A giant cave temple, and a park with pond, and a very small space for boat and bicycle rental. The cave is huge, cooling with many statues for Chinese gods. The park is beautiful too, surrounded by..
While Sam Poh Tong is overrated in my opinion, Kek Lok Tong is sorely underrated. Even though Kek Lok Tong has a bunch of positive reviews online (more than Sam Poh Tong), it doesn’t get half the recognition that Sam Poh Tong receives. It is completely omitted from some top Ipoh attraction lists and only makes it on to more broad lists. I didn’t even know about this temple until my mom suggested that I visit it.
Hovering in the middle of the pond is the Goddess of Mercy, Kwan Yin.
Considering how many visitors it gets on a daily basis, Sam Poh Tong should have much better maintenance. Its rundown appearance and general uncleanliness make this temple feel overrated and not the best cave temple in Ipoh that every blog says it is. The history is deeper at Sam Poh Tong if you’re into that, but if you’re interested more in visuals, Kek Look Tong – which no one has even heard of – is much more impressive and well-kept in my opinion.
Top Ten listmakers obviously love this place, but even Ipohites seem to share this preference for Sam Poh Tong. During my first visit to Ipoh, my cousin only took me to see this temple. He claimed that the other two weren’t worth seeing, despite their close proximity. If you have lots of time in Ipoh, Sam Poh Tong and the other two temples are a couple of hours well spent.
Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, all of the staircases to the upper floors were blocked off and inaccessible. We were only able to get as far as the second cave room with the small altar that is pictured above. Whereas a tourist would usually take 30 minutes to explore the entire cave and the grounds, we only spent a total of 10 minutes here – five minutes in the cave temple and another five in the garden. With only the ground floor sanctums open to visitors at this time, Nam Thean Tong can feel like a dull disappointment instead of memorable in its own right.
Ling Sen Tong cave temple makes for the best pictures with its colourful deity statues and architecture. The interior of the cave shrines look pretty cool with the blackened ceiling with flecks of gold on it, but otherwise, the shrines are very functional and not too interesting. I estimate that it would take roughly 20 minutes to explore Ling Sen Tong at a leisurely pace.
Da Seng Ngan Temple at this time has only one review on TripAdvisor, but it is highly rated on Google which is the only reason why this temple was even on our radar. The restoration works are still ongoing, and the temple seems to have lofty ambitions to add one thousand golden Buddha statues by the river in front of the temple. In a few years, this might be a gorgeous, sprawling temple to visit.
If you’re looking for a quiet temple away from the crowds, or if you’re on the way to the Qin Xin Ling attraction, the Miaw Yun Chan Lin Cave Temple is worth a visit.
