“Ah, we’re finally here!” said my wife Jane when our flight landed at Sultan Ahmad Shah airport. We really wanted to visit Malaysia after our stay in London for 2 weeks. Our busy lives in New York have made us lethargic and now we were making the most of our tours. A friend of mine in London suggested we visit the Pandan waterfalls and surrounding places. He knew that I loved waterfalls very much. So we took a direct flight from London to Kuala Lumpur. We left the airport after collecting our luggage and it was so serene and beautiful that he made us look around and check it out. “Here we go Peter, we are in Malaysia,” I told my 10-year-old son. “This country is as modern as ours, but my friends told me that Asia only has forests, snakes and wild animals.” My wife and I laughed a lot.
We drove for hours in an air-conditioned taxi from the airport to reach Kuantan, the capital city of Pahang Darul Makmur. Although it was a bustling city with the modern look of a developing country, it had its lively cultures and traditions everywhere. As we made our way to our hotel, we noticed that it was inhabited mainly by Malays, Chinese, and Indians. We freshen up in our room and ask how to get to the Pandan waterfalls.
We got to know that it was 25 km from Kuantan and there were only 2 options: taxi or bus. We opted for bus transportation. The guide explained that the Pandan River forms these waterfalls, formerly called Panching falls, in the Sungai Pandan Forest Reserve (“Hutan Lipur Sungai Pandan”) that extend over 25 hectares. We couldn’t help but notice the lush green forests around us that were simply stunning. The bus took the main road Kuantan – Kuala Lumpur and after crossing the Malaysian Air Force base on the right, we turned right at the road signs. We arrive at the Panching caves. They were unique and intriguing. Then after 5 km we enter the forest reserve and turn left. There were oil palm plantations on both sides of the quarry road. We then continue for 3 km more on a two-lane road to reach the destination.
“Dad, we’re at the waterfalls!” my son was very excited and so were we. He was delighted to see the grace of it. It was a series of waterfalls, around 8 in number, that were around 200 meters high. The water was slowed down by the waterfall, and ended up in a large and beautiful pool. This flowed into several small pools around which small children played in as they were not too deep. The adults swam and relaxed in the main pool. There was a bridge hanging over the river after the waterfall that seemed to challenge adventurous people to use it. The rocks in and around the falls were too steep to climb.