Since the burning process takes a lot of time, I might as well use the available wi-fi signal to make this posting... I started burning the first DVD for today's session at around 7.15pm before settling a few other things. Soon I started this article and by the time this sentence was written which was just after 8.30pm, only 25 per cent of the burning was done!
That's the funny thing I noticed about burning DVDs, in this particular case some 2.66 Gb or 118 minutes worth of video... The first one of the day (after you start the computer) always takes more than two hours. When it's done, the computer will ask if you want to make another copy and from this stage thereon, it takes only 10 minutes or so to burn the same information and get the same result in a DVD.
Anyway, enough rantings and ramblings. Consider this posting the continuation from the article Exploring the happenings around the 1874 Pangkor Treaty in Perak... The fort of Ngah Ibrahim made 3 days ago. Oh, by the way again, this is the last article under the series. Enjoy it, cheers! :]
OK. We left the fort of Ngah Ibrahim at around 5.30pm and immediately head for the Taiping town centre. We were famished then as we haven't had lunch. So I wanted to bring the crew to a famous restaurant in Taiping well-known for its kuey teow ( a type of Chinese vermicelli).
That's the problem, it is very well-known. We managed to find the place but not only it was full, the waiting list was long and they didn't want to do take-aways. We on the other hand still have to rush to Kuala Kangsar more than 30km as there were a place or two to visit before sun down... So we can't wait.
The journey must continue and so we head towards Kuala Kangsar. The thought in mind was, if we find any place to eat along the way that' looks pleasing enough then that's where we'll have our late lunch! That's how we stopped at the place called Bukit Berapit above...
This is the road-side stall where we had 'lunch'. Although the place then was infested with flies (the owner said some people recently open a chicken farm or slaughter shed or something like that not far away. That's when the flies started coming...) we decided to go on and fill our stomach.
As far as I could remember, this is the first time I ever stopped at Bukit Berapit my whole life. This despite the fact that I've been pass this road many many times as it lies on the main Taiping-Kuala Kangsar national route. That's when I found out it has a nice stream with rapids behind...
By the time we finished eating, it's almost 7pm. As we reached the outskirts of Kuala Kangsar, I saw this hill and felt like taking a picture from inside the car.
We stopped by at a certain place in Kuala Kangsar to meet 2 friends, one from Sungai Siput some 20km away, another from Ipoh 40m away. They wanted to join the rest of the trip for the day...
Soon enough, after 7pm, we arrived the Ubudiyah mosque in Bukit Chandan, Kuala Kangsar...
Next to it (actually right in front, in the direction facing the kiblat, the Muslims point of direction for prayers which is towards the sacred Ka'abah building in Mekah, at the Arab peninsular) is the royal mausoleum of Perak.
Although there's many many tombs inside including that of 7 Sultans (rulers) of Perak, we immediately head for the right-wing. As the azan (call of prayer) for Maghrib (the dusk obligatory prayers) resounded in the air from the mosque, we visited this tomb, the tomb of Laksamana Raja Mahkota (royal admiral) Muhammad Amin above.
We also visited the tomb of Perak's 26th ruler, Sultan Abdullah Muhammad Shah II (the one with the headstones wrapped in yellow-clothes seen between the headstones of Muhammad Amin). For the record, both the admiral and the Sultan were exiled to the Seychelles islands in Africa after the murder of British first resident to Perak J.W.W. Birch in 1875.
For more information on the matter, please read the articles The main players of the Perak-British war as depicted at the fort of Ngah Ibrahim... and In Perak's royal mausoleum to give justice to Laksamana Raja Mahkota Muhammad Amin posted here over half a year ago.
The visit to the royal mausoleum practically ended our Perak trip as we made it mainly to follow history and happenings around the Pangkor Treaty which happened in 1874. But we were raring to go to a few other places around which could be distantly related. And thus after we've done our prayers at the Ubudiyah mosque, we head for the village of Kampung Padang Changkat just about 2-3 km away to visit the tomb of certain 18th century warrior known as Daeng Selili.
Along the way lies the house of a famous traditional weapons maker known as Pak Mazin. As most of us are enthusiast, it seems we must pay a visit!
The table was practically opened with plenty of unfinished weapons, just for a taste of it. Unfinished ony in the touching-up, that's all... As far as I'm concerned every one shown (almost 20 pieces) was already functional for a fight!
Among it is a replica of a keris (Malay wavy blade) kept by the Perak palace for state royal functions. The keris is said to the Taming Sari, the famous magical weapon owned by the 15th century legenday Malay warrior Hang Tuah who served the Melaka Sultans! For the record, the Perak royalty is the only surviving royalty from the Melaka Sultans' lineage. So there...
The guys were practically wide-eyed, full of oohs and aahss as Pak Mazin (on the right) explained some things about the keris...
Soon enough, we went to the tomb of Daeng Selili just half a kilometre away from Pak Mazin's house. Then we head back to the certain place where we earlier met our friends from Sungai Siput and Ipoh... For there lies a tomb said to belong to a religious person of old known as Sheikh Abdul Qadir.
Once done there, we head for the tomb of ancient female mystical personality known as Tok Temong nearly 15km away. But I didn't take any pictures at these places. Instead I only started snapping again when I reached to mosque of Kota Lama Kanan, some 2-3 km outside of Kuala Kangsar. Above is the pulpit inside...
Inside the Kota Lama Kanan mosque is a single tombstone. If I'm not mistaken, it was erected in the 1920s to mark the place where the 2nd ruler of Perak, Sultan Mansur Shah (ruled 1549-1577) was said to have mysteriously vanished into thin air, never to be found again while performing the Muslim obligatory once-a-week congregational Jumaat (Friday) prayers in front of his subjects!
Afterwards, we also visited the tombs of Perak's 24th ruler Sultan Ali Inayat Shah (ruled 1865-1871) and 27th ruler Sultan Yusuf I (ruled 1887) within 2km down the road. Again I didn't take pictures as the visits were made in pitch darkness except for the light from our cars...
With that, we left Kuala Kangsar heading for Kampung Gajah some 70km down south. From there we intend to return to Kuala Lumpur.
On the way jus before Kampung Gajah, we stopped at a stall for supper. It was almost midnight then. As the tomb of Perak's 13th ruler Sultan Muzaffar Shah III lies just about 200 metres away, we paid a visit.
We soon find out we were too tired to drive to Kuala Lumpur that very night. So we bunked at the Kampung Bahagia mosque just outside Teluk Intan. Here is the pulpit inside.
With this, the "Exploring the happenings around the 1874 Pangkor Treaty in Perak" ends. And with this also,I would like to rest from making any articles... That is until after the Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebration in 10 days time ya. Good nightand happy Hari Raya to all!
p/s: Watch out for the relevant video clips to be published God willing , afterwards in the CATATAN SI MERAH SILU blogspot. By the way, this ending sentence was typed at 9.55pm but still, only 62 per cent of the DVD burning is done. Jeezzz.... :]
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