I chanced upon the word ‘trouvaille’ recently. It means a lucky find or an unexpected, valuable discovery. A simple word yet it means so much, like finding a twenty dollar note in a pair of old jeans or even better, finding a pot of gold in an uncharted water cave. The word means so much more, personally speaking, when we found this peaceful lake while on the way home from Ipoh town. Since it’s hidden within a cluster of rough limestone mountains, many locals aren’t even aware of its beautiful existence. The body of water is christened as Cermin which means ‘mirror’ and its surface does, to some extent, reflects the grandiosity of the surrounding rocks. Stoneworkers who were quarrying materials from the mountains found this lake and decided to leave it untouched until today. We went through a tunnel at first, all cloaked in darkness, until we see light streaming in at the end. It was quite a sight when we first laid eyes on the deep pool of water near the tunnel’s end. Though small, the lake is very scenic against the piercing blue sky and surrounding wild trees. It’s easily one of the prettiest places I’d ever been to. After photographing the lake, we chatted about nothing in particular while taking in the beauty of the clear waters as a slight gust of wind whipped the nearby trees. A trouvaille, indeed.
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