Melaka old city centre at night and the nostalgia around it...

Finally, continuing from the article A peculiar graveyard near Tampin but fast-forward some 24 hours later...

By that time, I'm already in Melaka and ready to break fast at the Kampung Hulu mosque right smack at the old city centre...

This is a picture after the meal was done. By the way this happened yesterday, the 29th day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadhan and today, the last day of the fasting month, I broke my fast with a tin of water in a Cyber-Cafe in Muar and haven't had anything since then (that was almost 4 hours ago!)... All because I intend to let-out a series of articles in my blogspots so that I could celebrate the festive first day of Aidilfitri tomorrow without carrying any baggages!

Back to the issue at hand. A look at the mosque's pool as I was about to take my abolution for the Maghrib prayers... For the record, I slept last night at this mosque...

After the Maghrib prayers I decided to take a walk. Here is how the Kampung Hulu mosque looks like from a short distance. Beautiful isn't it?

I walked towards the main road of Jalan Hang Tuah. Then I noticed this building which used to be Melaka's main 'skyscraper' nearly 30 years ago... I remember because then, I was staying in Muar and my family often go up to Melaka to shop for electric goods...

Back then, there was no North-South highway. Everyone going the distance must ply this route. Now, Melaka has expanded to so much that this old centre of Melaka is practically abandoned!

Then again, they have also improved the river, the Melaka river that is, much! Yes... Good riddance to all the rubbish and eyesore I remembered from years ago...

While many commercial centres have sprung up elsewhere in Melaka and the main bus centre has also been moved some 2km out, Jalan Hang Tuah still has its own charm...

With the Melaka river perked up with much lights and attractions, I guess Melaka old city centre at night nowadays is definitely much much better than before. There goes the last article for this blogspot for the current session of story-telling. Happy Aidilfitri everyone! Cheers... :]

A peculiar graveyard near Tampin

Continuing from Enjoying the waters at Gunung Datuk . I then when to Tampin. the town which lies on two states - Negeri Sembilan and Melaka. After spending sometime there, I took the road to Alor Gajah. That's when I saw the peculiar graveyard shown below...

This graveyard lies nearby the road...

Fairly big, at one look it looks just like any normal graveyard bar some old ancient-looking structures as seen in this picture...

It's when one looks at the centre that the peculiarity became obvious... There's a fenced area marking a graveyard within a graveyard with a huge peculiar looking tree inside!

You see, unlike normal graveyards, every grave within this fenced area is marked by upright unpaved stones, the type that looks like the famous megalithic stones peppering some parts of Negeri Sembilan...

I decided to get in...

The upright stones already looked peculiar enough... Another look at the tree and I could swear the tree itself looks like a special tomb with the two main branches jutting out and up looking like natural tombstones! Enough said...

Enjoying the waters at Gunung Datuk

OK, continuing from The Linggi river near Pengkalan Kempas . I then visited 2 more places around, actually near the slightly bigger town of Linggi some 4-5km away before going to the tomb of Raja Melewar. Have a look at the article Makam Raja Melewar di siang hari (The tomb of Raja Melewar during the day) in the blogspot SENI LAMA MELAYU (MALAY OLDEN ART) .

Once done, I headed towards the state of Melaka through the regions of Rembau and Pedas. Then I saw a sign pointing the way towards Gunung Datuk, a mountain said to contain its own mystery and decided to take a detour there...

I got off the main road into a village road before entering a rubber estate followed by some pristine jungle. Finally I arrived at the foot of Gunung Datuk...

The giant replica of the keris (Malay wavy blade) signifies this as a place of historical interest...

That is when I learned that the 2,900-foot high Gunung (mount) Datuk, fairly popular to climbers, was the place the legendary ancient figure Datuk Perpateh Nan Sebatang, founder of the maternally-heavy Malay custom called Adat Minangkabau set up some official structure of rule here... And that was supposed to have happened in 1372, two decades before the famous Sultanate of Melaka was said to have been established just before the 15th Century AD!

All this while I thought the stories of Datuk Perpateh Nan Sebatang all happened in the Indonesian island of Sumatera especially in the Minangkabau region. Now only do I know this important figure actually resided and set up a ruling structure here...

Now, apart from being a fairly popular climbing spot for enthusiasts, Gunung Datuk is also famous for a legendary footprint set upon a stone at the top, said to belong to the legendary Malay warrior Hang Tuah who hold sway in the mid 15th Century Melaka Sultanate.

This area also has a few small waterfalls, rapids and ravine. So I decided to stop and enjoy the fresh cold mountain waters. Cheers! :]

The Linggi river near Pengkalan Kempas

Peace be upon you all. Since the festive Muslim celebration of Aidilfitri in Malaysia is confirmed tomorrow let me make some postings here tu support a series of story-telling session in the Malay blogspot CATATAN SI MERAH SILU ya. Here's one...

Two days ago, I slept beside a tomb on the sleepy 'cowboy' small town of Pengkalan Kempas in the state of Negeri Sembilan. Then I loitered around the town. Above is the river Linggi, one of the state's main river if not the foremost one. The river runs through Pengkalan Kempas...

A look at the river from a different angle...

The sleepy 'cowboy' town of Pengkalan Kempas. Seen here is a signboard pointing the way to the jetty besides the river...

The jetty and the car-park beside. The jetty serves a dual function... One for fishermen plying their trade along the Linggi river, another for the odd tourists to come and watch fireflies at night!

And that's my trusty big bike parked nearby. Taa daaa!!! :]