Ipoh Road Trip: Lost World of Tambun Water Park

Cliff Racer slides at Lost World of Tambun

One of the great things about Malaysia is that you can comfortably go to water parks all year round. There's Carnivall at the Cinta Sayang Resort in Kedah and Bukit Merah Laketown Resort near Tai Ping, but my favorite one of them all is The Lost World of Tambun in Ipoh. Located about 2 hours from Penang, it's close enough for a day trip, or you can stay overnight and pair it up with a visit to Gua Tempurang Caves or white water rafting the next day before you head back. Lost World is more than just a water park, though. With a petting zoo, tiger valley, swan boats, tin valley and carnival rides, we spent the entire day there and didn't get around to doing every single activity.

Lost World impressed me with being much more organized than other Malaysian water parks and the attention they put into really setting the scene so that you feel like you're in some rediscovered lost civilization in the middle of the jungle. The natural beauty of the lush, limestone cliffs rising up around you are an added bonus. RFID (radio frequency ID) wristbands loaded with credit kept us from having to worry about carrying soggy cash around with us all day. Just scan it in at the restaurants or game booths. The locker room near the entrance was open air yet provided privacy for changing. Make sure you don't accidentally go into the prayer room. (Hey, it was labeled "Ladies", so the mistake is understandable.) The bathrooms were plentiful — one even had tadpoles living in the fountain. After my previous experience at Bukit Merah where I felt scantily clad wearing a conservative, one-piece swimsuit, I opted for a quick-dry T-shirt, swim shorts, and sports sandals for my water park attire this time. Since we were there with so many friends, my tween took off with some kids his age, and we didn't see him for the rest of the day except during their periodic check-ins.

Lots of hot tubs and soaking pools if you just want to relax

The water park seemed to have something for everyone. The steep Cliff Racer slides were the most thrilling. Consider yourself forewarned that these use different tubes (free) than the ones you rent for the rest of the park. If you leave your rental tubes at the bottom, there's a chance they won't be there when you exit. I'm a big ole scaredy cat, so I skipped the Cliff Racer but enjoyed the long Tube Raiders slides. A pirate ship watery playground proved great fun for the younger kids. Adventure River was so slow it should have been called the Catatonic River, although I'm sure my daughter didn't mind the relaxing pace. The wave pool was quite popular but large enough that we didn't feel too crowded.  Numerous hot springs soaking pools (37C to 43C), a steam cave, and the too-hot-for-me reflexology foot spa were options for those who really want a slower pace.

You'll feel like you're floating through an ancient civilization's jungle on Adventure River.

If you're tired of splashing around, you can try the animal encounters. At Tiger Valley, Siberian Tigers are feed publicly twice a day. Watch the pair wander around their enclosure in the mean time. We didn't make it to the Petting Zoo, but our friends who did seemed to enjoy it. They came face-to-face with rabbits, turtles, snakes, birds and marmosets. The star of the zoo is Ruby the Raccoon. Coming from Texas where raccoons are considered a nuisance, getting the chance to pet one seemed funny to the adult expats.



All I could think of was Richard Parker's encounter with the goat in Life of Pi by Yann Martel.



Swan Lake is next to Tiger Valley. Here, you and a partner can lazily paddle the darling swan boats around the tiny lake. I thought I spotted a faux historical village on the other shore with men in flattened conical, straw hats hard at work. When I reached that side, I realized they were just regular workmen putting together a dragon or some other decoration. Hah!

Both real swans and swan boats float on Swan Lake.

For me, one of the more fascinating parts of Lost World is Tin Valley. You can learn a little about the tin mining that was a major industry in Malaysia, once one of the world's top sources for this metal. Try your hand at panning for tin with a shallow, wooden pan downstream from the sluice boxes. If that's not enough to occupy your kids, there's always the faux elephants nearby for them to climb on. Long ago, these animals were the only way to move the heavy tin ore from the mines to the depots. We didn't have time for the Team Building activities such as the ropes course, para jump and ziplining just beyond Tin Valley. Perhaps next time.

The kids try their hand at dulang washing (panning for tin).

We ended our day riding the carnival rides and playing games. The carousel and train are perfect for little kids while those who want a little more excitement can take a spin on the Dragon Flyer or the giant swinging pirate ship of Storm Rider. My kids and their friends enjoyed winning prizes at the game booths. Just before closing time, we made our way back to the locker rooms to change into dry clothes and head into Ipoh for dinner and our hotel. All in all, it was a great weekend escape.

