Holiday Destination: Hot Springs Sungai Klah

[Click on pictures to enlarge. Thanks Abang for the pictures].

All clean and ready to go home. Thank you Hotsprings for a wonderful day!

Oh my Allah. I have wanted to review this place for so long, but always got deterred. I would type it all in, stare at the screen and delete what I wrote. Or I'd be happy with it but won't hit the publish button. My Hubs says just leave it if you're not feeling it. But it's such a nice place not to review.  So today I thought I'll put it in anyway, because the school holidays are near, and you must be pulling your hair out wondering where to take the kids this time. Well this is a nice place. And it's cheap. And it's near.

The park was nice, clean and calming. 

We were in Sungai Klah for a wedding last month (my entire family), and I knew about the hotsprings, so I suggested we go. My bestie had her family day there and although she never elaborated on the experience afterwards, I gathered she had a pretty nice time. So we had packed extra clothes in advance, and were looking forward to a relaxing day with our toes in hot water doing nothing.

When we got there, it was around 3 pm already. There was very little people about although it was a nice and sunny Saturday afternoon. We parked the car in a dedicated parking lot and walked up towards the ticket booth. Tickets cost RM12 per adult, and you board a friendly little tram to enter the park.

I was expecting little ponds of hot water in the middle of a wild forest with chalets scattered here and there, lots of mosquitoes whuzzing by your ears and rubbish everywhere. But I was wrong on all counts. The place was clean, interesting and nicely laid out. No mosquitoes, no rubbish, and clear of mat rempits. In fact, it surprised me that there was such a small crowed of people for such a nice place on a weekend.

As soon as we arrived, we headed straight for the biggest pool. On the way, we passed by an egg-boiling area where people were sticking their egg boiling apparatus into the hot water and waiting excitedly for their eggs to cook. Since we had just came from a kenduri that had tempoyak and rendang tok, we K.I.Ved and continued on. 

The main water pool was a good size, with two water slides set between some artificial rocks. I quickly changed into my swimming clothes--my old pajama pants sorry--and joined the crowd. Ohhh~~ it was such great fun~ If you've been to Sunway Lagoon, you'd know the big crowd just spoils about everything. That day, it was just perfect. There was an average of 2 people per 20 squarefeet which was just fine with me. I had my space. I splashed and sploshed and threw water at hubs like a cheesy Sudirman-Anita-Sarawak music video. He ran around in slo-mo like a Baywatch lifeguard.

The main swimming pool. This is just one half of it. It was big.
 There was another hotter public pool on the other side of the park. 

Hot water fountain, with water at 100 degrees celcius.

After an hour of swimming, playing on the slides and acting like we're 18, we propelled ourselves to the present and decided it was time to explore the rest of the park. So me and hubs left the rest of the family (who can't get enough of the pool) and went back to the egg place. For the next half hour we soaked our feet in the hot water pond, took some pictures and watched people boiling and eating eggs. Then hubs said we should check out the Jacuzzi's.

sheemzhotsprings

sheemzhubs

The Jacuzzi's were in a dedicated area further into the park. The open-air jacuzzi's cost RM75 per hour and roofed-air-conditioned ones cost RM100 per hour. We were quite surprised we could get a jacuzzi immediately. The lady at the counter seemed bored and eager to get rid of us (her FB status was getting hits on "two more customers. help, need new job"). She ushered us into the little compound and left us without so much as a goodbye. We locked the door from the inside and looked around.

The jacuzzi place. Although it was a Saturday there wasnt that much people
around and we got a room immediately.

The open-air jacuzzi had a high wall running around it, and was very private. There was a roofed platform with benches to put our stuff on, a little room with a clean white toilet bowl, a stone water basin that looked like it came from the Hang Tuah era, with a slab of stone next to it for a stool, and a shower. The Jacuzzi pool was set in the middle, surrounded by what looked like some really crazy wild plants. The water was really really really hot and it took us approx 10 minutes to work up the courage and several buckets of cold water, before we finally jumped in. I think I just killed all the bacteria in my system that day with the heat and cold I subjected myself to. And upped my immune system by 100%. When we left an hour later, we were calm, collected and squeaky clean.

The private jacuzzis are very private
and romantic.

Roofed platform where we changed
and put our stuff

Stone water basin, stone slab and
shower. I loved it.  

The jacuzzi with natural hot water

We went to get an ice-cream sandwich after that and checked out another large swimming pool (but we didn't jump it, we were already very tired), a 100 degree fountain, a little river and a bridge. We waited at a nice little gazebo for the others to finish swimming and clean up to drive home to KL.

All in all, it was a great Saturday at a very very pleasant park. The place is awesome for the whole family and just great for some quiet time away with your significant other. However, according to my BFF, the place is very hard (keras). In Malay terminology that means banyak hantu. Her husband was involved in the development and he vows never to take her and the kids there ever. But to be perfectly honest I was totally unaware of any paranormal activity, although hubs said he felt like we were constantly being watched. I have yet to scan our pictures carefully of any weird 3rd presence. If I do find something extraordinary, I will make an announcement on the Asian Food Channel.

Map of the park. Click on picture to enlarge.
It was a really nice park!

Sungai Klah Hotsprings
Take the Sungkai Exit off Lebuhraya Utara Selatan

Cleanliness: B
Price: RM12 per adult. Very very cheap for such an awesome place.
Satisfaction Level: A++
Service: B
Atmosphere: A. I thought it was OK. Banykkanlah zikir kalau rasa takut :)