林明悠梦

URBAN HERITAGE • JUL 2011 • SUNGAI LEMBING, PERAK

The sleepy town of Sungai Lembing hums with the constant reverie of a distant past, one dominated by the tin-mining activities many decades ago. As the last of the miners rolled out of town, live goes on for the remaining folks, amidst shophouses that are now permanently shut, automobiles left to rust and houses that crumble into piles of rubble.

Yet there is a certain nostalgia in the air that just refuses to be shut off. It swirls with the little whirlwind of dusty leaves in the deserted roads, accompanies bored-looking seniors whose main activity includes sitting around the front of their ever-welcoming homes waiting for time to past, and it tickles the handful of kids who call the stream and the main street their playgrounds.

And so the story of this quaint little town lives on.