It was the long the weekend. Deepavali celebrations in the air. My colleagues and I were trying to figure out if there was anything specific we could watch this time around. If for Thaipusam you head to Batu Caves, Chinese New Year you head out and hunt down lion dancers, and Raya you hunt down all your Malay friends for food, what essentially do you do on Deepavali?
After asking a few Indian friends of mine, the answer was simple - on Deepavali, people tend to head to temples for prayers. So unless you want to take pictures in a temple, you're pretty much out of the game. A few friends even decided to venture to Brickfields (a.k.a. Little India) to try and capture some festive and celebratory spirit. Their verdict was that there really wasnt much to do.
So instead, I decided to drag my friend J (the guy who brough me bungy jumping) on a little road trip out. After all, with the long weekend, I thought it would have been a real shame to not go out and do something. We decided to bring my car Dimples out for a road trip two hours north, to a little town called Ipoh.
Its an easy drive, essentially just take the North South highway all the way North and exit a Gopeng if you would like to do what we did. Since we wanted to make it a day trip, we had planned to check out three sites in particular - Kellie's castle, Ipoh train station and Gua Tempurung (Tempurung caves).
(Kellie's castle)
(The mixed architectural influence)
So, exiting at Gopeng will help bring you closer to Kellie's castle (its on the way to Ipoh). Kellie's castle is an unfinished mansion built by a Scottish planter - William Kellie Smith. The castle is well preserved by the state authorities and does make for an intersting visit. I cant quite put my finger on the architectural design of the building, but it does seem to have some Islamic influence with the use of dome windows. Though again, seems a little odd since there is no clear rhyme or rythm to the use of rounded windows to dome windows. The building is well built with a wine cellar, numerous entertaining rooms including emergency and secret exits connecting the rooms of his two children. He seemed to have pretty grand plans for the place, building an elevator shaft in anticipation of what would have been the first elevator in then Malaya. The rooftop was also built flat and allowed for him to entertain guests and throw parties (although sadly, he never got to do any of it). There is some speculation that there are dungeons built below and that he had wanted to build a tennis court (again, some have speculated this was supposed to go on the rooftop... whuuuu????). And of course, no Malaysian attraction would be complete without some weird tales, so exhibit 1 - is the bear shaped tree that flanks the front of the castle... Exhibit 2 - some say that Kellie's spirit still walks the corridors...
(Can you spot the bear?)
(The corridor)
Out front you can see a little stream cutting across the castle. It seems like you can even go punting down this river which I think would be fun.
"why darling, did you see that castle we just passed by"
(Rooftop view)
(The main area)
Kellie was also apparently quite a big hit with the Indian community nearby. Such a big hit in fact that they had built a statue of him and placed it on the top of the temple. The temple is located just a few meters away from Kellie's castle. It was quite funny seeing a proper British man standing in between all the other deities.
(The actual name of the restaurant)
Before we went on to the second stop, we decided to refuel ourselves and I called up a colleague who was from the area. He recommended the 'House of Mirrors' in the old part of Ipoh town. Essentially if you were driving down and the train station is on your left, City Hall will be on your right. As soon as you pass City Hall, you need to turn right and drive all the way down bringing you directly into the old part of town. The shop is located two blocks south of the field - i.e. the block directly behind HSBC bank. You can park anywhere and walk it (its not that bad and you get to see the old preserved shophouses). Known as the House of Mirrors for the fact that they have a bunch of square mirrors on the wall. You may be stumped by the sheer volume of people eating there at lunch time. You will have to stand around and get ready to grab any seats/ tables available... even if it means fighting your way away from the old folks there.
(From L-R - Rojak, Sotong Kangkung (calamari) and satay. Not included in picture - chee chong fun and popiah)
The food... is phenomenal.
(The crowd waiting for a seat and the ubiquitous mirrors on the right)
Numerous stalls flank the house of mirrors and its neighbor next door. We decided (as we were super hungry) to try out the satay, rojak, chee chong fun, sotong kangkung (calamari) and popiah (both wet and fried). Then we sat down (we too had to share the table with another family) and were silently stuffing our face for the full 20 minutes or so. Amazing... I would recommend this to anyone heading there. In fact I might actually still consider going down there just for the food itself!
