Castle of King Billah, Perak, Malaysia

3UmamS 5:00 PM Sep 1, 2018

Walk into pass.
I decided to look for something different when I travelled to Ipoh last month. So I found out about Istana Billah from tripadvisor. We started heading south of Ipoh by entering small junction leading to small Pekan Pusing and the road ends to an old and nearly abandoned Pekan Papan. It was written that this small town was once flourished 100 years ago by tin mining industry. One of the famous personnels was Raja Billah of Mandailing. His big mansion is still standing here. Fortunately the Istana (castle/ mansion) was selected as State Heritage in 2005. Walking on the small route leading to Istana Billah is a nostalgic one. You will pass more then 10 decades of buildings some of them are still standing and occupied by the locals but more have ruined down to earth. The Istana can be seen from the main road and you will be amazed by this two storey building (wooden at the upper level). There are wooden houses surrounding the Istana and also an old mosque built as a place of gathering for the community. The Istana is locked. During my visit, there was nobody there to take charge. You cant get in but there are windows that can be opened so you can sneak to see what is inside. You can walk around the area and try to imagine how life was like in the pass. It has been said that the Istana was once surrounded by colourful bougainvillea and you can still see some of them still growing until today. I really hope that the state government would have an initiative to preserve this building or I believe it wont take a long time for this manifestation of time topple to the ground.

3500|\| 5:00 PM Dec 13, 2018

Old Castle
This place is located in a quiet place, You can snap some photos there. But in overall, not much special to say about this place.