The Hot Spring Park at Changkat Jering

The hot spring is one of the alternatives to modern-day spa centres. Spas have become one of the attractions in many hotels and resorts in this region. Many believed that the natural hot springs have healing properties that would help to heal and detoxify toxins from our bodies. Those with stiff muscles, stiff joints, rheumatism, spinal injuries, insomnia and skin-related problems should consider soaking themselves at a hot spring.

I was introduced to the Hot Spring Park at Changkat Jering by my former colleague, Madam Lim Gim Seok, in 2007. She told me that her colleague, Miss Pak Giam Heong, used to go Changkat Jering on Saturdays for a dip in a small pool of hot mineral water pumped from underground. On her way back, she would buy some fresh fish and prawns from a fisherman of Kuala Sepetang (formerly known as Port Weld) to be shared among her acquaintances. After frequenting the hot spring numerous times, the pain in her legs was relieved and she could go on tour to Cambodia the following year.

This news invigorated my wife with great interest and enthusiasm as she was plagued by her persistent knee pain since our last hike at Taman Negara in 2004. It could be due to poor blood circulation on the portion around her swollen and stiff knees. In the past she had tried various methods of treatment but to no avail.

We decided to give it a try. In the subsequent months of 2007, we made regular trips to the Changkat Jering Hot Spring Park during the weekends. Sometimes we went there twice a week. Each of us booked a bathroom with a bath tub filled with hot water pumped from underground. Every time, we would immerse ourselves in the water for about ten to fifteen minutes.

The cost for the use of a bath room with a bath tub was only two ringgit for a shallower tub and three ringgit for a deeper one. In fact, the travelling expenses for each trip to the Hot Spring Park were far more than the cost of soaking ourselves in the hot-watered tub. The to and fro toll from Juru to Changkat Jering was twenty-one Malaysian ringgit. Almost an equal amount of money was used for petrol consumption for the journey by car. In other words, a dip in the hot water for merely fifteen minutes or so would cost us around fifty Malaysian ringgit, and to travel a distance of about 200 kilometers for the duration of two hours as well.

One might ask, “Is it worthwhile doing so?”

For me I did not notice any significant changes in me after dipping in the hot spring for a couple of times. I was told that frequent submersion in the hot water would render me impotent to father a child. How far this is true is yet to be proven, either by me or by the scientists.

As for my wife, in her own testimony, she claimed that soaking in the hot spring was very effective in reducing her weight from 72 kilograms to 65 kilograms over a number of weeks. Reduction in her body weight has lessened the burden on her knees considerably. The other benefit that she has reaped was a sound sleep in the evening after a dip in the hot-spring water during the day.

With our frequent visits to the Hot Spring Park at Changkat Jering, we have become close friends with the Malay family operating the hot spring park. We were welcomed amiably by them as we were offered a VIP car park lot for our old junk.

The family venture is run by En.Samsudin Hj.Ahmad on his ancestor land which is blessed with the hot spring from underground. He is a retired bank officer. After his retirement, he personally managed the family enterprise. Over the past few years, he has developed the facility in the vicinity of the Hot Spring Park by adding and upgrading more sheds, pools and bathrooms to cater for the increasing number of the visitors.

According to En.Samsudin, the Hot Spring Park is open daily from morning till midnight. Business is better during weekends as busloads of visitors throng the place as it is regarded as a great weekend getaway or a picnic spot for the family!