostly Chinese) are very friendly in this little town. I would suggest you to go there for 2D1N unless you are going there for nature photography, otherwise nothing worth to stay longer. It is a place where you walk around in the early morning to enjoy the kampong fresh air, laze around coffee shop for a traditional Chinese breakfast. Mix around with the locals who hang around in the coffeeshops. In the evenings, enjoy the Chinese ZiChar (stir fry) food with a bottle of cool Tiger or Carlsberg. Food Again, if you need proper meal, you need to go to Bekok. There is no CoffeeBean, but start your morning with 2 half boiled eggs (two is enough, its huge!) and few slice of toast with homemade Kaya (local coconut/egg jam) and butter (yes, butter, not margarine). For lunch, if your like Wonton mee, look for LaoYouJi, it is a 50+ year stall which makes everything by themselves, wonton wrap, noodle, char siew, run by Mr Chan who taken over from his mum. Did I forget to mention their wonton soup is REALLY taste very sweet and homecook. For dinner, no doubt, you should go for the local stir fry (Zichar). We ate at the stall next to Bekok Hostel, their curry wild boar meat is fantastic, I don’t think they have standard menu, basically they serve whatever raw material they gotten on in the morning. If your are setting out early morning for sunrise or back late from a nite macro shooting, then there is something you should not missed, locals call it Midnight Chicken Rice. The stall opens about 4-5am in the morning, the boss said it was originally meant to serve the workers in the palm plantation during those good old days. This is the first time I have Chicken Rice at 5am in the morning, their chilli is very homemade and taste wonderful. Conclusion Sungei Bantang or Bekok, it is a very ideal getaway, especially good for those who wants to stay away from the cities or expensive resort and get closer to nature. It brings me back some of my childhood memories and taste (food). Last but not least, if you go during the durian seasons (Jun-July and Dec), don’t missed it. Have fun. Reviewed: 10 Oct 2014