A lovely love gift

Want to know something about the castle I am posing in front of?

I think I did do a short introduction on this castle in my previous posts when I visited Ipoh for a study trip in February. For those who doesn't know, this is Kellie's Castle, sort of Perak's own Taj Mahal. An architecture structure used by a man to dedicate his love to his beloved.

However, unlike the Taj Mahal, Kellie's castle is incomplete due to the fact that the owner, William Kellie Smith passed away due to sickness even before the castle/house was completed and the construction of the castle stopped and was left there. Today, a tourist destination, the history and tales of the castle still lives on.

For me, everything about this building shouts ROMANCE! Not literally. But the style, the materials used, the window and doors, etc. speaks of romance in a way. By the way, there is something in architecture history called Romanticism.

To answer Lea's question. Yes, these kind of buildings are romantic in my eyes and I don't mind touring U.K. to see these beauties. You won't see many of the modern buildings built like this because 1, Bricks, espeacially facing bricks like these are not cheap. 2, The pay for specailized brick layers or masonary artsmen are very very pricy. So unless you have money and the time, then why not right?

Oh ya, the castle is sort of haunted. There were some sighting and stories of tourist seeing the ghost of the Kellies' in the corridors in the picture above. Though the castle is incomplete, locals believed that the Kellie's occationally return, in spirit home, to visit their home. I guess they miss the place too much. But thankfully, even though I would like to see some "activities", the Kellie's did not visit us on that day. Would you believe it, we visited the castle on Friday the 13th, meaning February 13th 2009? Creepy huh? But some believed that the spirits do not come out the day before a joyous occation which was Valentine's day the next day. Ahh... Superstitions....

Walking through the rooms makes you imagine about being at that time and age. And though the sun was shining bright, the spaces felt cool and was quite enjoyable. The age of the building really says it all. The every thought for his family was in place.

Too bad, Mr. William Kellie Smith passed away before it was completed..


Maybe it would have been something more than it is now.


But thats a different story. Now it lies in ruins.


Opening its doors to tourists. And maybe sometimes to the unknown.


But who knows, maybe it would have turned to ruins anyway.


With time slowly creeping by....


The ruins still stand...



Telling its own love story.

Nice huh? Beats flowers and chocolates or even diamonds. Maybe a house is the best gift for your one and only... Who knows right? What say you?