Monday, December 28, 2009

Broga Hill - sunrise hike

as the day breaks..... ... 期待...
... 失望 ...
hike through the darkness of wee hours of the morning,
only to find the clouds blanket the sky,
and the sun ray hardly reaches the earth ... 千幸万苦登山,却不见日出 ...
登山者追日应有的态度
不是怨天尤人,
而是...
下次再来!
人生何尝也不是
没有壮观的日出, 悠悠的天色依然迷人





Sweet couple


... gently through the grass ...














Lone man







... walking through the field of grass...








Photographers in action



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Wednesday, December 23, 2009

古早味 之 Bidor








Bidor ( 美罗 ) is a small town in Batang Padang district of Perak. Due to its location between Ipoh-Kuala Lumpur via the North-South Highway, its a popular spot for travellers to stop by for a snack of local delicacies.






Pun Chun 品珍 is famous for its duck-mee ( 鸭腿面 ). RM6.00/bowl ( if not mistaken ), its best to have it in the morning...
The restaurant also famed for its freshly deep-fried芋角, 老婆饼, 萨骑马,鸡仔饼, and other local produces.




Once a tin-mining settlement, today's Bidor is famous with its agricultural procucts too. Fruit stalls can be seen along the road leading to town and in the town itself... selling durians ( Durio zibenithus ) , manggos ( Mangifera indica ), pamelos ( Citrus maxima ), guavas ( Psidium guajava ), jambu air ( Syzygium samarangense) etc.
Petai ( Parkia speciosa )too can be found abundantly. With some luck, other exotic fruits also can be found.





an old profession, watch repairing


aged indigenous man, riding a bicycle

oldtimer....hardware shop & banker

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Bukit Gasing



¬ 上岭 。。。喘 !



¯
过桥 。。。摇 !










































































Monday, December 14, 2009

Kellie's Castle

Kellie's Castle is located near Batu Gajah, Perak. It is easily spotted en-route from Ipoh to Batu Gajah - Route A8. The unfinished, ruined mansion, was built by a Scottish planter named William Kellie Smith in 1915.



Because of his fascination with the Hindu religion and Indian culture, Smith's plan was for this house to share similar architecture to those of Madras, with all its bricks and tiles imported from India. He even employed a big group of Indian labourers to build his dream house.

But it was not only the cost of importing material and labourers from abroad that made the house so fascinating to locals and travelers alike. Among the many amazing things about Kellie's Castle are an elevator (it was the first in Malaya) which connects right up to the top floor, and the existence of two tunnels that run under the river nearby. One of these tunnels connects to the Hindu temple some distance away from the main house. On the second floor, Smith planned to build an indoor tennis court — an ambitious project even by today's standards. On the highest floor, there is a rooftop courtyard for parties. This castle was to be the hub for entertaining wealthy colonial planters who had settled in Malaya. His house was so unique that it was even mentioned in the London Financier newspaper on 15 September 1911



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, killing many of the workers in the Kellas Estate.

In the end, Kellas House, later known as Kellie's Castle, 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.







Descendants of the Tamil labourers brought over to Malaya to work on the mansion still live nearby even now. Kellie's Castle is now a popular local tourist attraction and was used as a setting in the 1999 film Anna and the King





ticket : RM4 -Malaysian adult
RM2 -Malaysian children
RM10-Non-Malaysian
note: info copied & pasted from Wikipedia