The place they call 'Kellie's Castle'...

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Castles in Malaysia? 

A place I've always wanted to check out myself, having seen and heard so much about it. Finally, while driving up to Ipoh, a town north of the capital city, we made a point to stop over at Kellie's Castle, situated just outside of a small town called Batu Gajah.

Kellie's Castle ~ cleaned up and very visitor-friendly now

At one time this structure was left abandoned, over-grown, hardly explorable or even accessible by us laymen... It was finally cleaned up sufficiently to be called a tourist attraction in some recent years.

Built by a Scottish planter, William Kellie-Smith, sometime around 1915 - he had big plans with architecture featuring Scottish, Moorish and Tamilvanan Indian elements, with building materials imported from India, as well as craftsmen along with it all!

Alas, it was never completed - a huge part of it stands part-skeletal (which I felt added to the charm and mystery... but that's just me) Wandering around its corridors and rooms, one can see that that man had big plans indeed! The grounds themselves are extensive and impressive...  Read more about the Kellie's Castle story here

As usual in stories like this, many versions of the how and why surrounding this castle exist online. Rather unfairly known also as 'Kellie's Folly' - not a name I would use to refer to it, as if it had been completed, its magnificence would be proudly hailed by one and all instead! 

On approach to the castle, its position on a slight hill lends an impressive 'looming before you' kinda feeling...

The six storey tower that was to house the first elevator in Malaysia! 

A back building, left uncompleted... 

The weather when we arrived was predictably blistering hot! But dark clouds soon rolled in from a corner of the sky; hence we didn't get to explore all the buildings, nor the grounds towards the back. From records and photos online, there is supposedly more gardens and a sprawling staircase leading.... where?

From the inside, looking out... All I know is that I wouldn't be caught dead there on the grounds when night falls!

As you might expect, Kellie's Castle is rumoured to have its own ghosts... And they even have a guided Haunted Tour around it! Nope, not interested!!

One of the Moorish design windows on the first floor

Long corridor over-looking the courtyard. Stuff of nightmares... like running down this never-ending corridor; excellent set for a movie! Hey, in fact I think they did shoot a movie there...

View of the back building... the uncompleted section

Even the stairs going up... and up are dramatic! They curve around corners, blind corners! Where you can't really see what or who is lying in wait ahead of you!!! Ok, I'm getting too imaginative!

Almost at the very top... A wonderful view all round!  
See the menacing dark clouds coming in despite the sunshiny day where we were...

Looking down at the side lawn, a cool shelter for those strolling in the gardens

The Raya river or stream that runs alongside the castle, leading to the mighty Kinta River. It was the colour of 'teh tarik' or the popular Malaysian pulled milk tea as it's been raining almost every afternoon/evening... See the high level of water

Texture, texture, texture!
Part of the beauty of the castle is the use of raw brick. I'm not sure if the completed version would have featured the same or if it would all be plastered and painted over, but I like it this way!

Back on ground level, this is one of my favourite views around the castle - this part of the main building faces the inner courtyard

Captured with SONY A5100 + Sony Xperia M5 | ©images & text are my own

One last look from the car park.... before driving off!

Some say Smith built it for his wife.... others say it was for his son. Whatever the truth, am glad I finally got to visit Smith's 'Taj Mahal' even though I didn't get to finish touring the entire place. More details here