☰Sam Poh Tong

Sam Poh Tong (the Cavern of the Triple Gems) is the largest and most famous of Ipoh's cave temples, carved directly into a limestone hill in Gunung Rapat, about 5 km south of the city. A Chinese monk turned the cave into a hermitage in the 1890s; the present temple dates from the 1950s. A flight of 246 steps climbs up through the main cavern, past Buddhist statues that seem to grow out of the stalactites, to a viewpoint over the Kinta Valley. The grounds outside contain a pond full of tortoises (a Buddhist symbol of longevity) that visitors can feed with vegetables bought at the gate, and a small vegetarian restaurant open for lunch.