(The original trifecta of Ipoh's white coffee)
And of course, no trip to Ipoh is complete without a requisite stop to the original white town coffee restaurants (and a much needed coffee kick after lunch had morphed us into sloths). So, walking down a few blocks to the very end of the old town you will find three cafe's next to each other (all located opposite the one that claims they are the original Old Town Ipoh White Coffee (the restaurant chain)). All three are called Sin/ Xin something or other. But the original I was told is the one located right at the corner known as Sin Yoon Loong, and flanked by two more from the heyday - Sun Yuan Foong and Xin Yuan Foong (dont ask me if they are brothers or cousins or something).
(Check out the prices!)
(The Ipoh train station)
(The hotel located inside the train station)
After we finally had some grub and coffee in our tummy, we headed back to check out the Ipoh train station. Beautifully restored to its former glory as well as with the addition of modern facilities in the back (i.e. double tracking rail system). There is even an old school hotel here, known as The Majestic (not to be confused with the other Majestic hotel being built by YTL near the Kuala Lumpur Train Station nor the Majestic hotel owned by YTL in Malacca).
(The old meets the new in Ipoh Train Station)
(The entrance to Gua Tempurung)
As for our final stop, we then headed back to Gua Tempurung (Tempurung cave) which was on our way back to KL. Unfortunately for us it was raining quite heavily by the time we got there. But the upside was that we were the last three they let into the caves (yay!). In comparison to the Mulu caves in Sarawak this cave struck me as being pretty hig (or with very accessible height). Well preserved and maintained, we finally managed to catch up with the last tour group and guide for the day. They have adventure caving here for those who may be interested but would require some claustraphobic activities such as crawling through a one meter diameter hole with water filled in it for ~30 minutes. Not for the weak for sure.
(Can you see the pregnant lady?)
Seems like they also have other activities there, too bad we couldnt check it out because of the rain. Flying fox and horseback riding and fishing too! Well, since its not even that far away, I would be open to coming back (especially if we could stop by house of mirrors for food).
(Remnants from Communist days - they found this on the wall. A carving of a British car and a clock referring to the time 7:00. It is unknown what assassination/ attack plan this may have referred to)
(Inside the cave)
And so, ends our road trip this time around. Due to the heavy rain, we took slightly more than two hourse to get back, but deff worth it.
After asking a few Indian friends of mine, the answer was simple - on Deepavali, people tend to head to temples for prayers. So unless you want to take pictures in a temple, you're pretty much out of the game. A few friends even decided to venture to Brickfields (a.k.a. Little India) to try and capture some festive and celebratory spirit. Their verdict was that there really wasnt much to do.
So instead, I decided to drag my friend J (the guy who brough me bungy jumping) on a little road trip out. After all, with the long weekend, I thought it would have been a real shame to not go out and do something. We decided to bring my car Dimples out for a road trip two hours north, to a little town called Ipoh.
Its an easy drive, essentially just take the North South highway all the way North and exit a Gopeng if you would like to do what we did. Since we wanted to make it a day trip, we had planned to check out three sites in particular - Kellie's castle, Ipoh train station and Gua Tempurung (Tempurung caves).
(Kellie's castle)
(The mixed architectural influence)
So, exiting at Gopeng will help bring you closer to Kellie's castle (its on the way to Ipoh). Kellie's castle is an unfinished mansion built by a Scottish planter - William Kellie Smith. The castle is well preserved by the state authorities and does make for an intersting visit. I cant quite put my finger on the architectural design of the building, but it does seem to have some Islamic influence with the use of dome windows. Though again, seems a little odd since there is no clear rhyme or rythm to the use of rounded windows to dome windows. The building is well built with a wine cellar, numerous entertaining rooms including emergency and secret exits connecting the rooms of his two children. He seemed to have pretty grand plans for the place, building an elevator shaft in anticipation of what would have been the first elevator in then Malaya. The rooftop was also built flat and allowed for him to entertain guests and throw parties (although sadly, he never got to do any of it). There is some speculation that there are dungeons built below and that he had wanted to build a tennis court (again, some have speculated this was supposed to go on the rooftop... whuuuu????). And of course, no Malaysian attraction would be complete without some weird tales, so exhibit 1 - is the bear shaped tree that flanks the front of the castle... Exhibit 2 - some say that Kellie's spirit still walks the corridors...
