You cannot miss Gunung Reng if you are driving on the East West Highway
in Jeli district in western Kelantan. It is a spectacular limestone
outcrop located close to the highway between the towns of Jeli and
Belimbang.
There are recreational park which contains a dilapidated
children's playground, a shop and food stall, surau, toilets etc. The highlight
of my visit to Gunung Reng was the cave which was easily accessible next to the
playground.
Even from the outside the screeching of bats was quite
noisy. Inside was bigger than I expected. The stench of bat droppings was quite
overpowering and the floor of the cave was slippery with green and black guano.
The screeching noise seemed to be coming mainly from a kind
of chimney which disappeared up into the dark inner recesses of the mountain. I expect the cave led deeper into the hill and I believe
there are other caves to be explored but since there was no guide available I
was not keen to go any further on my own without a torch.
Outside the cave a badly-weathered Tourism Malaysia
information plaque provided some information on the legend which surrounds this
mountain. It was a little confusing but I shall give you my understanding of
it. According to folklore there used to be a village on this
spot called Kampung Tok Tala. Around 1400 years ago there was some serious
partying going on lasting 7 days and nights which culminated in a contest where
a dog was pitted against a cat at a time when the villagers should have been
praying.
In divine retribution against this scandalous behaviour and
animal cruelty this mountain was swept up in a storm from its original location
several miles away and dropped on top of the village, the remains of which are,
to this day, lying buried under the mountain.
It seems a bit far fetched to me but you never know.
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