Chin Swee Caves Temple

The Chin Swee temple was begun in 1976 by Lim Goh Tong, the man who built the Genting hill resort, and it took nearly twenty years, cut into a steep slope at around 1,400 metres with the buildings terraced down the mountainside. The dedication is to Chin Swee, a Song dynasty monk from Fujian credited with bringing rain in drought. There is a nine-storey pagoda, a fifteen-metre statue of the monk on the terrace, and a garden of statuary; the part visitors remember is the Journey to Enlightenment path, a walk-through sequence of the ten courts of Chinese hell rendered in painted concrete figures being sawn, boiled and dismembered, which is unsettling and not softened for children. Cloud closes over the whole site frequently.

History

After finishing the first stage of the Genting Highlands resort in 1975, then a single hotel with a small casino, Lim Goh Tong set out to build the temple with friends, many from his own Anxi clan from the village of Penglai in Fujian, who formed the Chin Swee Temple Society with him as chairman. He gave the 28-acre site, his companies contributed RM8.1 million, and he acted as planner, designer and contractor himself; because the steep, rocky slope ruled out machinery for piling, the foundations were dug by hand, in holes 80 to 100 feet deep. The work took 18 years, and the temple was officially opened on 29 March 1994 (Wikipedia, Chin Swee Caves Temple).

What's there

• A temple terraced into a slope - buildings stepping down the mountainside.
• A nine-storey pagoda - and a fifteen-metre statue of the monk on the terrace.
• The ten courts of hell - a walk-through of graphic painted punishment scenes.
• Cloud and mountain views - when the hill is not entirely in it.

When to go

All year; mornings are clearer. Two hours.

Good to know

The hell tableaux are graphic and can frighten children. Cloud frequently blanks the views. It is on a busy mountain road and parking is limited at peak times.

Nearby

Genting Highlands and its cable car are above; Batu Caves is on the way back down.

Key facts