I’ve heard a lot of my friends talking about Bukit Panorama (林明山), for having the best sunrise view and the magical view of Rainbow Waterfall in Sungai Lembing Kuantan, Pahang.
For this Kuantan trip, I didn’t expect it to be included in my itinerary, but finally, I have the chance to experience it myself how extraordinary this sunset view is. Located in Sungai Lembing, Bukit Panorama is one of the popular tourist attractions and sightseeing locations in Kuantan. The other popular sightseeing in Sungai Lembing is the Rainbow Waterfall, located deep in the forest.
This is the second trip I had traveling with my colleagues, after the Penang trip.
It was Friday night after work, we had our dinner at Jalan Ipoh and before begin our journey to Kuantan at about 11pm. We reached Kuantan at about 2am and stayed at one of my colleague’s home.
Slept for about just 3 hours, we rushed and headed out straight to Sungai Lembing Town at about 5am, tried to make it on time for the sunrise view at Bukit Panorama. It was my colleague who made the Sungai Lembing tour arrangement with the tour guide.
I brought along my new Fujifilm X-T100 mirrorless camera on this trip but didn’t manage to use it anyway as I heard it was a bumpy ride after all. So, I tried to avoid bringing it along. I would definitely use it for landscape and street photography on my coming trip to Vietnam, finger crossed. I’m so excited about it!
Sungai Lembing Tour to Bukit Panorama Sunrise View
Back to the Sungai Lembing tour, we had our breakfast while waiting for our tour guide. We started our bumpy ride to Bukit Panorama in a Range Rover Defender, such a cool offroad ride! Thumbs up for the tour guide.
It was another 45 minutes bumpy ride on a 4×4 offroad to Rainbow Waterfall, after watching the sunrise
As the sky was still dark, we started the 30-minutes journey from Sungai Lembing Town to Bukit Panorama. Luckily we reached before the sunrise, and there were already some tourists waiting there to witness the sunrise. The sun rose at 7.23am that morning. After the sunrise, I confirmed this is a good spot in Sungai Lembing for taking Instagram pictures.
After the amazing sunrise view at Bukit Panorama, we hopped back on to the 4×4 Range Rover Defender and started our next journey, to the Rainbow Waterfall.
Bumpy 4×4 Ride & Hiking To The Magical Rainbow Waterfall Sungai Lembing
The 45 minutes journey from Bukit Panorama to Rainbow Waterfall was way more exciting as the road gets bumpier. We reach the foot of Rainbow Waterfall and are informed by the tour guide, that we need to hike for 1.7km to the Rainbow Waterfall. Yeah, we have to go hiking on a rocky hill and slippery trail.
It was soothing to hear the water flowing along our hiking trail. We finally reached the magical Rainbow Waterfall and it was an eye-opening scenery. We spent our good time taking pictures and I confirmed it is an Instagrammable location in Malaysia.
Before the sun gets hotter, noon is the best time to head back down to the foot of Rainbow Waterfall, we hopped on to the Range Rover and back to Sungai Lembing Town. After taken our lunch, we headed to our colleague’s home for a shower and rest before heading to Cherating.
Airbnb Homestay With Beach View
Balcony View from Swiss Garden Residences Kuantan. Photo shot using Fujifilm X-T100
Thanks to my colleague again for the Kuantan beach trip planning and also booked the homestay through Airbnb. For just RM60 per person, we stayed at Swiss Garden Residences Kuantan, with beach view, of course. Yet another relaxing beach getaway indeed.
Having mouth watering desserts at Lila Wadi Restaurant in Kuantan
We spent the rest of the days exploring the city, window shopping and hunting for the best food in Kuantan.
Thanks to my colleagues for the hospitality, tour arrangement and guided us to Kuantan’s popular food hunting, sightseeing location Bukit Panorama & Rainbow Waterfall, as I know it was really tiring and might look like just an ordinary trip but it sure was a memorable trip for us.
