Kellie’s Castle and Gopeng

Published by simon on September 1, 2006

Went up north for a short holidays again last week. And thankfully missed the floods in KL. This time I took a lot more photos than the last, i will be posting them up every now and then when the wind blows right.

One of the days we wanted to go to Kellie’s Castle, it wasn’t the old building i was so much interested in - the last time i went there, my mom pointed out to me that there is a small statue of the William Kellie Smith on the roof parapet of the temple in front of the castle, standing proudly among the pantheon of Hindu deities. Smith was a rich Scotsman who owned the plantation in the area, and was very much liked by his labourers, and it was him who build the temple for his Indian workers.

So the workers put up a statue of him there to remember the great man. There is an old tunnel connecting the castle to the temple, i wonder if it’s still passable…

Below: Kellie’s Castle from the main road. Some older folks around here call it Kellie’s Mansion, or Kellie’s Folly.

Below: Shot of the castle from the large carpark.

Below: This is the river separating the castle with the main road and temple. The river is swollen due to the recent torrential rains. And its wasn’t very clean, either.

Below: Further up from the castle, we approach the lesser known temple.

Below: Upclose shot of the temple. They seem to have just painted it.

Below: There! Our man Kellie wearing the hunting hat and dark brown khaki, standing between the two seated monks. He looks grim, probably seeing howing is mansion was never completed, and how much graffiti has defaced his labour of love. Too bad I couldn’t get into the temple compound to snap a close up.

Below: Part of Gopeng as you leave town toward Ipoh. All the shops have been abandoned except one sundry shop. Scenes like this is the same all over rural Malaysia, as youths leave the heartland to seek their oney in the cities. Probably in a few years, these shops won’t even be standing anymore. This particular two rows have an additional problem, their 5-foot way is right next to the main road…

Postscript:
What’s interesting to note, Kellie’s company, Kinta Kellas still survives today in Malaysia (although he sold it off to Harrisons and Crossfield, last i heard they were pretty busy right here in KL…

To read a little about the fascinating life and love of Kellie, you can check out this wiki on him.

Technorati Tags: Ipoh, Gopeng, Perak, Malaysia, Harrisons and Crossfield, Kinta Kellas, Kellie’s Castle, temple

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