Johor - Endau Rompin National Park

Located on the Johor-Pahang border, this 2½-century-old extensive lowland forest is home to several rare and endangered species. This park is popular with conservationists and nature lovers who enjoy the wildlife and virgin environment. Endau-Rompin National Park is made up of a lush, pristine tropical rainforest.

Covering an area of 48,905 hectares (800 sq. km), it is the second largest national park in the Peninsula after Taman Negara. With rock formations dating back some 248 million years, Endau-Rompin is mostly hilly with some prominent sandstone plateau. It also happens to be the watershed of several rivers such as Endau River, Selai River, and Jasin River.

As the forest had only recently been established, access to it is quite difficult and entry to the park requires a special permit from the National Park (Johor) Corporation, which only entertains requests for research and fishing limited to designated areas only. However, it would be well worth the effort in attaining a permit to this park as it is the home and sanctuary of the largest population of the rare Sumatran rhinoceros. The spectacular Livistona Endauensis fan palms can also be found here.

There are two entry points to the park, Kampung Peta and Nitar. The former is located 56km from Pahang The visitor would have to traverse through rubber and oil palm plantations, as well as dense jungle along dirt tracks to the base camp. From Nitar, a Felda Plantation scheme, the park can be reached after an 8 hour boat ride along the Endau River. Kampung Peta is also the most remote Orang Asli (aboriginal) settlement in Johor.

Part of Endau-Rompin's attraction is that the park is intrinsically tied up with numerous legends and myths handed down through the years. One such legend is that of Upih Guling, which is located midway to the Buaya Sangkut waterfalls.

Johor - Aw Pottery

Aw Pottery was once a “must-see” site for visitors to Johor and motorists travelling the Ayer Hitam-Johor Baru old trunk road. Among its famous visitors were the royalty, second Prime Minister the late Tunku Abdul Razak and Singapore’s former premier Lee Kuan Yew. The pictures of visiting dignitaries were framed and hanged on the walls in the mini museum which houses limited and exclusively made pottery pieces. During its heydays, the showroom-cum-factory received more than 20 buses ferrying local and foreign visitors daily and cars from other states. Arguably the most colourful outdoor toilet in the country. “The number of visitors who come now is much, much smaller than what we used to get,” said Aw Pottery manager Wong Wan in an interview recently. He said long school holidays were the busiest times as many schools in Johor and some from Singapore made their field trips here. Wong said that in the old days, the showroom-cum-factory was the only place in the Ayer Hitam area where Japanese and Caucasian tourists were found.

The main attraction at the place is the 48.7m dragon kiln built in the 1950s, the only one in Malaysia and among the few left in South-East Asia. The landscaped garden provides visitors with various ideas on how to decorate their own gardens. However, since 1980, it has not been put to use and during the interview, the kiln was blocked from view with stacks of pottery. “Another attraction here is the outdoor toilet decorated with colourful broken ceramic pieces and probably the only one in the country,” he said. Wong said perhaps this was the most photographed toilet in Malaysia and it has been featured in several local and foreign publications. However, he said since the opening of the North-South Expressway in 1993, most motorists had opted for the highway, thus bypassing the once popular stop.

Wong said most of the visitors now were pottery traders, who supplied the ware to other retailers and hobbyists who were into DIY gardening. He said others include landscaping service providers and motorists passing the old trunk road or making a detour at the Machap intersection. “Customers say that our products are much cheaper than those sold in Ayer Hitam town which is about 5km from here,” said Wong. Customers have a wide selection of pottery to choose from at Aw Pottery. He said new customers were quite surprise to see a wide choice of pottery available at the showroom and many had returned and become regulars. Aw Pottery was founded 52 years ago by Aw Eng Kuang as the place was suitable for pottery-making because of ample reserves of kaolin clay in the area. Apart from marketing its products locally, the Machap factory also exported the pottery to the United States and European countries although the number had been reduced.

Now, export activities come under its China subsidiary which has two factories – Yixing Oushi Ceramic Co Ltd in Jianshu and Guangdong Chaoan Aw Ceramic Craft Co Ltd in Guangdong. “We can’t compete with China in the export market, so our Machap factory caters to the local and Singaporean markets,” Wong said. Apart from buying the finished products ranging from vases, dinnerware to flower pots, visitors can have a first-hand look at how potteries are made. Visitors can either tour the factory area on their own or can ask Wong or his staff to guide them and explain the production process. Customers can choose to buy flawless or first-grade items with normal pricing or those with minor defects or second-grade items which are cheaper. Big clay flower pots, urns and water containers imported from China are also available here and these are the hot selling items among landscape companies.

The company is willing to deliver these big items for individual buyers provided they could fork out extra money for toll charges and transportation. The landscaped garden at the entrance of the showroom decorated with aquatic plants and fountains provides ideas to prospective buyers. Aw Pottery is located at No. 13, Kampung Machap and opens from 8am to 5pm daily except on the first three days of Lunar New Year and Hari Raya Aidilfitri. For details call 07-7541480/1476 or e-mail: awpottri@time.net.my.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/3/6/southneast/13518472&sec=southneast