Perak



The Magnet

 Once upon a time, 11hours @ Perak then headed back to Petaling Jaya woo-hoo

...after having breakfast , three of us decided to hit and explore Perak, My Want-List -to visit Kellie's Castle' in Batu Gajah, Perak [it's a dream came true..] For Mot and Ipin, Pangkor and The Leaning Tower was in their list...

The journey from PLUS High Way [Subang Exit] to Gopeng, tooks us about 2hr 19mins, and after been brief by the Toll Gate Girl [Makonah, not the real name] we headed to Batu Gajah, Perak and about 30 mins, Mot screamed ''I saw the Castle!'' and i started smiling..yayyy! which previously, Mot claimed there was a spirit of Kellie wondering around the Castle..sounds creepy ya'll [but i dont give a damn..lalalala] because when i looks through my lense, the scenery and the old castle was so amazing....!!

In brief about the Kellie's castle....-the history...

William Kellie Smith was from a village in Scotland known as Kellas. In 1890, at the age of 20, he arrived in the then undeveloped Malaya. Here, he met an estate owner called Alma Baker, who had won concessions from the state government to clear 360 hectares of forests in Perak. With the substantial profits made from his business venture with Alma Baker, Smith started planting rubber trees and dabbled in the tin mining industry. In time, he became the owner of Kinta Kellas Estate and the Kinta Kellas Tin Dredging Company.

Now with his fortune made, he returned home to marry his Scottish sweetheart, Agnes, and brought her over to Malaysia in 1903. The following year, the couple was blessed with a daughter whom they named Helen. For many years after that, Agnes tried to conceive, but to no avail. William Smith desperately wanted a son and heir to take over his empire in the Malay Isles....

As stated earlier, Kellie wanted a son very badly. One of the Madras laborers told him that by praying to Amman (a Hindu Goddess), whom they believe will grant their wish. So Smith prayed to her and Agnes conceived and delivered a baby boy. As a token of appreciation, Kellie built a Hindu Temple for the Goddess.
As he was so fond of the Goddess that he wanted to have built a statue of him beside her. Therefore a statue of a white man can be seen on the roof of temple today, alongside statues of Hindu gods and goddesses. It is believed that a tunnel was built for his family to visit the temple from the castle.

Unfortunately for Smith, tragedies struck soon after the construction of the Kellas House began. A virulent strain of the Spanish flu spread from Europe to Asia soon after World War I ended in Europe, killing many of the workers in the Kellas Estate. Another seventy workers constructing Smith's dream castle also became victims of the flu. Smith, who had already spent a fortune on his house, lost a lot of money because of this.

In the end, Kellas House, later known as Kellie's Castle or even Kellie's Folly to some, was never completed. William Kellie Smith himself died of pneumonia during a short trip to Portugal in 1926. His heartbroken wife decided to pack up and return home to Scotland selling the estate and Kellie's Castle to a British company called Harrisons and Crosfield.

Three of us, stucked at Kellie castle for 2hours and YES, they are selling fridge magnet...woo-hoo!



can u spot the Beruang? i did!





The Fridge Magnet @ The Castle

And then, we continued our journey to Pangkor Island [but not exactly Pangkor Island, we just stopped at Lumut, Perak- the Port of Pangkor Island- reason: [1]we are not 100% sure whether the water -crystally clear like Tioman or Perhentian Island [2] snorkeling activity?- can we see the fish?...

we had our dinner [seafood..yummy] and searching for souvenirs [Yep! the magnet] and hasil laut...

then, we headed to Teluk Intan, Perak..to see The Leaning Tower of Teluk Intan...first, we saw the decorations along Jalan Maharaje Lela....trees covered with lampu lampu....Nice!

Then...


Taraaa...The Leaning Tower @ Teluk Intan...



sharp 9:00pm we arrived..Dong!! 9x..woo-hoo





Amazing! Dont U Think? The Full Moon and The Leaning Tower..



The fridge magnet :)

 Around 10:00pm we headed back to Petaling Jaya...home :) penat tapi best. Photo bawah nie, Teluk Intan tengah celebrate X-Mas awal, maybe 1 Malaysia punya program.....