Depending where you depart from - Singapore, make it a 3 Dat Ride minimum, KL well up and back with an overnight will be just nice! This was an amazing find while digging around the backroads surrounding Ipoh... You'll see why Ipoh has become my favourite Malaysian town!
Take one Scottish Castle and mix it with inspiration from the Taj Mahal and plonk it on a hill south of Ipoh... It's an interesting beginning. Over 100 years ago a young Scotsman found his way into Malaysia and by way of hard work and good luck became a member of the rubber plantation elite. He built a beautiful homestead which was a bit ravaged and occupied by the Japanese in WWII.
Inspired by a trip to India, he returned full of good ideas, one being to build his own 'Taj' for his wife. Construction of Kellie's castle was well underway when he succumbed to disease while back in Europe so he never had his dream completed... It's an incredible shame!
Today the Castle still sits proud on a poromotory overlooking his estate. For the princely sum of RM4 you can venture into and all over the Castle. To do so is a real treat and to think that it was one man's dream. Indian labourers toiled away to build the castle and I would imagine many artisans were imported just to get the job done.
There's a structure that would have been Malaysia's first lift had it been completed, although I would not have liked to be the man who had to hand crank the lift up and down! The castle is a true castle with escape tunnels and alleyways everywhere.
From the roof, you can survey the estate and thankfully they haven't installed guard rails as that would surely spoil the architecture. In fact, there are only a few restricted areas in the whole building. Perhaps it is the fact that Kellie's spirit is still seen gliding down these harrowed hallways that keeps it safe!
Architecturally, when you have a closer look, you'll notice an eclectic mix of Scot and Indian design that seems to work well perched on a hill near Ipoh!
For more than 10 years I've past the Kellie's Castle sign on the highway but never ventured in as I had always thought it would just be some guy's KTV Pub! But one day recently while passing through and with a bit of time on my side, I ventured in and what I found absolutely amazed me. I'll go back for sure and catalogue Kellie's dream.
To find Kellie's Castle you need to be on the old KL - Ipoh highway, not the North-South Ekspressway! It's about 20 minutes south. You'll pick up a signboard and just follow the trail! When I can, I hop off the NS Ekspressway and choose to use the old backroads as it's far more interesting and see, you'll find stuff like this.
What has become real handy is my new Altina GPS - why, it even has Kellie's Castle preloaded! I bought the GPS for RM 1400 and it's become a real handy tool. At first I was a bit skeptical that the roads wouldn't be accurate - WRONG! It's really good and, with it, I've discovered even more great paths through Malaysia.
Kellie's Castle is worth the visit and you can stay in Clearwater which incidentally is only 15 minutes by road from Kellie's. Plus, you can savour some good Ipoh food while you're there...more coming.
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