(Can you spot the bear?)
(The corridor)
Out front you can see a little stream cutting across the castle. It seems like you can even go punting down this river which I think would be fun.
"why darling, did you see that castle we just passed by"
(Rooftop view)
(The main area)
Kellie was also apparently quite a big hit with the Indian community nearby. Such a big hit in fact that they had built a statue of him and placed it on the top of the temple. The temple is located just a few meters away from Kellie's castle. It was quite funny seeing a proper British man standing in between all the other deities.
(The actual name of the restaurant)
Before we went on to the second stop, we decided to refuel ourselves and I called up a colleague who was from the area. He recommended the 'House of Mirrors' in the old part of Ipoh town. Essentially if you were driving down and the train station is on your left, City Hall will be on your right. As soon as you pass City Hall, you need to turn right and drive all the way down bringing you directly into the old part of town. The shop is located two blocks south of the field - i.e. the block directly behind HSBC bank. You can park anywhere and walk it (its not that bad and you get to see the old preserved shophouses). Known as the House of Mirrors for the fact that they have a bunch of square mirrors on the wall. You may be stumped by the sheer volume of people eating there at lunch time. You will have to stand around and get ready to grab any seats/ tables available... even if it means fighting your way away from the old folks there.
(From L-R - Rojak, Sotong Kangkung (calamari) and satay. Not included in picture - chee chong fun and popiah)
The food... is phenomenal.
(The crowd waiting for a seat and the ubiquitous mirrors on the right)
Numerous stalls flank the house of mirrors and its neighbor next door. We decided (as we were super hungry) to try out the satay, rojak, chee chong fun, sotong kangkung (calamari) and popiah (both wet and fried). Then we sat down (we too had to share the table with another family) and were silently stuffing our face for the full 20 minutes or so. Amazing... I would recommend this to anyone heading there. In fact I might actually still consider going down there just for the food itself!
(The original trifecta of Ipoh's white coffee)
And of course, no trip to Ipoh is complete without a requisite stop to the original white town coffee restaurants (and a much needed coffee kick after lunch had morphed us into sloths). So, walking down a few blocks to the very end of the old town you will find three cafe's next to each other (all located opposite the one that claims they are the original Old Town Ipoh White Coffee (the restaurant chain)). All three are called Sin/ Xin something or other. But the original I was told is the one located right at the corner known as Sin Yoon Loong, and flanked by two more from the heyday - Sun Yuan Foong and Xin Yuan Foong (dont ask me if they are brothers or cousins or something).
(Check out the prices!)
(The Ipoh train station)
(The hotel located inside the train station)
After we finally had some grub and coffee in our tummy, we headed back to check out the Ipoh train station. Beautifully restored to its former glory as well as with the addition of modern facilities in the back (i.e. double tracking rail system). There is even an old school hotel here, known as The Majestic (not to be confused with the other Majestic hotel being built by YTL near the Kuala Lumpur Train Station nor the Majestic hotel owned by YTL in Malacca).
(The old meets the new in Ipoh Train Station)
(The entrance to Gua Tempurung)
As for our final stop, we then headed back to Gua Tempurung (Tempurung cave) which was on our way back to KL. Unfortunately for us it was raining quite heavily by the time we got there. But the upside was that we were the last three they let into the caves (yay!). In comparison to the Mulu caves in Sarawak this cave struck me as being pretty hig (or with very accessible height). Well preserved and maintained, we finally managed to catch up with the last tour group and guide for the day. They have adventure caving here for those who may be interested but would require some claustraphobic activities such as crawling through a one meter diameter hole with water filled in it for ~30 minutes. Not for the weak for sure.
(Can you see the pregnant lady?)
Seems like they also have other activities there, too bad we couldnt check it out because of the rain. Flying fox and horseback riding and fishing too! Well, since its not even that far away, I would be open to coming back (especially if we could stop by house of mirrors for food).
(Remnants from Communist days - they found this on the wall. A carving of a British car and a clock referring to the time 7:00. It is unknown what assassination/ attack plan this may have referred to)
(Inside the cave)
And so, ends our road trip this time around. Due to the heavy rain, we took slightly more than two hourse to get back, but deff worth it.
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