Sources

A house that trades on its history owes you its receipts. These are the claims this site makes, and where each one comes from. Where the record is incomplete, we say so in pencil rather than paper over it.

The road and the town

Loke Yew financed and drove the 1897 road to the Bentong tin field, paid in mining land; thousands of labourers followed it in.: Economic History of Malaya; contemporary accounts collected in the Bentong local-history series
The town rose at the confluence of the Repas and Perting rivers; tin was confirmed there in 1889.: Bentong Municipal Council, official history
“Bentong” derives from “Ban Untung” — the profitable ridge — in local account.: Bentong Municipal Council
The street grid names its founders: Jalan Loke Yew, Jalan Ah Peng, Jalan Chui Yin.: Local-history series; street signage
Bentong’s Chinese community counted five dialect groups, with Guangxi people in the majority.: Bentong local-history series (“Chinese Influx to Bentong”)
The Chinese Assembly Hall was founded by the five clans in 1914.: Dewan Perhimpunan Cina Bentong records, local-history series
Bentong was declared an Emergency “white area” in June 1955, two years before Merdeka.: Bentong local-history series

This house and its neighbours

Bentong Gallery occupies the two shoplots at Nos. 17–18 Jalan Loke Yew, formerly Loke Yew’s Bentong office; the buildings were called a hundred years old at its 2017 opening.: The Star, 2 July 2017; Bentong Gallery
This house is No. 34 Jalan Loke Yew: three bedrooms, each with its own bathroom, a fourth bathroom downstairs, about 2,500 square feet, sleeping seven.: The house’s own listings (Booking.com, Airbnb, Agoda), 2026
Guests’ own words anchor our claims about the arrival, the air well, and the street’s sound.: Named, dated reviews on Booking.com and Airbnb
June, who hosts the house and answers quickly, is the June of “ask June”.: The host of record on the house’s listings

The clock

At 3°31′N the day is pinned near twelve hours; sunrise 07:00–07:25 and sunset 18:56–19:27 across the whole year; civil twilight roughly twenty minutes.: Solar tables for Bentong (computed on this site from standard astronomy; no forecast API)
Afternoon convective storms are the valley’s pattern, most often around four; this region is among the most lightning-active on Earth.: MetMalaysia; regional climatology
The empress cicada — the “seven o’clock cicada” — begins at nightfall.: Entomological records for Peninsular Malaysia

The town journal

Bentong ginger holds Geographical Indication status (2015) and is matured about eleven months.: Pahang agricultural authorities; producer accounts
Kow Po has hand-churned ice cream since 1956, founded by Tan Soon Chuan.: Free Malaysia Today, 2023; SEA Wave, 2023
Chamang Falls: gate hours and monsoon closures vary; swim only in the marked pools.: Bentong Municipal Council; visitor reports — reconfirmed locally, not promised
The Saturday night market on Jalan Chui Yin has been paused since August 2024.: The Star, 26 August 2024
A free public hot spring sits on the old Kuala Lumpur road at Kampung Temiang.: Bentong Municipal Council; Pahang Tourism
Short hills on the town’s edge climb above the morning cloud line; trailheads shift, so we confirm before sending anyone.: Local trail reports — soft-verified, stated as such
Kuala Gandah is PERHILITAN’s national elephant conservation centre; visitor rules change as welfare practice improves.: Department of Wildlife and National Parks; press, 2025

The pending register

The exact build year of No. 34 — we print “a pre-war shophouse of the 1920s generation” until the land office record speaks.
The lot’s tenants before the restoration.
A photograph of the facade — the site will not depict what it has not photographed.
The deposit figure and display currency for direct booking — printed only when confirmed.