Dragon Flyer at Lost World of Tambun

Trying his luck

IF YOU GO:
Tiekets available online for slighly cheaper than at ticket office.
RM 38.25 for Adults
RM 32.30 for Children (12 years old and below)and Senior Citizens (55 years old and above)
Free for Children under 90cm tall.
Team Building Activities and game booths are an additional cost.
Check website for additional packages.

Operating Hours:
11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Friday
10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Sunday, Public Holidays and Malaysia School Holidays
6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Hots Springs and Spa by Night with separate admission price
Closed on Tuesdays except for Public Holidays and Malaysia School Holidays

Location:
No. 1, Persiaran Lagun Sunway 1
Sunway City Ipoh
31150 Ipoh
Perak Malaysia


Related Posts:
Bukit Merah Laketown Resort and Tai Ping Night Zoo
White Water Rafting in Perak


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The Place with Orangutans and a Scantily Clad Woman

One weekend, we decided to take our first road trip to Tai Ping on the mainland, about a 90 minute drive from Penang. "What are we going to do there?" asked the kids.

"You know. We'll all get out keyboards and typewriters and type," I replied. Hilarious, right? I bet you're laughing as much as the kids were. Which is to say, not much at all.

Our first stop was the Bukit Merah Laketown Resort. It was a long holiday weekend celebrating Malaysia Day which commemorates the formation of the Malaysia Federation in 1963. So, the local tourists were out in droves, and Andrew was pretty much the only white person I saw all weekend.

The kids can barely contain their excitement. Or not.

The 3-acre Eco Park was small and contained a few native Southeast Asian animals. This way, I can accurately tell the doctor what bit me if I encounter the animal in the wild.

Bearcat

Cobra

Next, we dragged the kids on the Skycycle much against their wills. "It will be fun!" I kept insisting. "We're hot," they kept repeating. Perhaps embarking on this journey after a morning of baseball games and birthday parties wasn't the best idea.

When I originally read about the Skycyle, I assumed it would be pedaled by foot. Silly me. It turns out that 200 meters feels like a long way to hand pedal, especially the uphill parts.

After that, we visited Orangutan Island which is actually the whole reason why I wanted to come here. I first heard about it from an Australian tourist, and it immediately landed on my Malaysian Bucket List. Did you know that "orangutan" is a Malaysian word? It's a portmanteau of "orang" (man) and "hutan" (forest) meaning "man of the forest." We boarded a small boat to make our way across the lake to the island. Once we arrived, we were ushered across a bridge into a caged tunnel. Unlike a typical zoo where the animals are in cages, and the humans wander around, the situation was reversed on this island.

The highlight of the island is the Orangutan Nursery. They care for babies who are suffering from maternal neglect or an illness. With the diapers and the cribs, it seemed very much like a human nursery. Imagine what it would be like if your baby could swing around and use their feet and tails for gripping things. What's the babyproofing in there like?

So very sweet! I think my kids were having fun at this point.

After leaving Bukit Merah, we headed towards Tai Ping for our hotel and a visit to the Night Zoo. Due to an overly long dinner and the 2 busloads of tourists that arrived just before us, we weren't able to board the Night Zoo tram until 10 p.m.

Kernel Corn is a BIG snack food in Malaysia. It's even an ice cream topping.

By this time, I think we were all rather tired. I actually fell asleep. This is what it must be like to be a toddler napping in her stroller. I'd momentarily wake up, look around and see an alligator or porcupine or whatever and then fall back asleep.

Okay, I know this picture isn't very good, but it represents my brain fog at the time.

The next day, we returned to Bukit Merah to enjoy their waterpark and chairlift. At first, I declared that chairlifts were useless if one didn't have skis strapped to their feet and snow on the ground, but the kids kept begging. After I caved and rode it, I'll admit that it's actually a pleasant way to see the sights. This was probably the best part of the trip for my younguns.

The waterpark was small but had enough activities to entertain us for a few hours. The kids seemed to enjoy the Giant Wet Bubble which was an inflated 20-foot-high bouncy dome with a water mushroom on top. The most memorable part for me is that I was the one and only woman in a bathing suit. The crowd was predominantly Muslim, so all those women had on headscarves, shirts that reached down to their wrists and pants that went down to their ankles. No, there were no burkas since I imagine that would be rather hard to manage in a waterpark. There were a few Chinese women wearing shorts and T-shirts. And then there was me as the most scantily clad woman around. Me in my Lands End one-piece that I selected because I thought a small child could hang off the front and still not reveal anything was the one showing the most skin. Fortunately, no one seemed to be gawking at me or else I would have been even more self conscious. Note that there is not an accompanying picture for this part of the story.

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