Castles and Cave Temples

• Heathermills's Profile
• About this blog
• Entry from Ipoh

Trip Start Nov 13, 2006 Previous
Entry Trip End May 13, 2007 Next
Entry

  Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia
Friday, February 9, 2007

The following day we caught the bus from outside the local travel agent which would take us on a two hour trip north west to Ipoh, the third largest city in Malaysia . The city of Ipoh was originally founded on tin mining but it has not been developed as much as KL with many of the old buildings still remaining in the city centre. Although the city itself is not as scenic as some, it does lie in a beautiful setting surrounded on all sides by high hills and limestone cliffs housing some very impressive cave temples. As we passed the outskirts of the city we could see the gaudy entrances to some of the cave temples, lying in the shade of the limestone hills, from on board our rickety bus. We had no idea which of the three bus stations to get off at so we waited until we reached the terminal station before disembarking with all our luggage. We had planned to stay in a hotel we had found in the guidebook called the New Caspian and so set off to find a taxi willing to take us the 1-2kms to the hotel. Unfortunately we encountered the same problem with taxi drivers that we had seen in other Malaysian towns, the drivers quite willing to take us to the hotel, but only at 3 times the normal price and no amount of negotiation would alter this. Thus we set off on foot once more, pounding down the dusty traffic-filled streets and trying to avoid the busy roads and swerving moped riders. Finally we made it inside the air conditioned hotel lobby where we were surprised to find that we could get a very decent room with TV, fridge, and air con for only 55 ringgit. Not much else was accomplished that day other than relaxing, exploring a bit of the city on foot and eating at an outside cafe where we enjoyed some very spicy food and a new favourite, starfruit juice.


The next day we were keen to see the sights, in particular the cave temples. None of Ipoh's sights were reachable on foot and there were no organised tours, so we were forced to plan things ourselves. The helpful man on the hotel reception booked a taxi for us, at the correct rate, to take us to our first stop of the day, Perak Tong Cave Temple, situated 6km to the north of Ipoh. The temple was built in 1926 by a Buddhist priest from China and the gaudy outside gives little idea of the scale of the cave formations and beauty of the paintings and statues within. As we entered under the ornate wooden canopy painted in hues of yellow green and red we were immediately enclosed within the dark and cool surroundings of the main cave. Here sat a giant Buddha painted entirely in gold and reaching high up into the cave roof. The surrounding walls were decorated with all manner of paintings, images of mythical animals, plants and traditional calligraphy and further caves were visible in the distance housing more Buddhas of varying sizes. As we walked through the main cave further into the temple, we were amazed by the scale of the place and the number of secondary caves branching off from the main area. Here the limestone was craggy and 385 rudimentary steps had been constructed allowing worshipers and tourists alike to ascend to the cave roof before emerging into the sunlight and climbing further steps to the summit of Gunung Tasek on which the cave is situated. From here we could see the whole of the city of Ipoh and the surrounding mountains, the town itself industrial and smoggy and the mountains green and misty in the distance. As we descended the steps we came across a whole troop of local dusky leaf monkeys which inhabit the temple surroundings. The adults seemed friendly and in search of food they came towards us but soon got bored and disappeared when they realised we didn't have any, the adults climbing up the ridged stone of the cave walls unaided and the babies swinging from small branches. Back in the temple we spent some time admiring the paintings before hailing another taxi to take us back to the town centre.

After some quick lunch at a Chinese cafe, very spicy yet again, we headed out in the opposite direction to visit another of Ipoh's top sights, Kellies Castle. This time we had hired a driver who would take us there and back as well as waiting for an hour whilst we had a look around. The castle itself was built by a Scottish planter called William Kellie Smith who made his fortune in the tin mining industry in the Perak region of Malaysia and was the archetypal Scottish residence with huge turrets, high ceilinged rooms and Malaysia's first elevator. The family lived in an original house on the site, now mostly destroyed, before construction started on the castle in 1915. However it was never completed and finally fed into disrepair and decay before being restored recently as a tourist attraction. Arriving at the castle we crossed the nearby stream and were amused by the locals wading in to catch fish with baskets. When we asked them what was going on they told us that someone had poisoned the fish further up the river and they were floating down stream ready for an easy catch. We entered the castle which had many storeys of large brick rooms, dark cellars and decorative turrets. Paul searched for the secret passages linking the house to a nearby temple and other buildings whilst I admired the distinctive architecture. The structure was impressive but we both agreed that we preferred the new sights of the cave temple that morning to something that we had seen many times before nearer to home. That evening we walked to the historical centre of Ipoh to admire the old colonial buildings including a mysterious clock tower, covered in historical figures in which one of the figures had been blanked out, we couldn't guess who. The train station and surroundng administratives building were also very impressive, built of white stone in a cleaner part of the city surrounded by parkland. We ate at a nearby restaurant before preparing to leave the following day to travel to Penang Island's capital, Georgetown, further north along the coast.

Ipoh hotels Share

Previous Entry Next Entry