a visit to batu gajah for a briefing related to job brought my colleague and i to this beautiful castle in the late afternoon.
kellie's castle, a castle i have heard of many times but not visited....till last tuesday. we arrived at 4.30p.m. when the sun was still shining brightly and there was not a cloud in the sky. the bright sunlight made all the photos taken here on that day turned out so gorgeously stunning.
the entrance fee for adult was only rm5 which is really reasonable. the castle is well-maintained after the restoration and it is really worth visiting. however, i won't really call it a castle......it is more like a mansion. the place was built by william kellie smith who was involved in the estates in the kinta valley pre-world war 1 for his family. unfortunately, his mission was uncompleted when he died of pneumonia in lisbon. this place was also one of the locations for anna and the king when it was filmed here in ipoh. can't remember the scenes from the movie.
anyway, i had a fun time exploring the three levels of the castle and the different rooms here although they were all empty. paranormal activities had been sighted here, but if you don't think about it, then you won't feel spooked. thank goodness it was a bright sunny day. i wouldn't feel all brave and excited if it was a cloudy and gloomy day. my mind might be thinking of something else as i braved myself to walk through the whole castle haha.
at the back of the castle, is kellas house, the house where the smiths stayed in when they were at the estate.
this was a replica of their living room in kellas house which was on display in kellie's castle.
i love the heavy moorish influence of the castle and coudln't stop taking photos of all the window and door arches.
here is another one.
i am happy to see that there is enough information displayed for visitors to understand the background of the place.
this is the only room i did not enter....my colleague refused to go down to the cellar with me. it should be all dark and gloomy and the tunnel? i wonder if it could be explored. i read that the tunnel led to an indian temple.
now, this is a room i would like to have in my house....linen room.
i wonder how much linen they planned to stock here.
a view from the second storey of the castle. this is the backyard. i did not go all the way to the back. it was simply too hot.
another photo showing all the arches. ;)
i am glad i made that stop on the way back. a friend mentioned that this would be a good place for wedding photography. it is if one likes ruins.....and who knows....a ghost here or there. haha.
and here is some excitement for the kids....new rubber bands in glow-in-the-dark colours!! they were so excited to know that they glow in the dark....but i had to calm them down and asked them, how often were they going to see their bracelets in the dark?
some of the bracelets made with the new bands: i still have two more sets of different colours yet to come
gorgeous colours eh?
the charms have a few fans too.
and i have found my favourite arm chair in my friend's house. went down to kl to help 'warm' her new house. it was just us, 6 loud women in her condo and it was a great night doing nothing and just hung out and drank. they played their game of gim rummy of course and i sat here on this arm chair watching frozen. now i know why this animation won so many awards. it was a really good movie. had 4 glasses of red wine and slept like a log at 2.30 while the rest only hit the bed at 3. and we all woke up at 8a.m. for breakfast. haha.....so lack of sleep.
and now i present to you my neat stationery drawer at work:
neat right?? the partitions were done by a colleague hahaha. you wouldn't believe it if i said i did it myself anyway. we follow the 5s system which was introduced by the japanese. 5s is a workplace organization method where everything has its place. the 5s stands for seiri (sorting), seiton (straightening or setting in order to flow), seiso (shining), seiketsu (standardize) and shitsuke (sustain). yes, our office has to shine too....spick and span. i am happy with this system as it reduces clutter in the workplace. so far, i have kept my desk clean and clear but i can't say the same about my other colleagues.
imagine if i practise this with my work space at home. everything will be so neat and orderly right? haha....but first where am i going to fine the time to start it.
well, i am off to kl for the week. no work!! just going to sit in the hotel and listen and learn. i will take this as a small break to make me feel better. chao now.
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