Little town with an English castle

The name Batu Gajah is believed to be derived from two large elephant-shaped boulders located along Sungai Kinta near Kampung Pisang. However, villagers say the boulders sank into the waters in the 1990s.

MENTION Batu Gajah in Perak, and people are quick to equate it with the famous Kellie’s Castle.

Although unfinished, the ruinsof the mansion remains asmysterious as it is breathtaking.

The castle perched on top of a hill near a rubber estate, boasts a mixture of Moorish and Indo-Saracenic Revival architecture.

It was meant to be a home for Scottish planter William Kellie Smith and his wife Agnes.

The castle was commissionedby Smith in 1915 and during its construction many workerscontracted the Spanish flu and died in the early 1920s.

World War I was anothermajor setback that slowed theconstruction process.

In 1926, Smith succumbed to pneumonia during a trip to Lisbon in Portugal and the construction of the castle stopped halfway.

The Perak state government refurbished the place and turned it into a major tourist site.

But the talk of the town is that the castle is haunted with somevisitors claiming to have seen apparitions of Smith and his family wandering in the building although they had never lived in theuncompleted mansion.

Until today, many ghost hunters and paranormal investigators remain fascinated with thebuilding and would come toconduct studies at the site.

To cash in on this, a special Kellie’s Castle Paranormal Night Tour was started to take horror fans through the hallways and empty living quarters at themansion.

Batu Gajah, which literally means “stone elephant” in Bahasa Malaysia, is believed to benamed after two large boulders resembling elephants that were found along the Kinta River near Kampung Pisang.

According to ancient folklore, the colossal elephant figures were made to scare away real elephants from trampling on the villagers’ sugar cane crops.

The town was formerly famous for tin mining long before the country gained independence.

It had been an ideal place for Chinese immigrants to stay and work during those years.

Another one of its landmarks is the SMK Sultan Yussuf where the late Sultan of Perak Sultan Azlan Shah had studied, as Batu Gajah was his childhood hometown.

The school, formerly known as the Government English School, was started by philanthropist K.Malaiperumal Pillai in 1907 to offer English education forchildren. He later in 1909 handed the school building over to thegovernment.

Just like any other town, food is another attraction in Batu Gajah.

Businessman Choong Kun Yoo, 49, strongly recommends visitors to try the halal Penang-style laksa served at Ramli Misha Corner at Plaza Batu Gajah in Jalan Pandak Akhat for breakfast and brunch time.

“The laksa stall has been inbusiness for over 30 years now, and it is well-known among the locals irrespective of Malays, Chinese or Indians.

“I enjoy eating it a lot. Usually when I have friends and relatives from Kuala Lumpur coming back to their hometown, I’ll take them there,” he said.

Student Hafiz Mohamad, 24,cannot get enough of the town’s famous and unique nasi lemak ayam golek, better known as ayam percik, at a shop located at the cross-junction of Jalan Tanjung Tualang and Jalan Bemban.

“My mum and I eat out often because she’s working, and we’ll go to that restaurant a few times a week to enjoy their signature nasi lemak.

“It’s quite special. Other thanthe ayam golek, they serve a large variety of other kinds of meat as well to go with the nasi lemak, like quail,” he said.

Hafiz also likes eating at Fendi Gym and Cafe, a one-of-a-kind business in the town that combines a gym and a cafe like its namesuggests.

Hafiz said he made it a point to visit the cafe in Jalan Bandar Baru 1 in Bandar Baru Batu Gajah, for its nasi goreng ayam.

“It is really delicious. I love ita lot, and I’ll surely bring myoutstation friends to try the food at this place,” he said.

Restaurant owner Ahmad Shaifol Affendi Yahaya, 42, saidhis main idea of operating a finess-cum-eatery business was simply to provide choices of healthy food for his gym members.

“Bodybuilders who hit the gym usually have to take care of their diet. They need high protein, high fibre food with zero to littlecarbohydrates.

“It is usually difficult to stickto this proper diet at normalrestaurants. I have prepared all the dishes here to suit their diet,” he said, adding that the more popular choices were grilled chicken and salmon.

Much like the dual nature of his business, Ahmad Shaifol Affendi, better known as Fendi among his peers, is a professional fitness trainer who has a passion forcooking.

“Eventually, I started incorporating other types of specialities to cater to the taste of customers outside of the fitness group,” he said, recommending the Mee Bandung Muar and Asam Pedas Johor.

Yoon Siew Phang, 58, who used to run a mobile laksa stall at night, reminisced about the old days when the town was a bustling place filled with customers and booming businesses.

“After the construction of the North-South Expressway, many people bypass the town and do not stop here,” he said, adding that he found the town somewhat dead at times.

“There are also fewer youths here now. It is now a town filled with senior citizens like me. Itis also tougher on food businesses here because we always loseout to those in Pusing and Menglembu,” he said.