Istana Bandar

 

I'd like to introduce "Istana Bandar" to you. It is also known as Palace Alaeddin to others. It is situated in Jugra, a historical town in the Kuala Langat district.

This palace was own by the 5th Sultan of Selangor named Almarhum Sultan Sir Alaeddin Suleiman Shah Ibni Almarhum Raja Muda Musa (1898 - 1938). Sultan Alaeddin lived in this palace for 35 years until he passed away. The design of this palace is a fusion of local and colonial. If you noticed the roofs, it has a bit of the Acheh influence. This palace has 15 rooms and it is made using high quality cengal wood and marble. Therefore, it is still standing proud and firm until today. The only disappointment is that the furnishing is all gone. 

Now stands an empty lonely palace. It is ok, with my wild imagination, I was already waving my queen's wave to my people at the balcony!!!!!!!

 View from the road

This palace has 2 gates and both of them were chained when I drove by. However I still stopped to check the place out as I reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaally wanted to go in. Then I saw the "Open" sign. Of course I was looking here and there for a human and I found one....crouched inside the guard house. Of course I was cursing under my breath! Is this open to the public or not? If it is, then why is this place not welcoming at all. Being me...I waved and yelled at the old man. He finally saw me and I said "Are you open?"  He gruffly said "Park your car outside." "Fine," I muttered. As long as I can get into the palace, that was all I cared. Hubby registered us in the visitor's book and I was already running halfway into the palace grounds. Nobody is going to stop me now!

This is the late Sultan Alaeddin.

 The front entrance into the palace

 Palace grounds

 Inside the palace

 Kitchen

 The staircase was very narrow and steep. How small were their feet those days?

 That's the entrance to the staircase from the first floor.

 First floor

 End of palace tour

This is the Sultan Alaeddin Mosque just situated further up the road from the palace. Looked like it has a new coat of paint. It looked very smart! Built in 1932, the design of the mosque originated from the Deli Kingdom in Medan, Sumatra.

Carey Island

This weekend's adventure was to Carey Island and ended up at Jugra Hill. Carey Island is less than an hour's drive from Petaling Jaya and I couldn't wait to see what we would find there.

Carey Island was named after a British coffee and rubber planter named Valentine Carey. Today, Sime Darby Plantations dominates most of the island with its miles of oil palm trees

First stop was at Mah Meri Cultural Village. Mah Meri is one of the 18 Orang Asli @ aboriginal groups from West Malaysia. They are masters in wood carvings and expressive masks won during dance rituals. 

 Road to the cultural village

This itinerary was shown to us and the girl there collected RM7 from each of us even after she told us that only the gallery would be open. Nothing else was going to happen! I thought it was daylight robbery!!! I understood that we are just a couple and I could accept that dances may not be available but at least the mask carving or the stalls would be manned. Nope. We were left alone to wander by ourselves for 7 Ringgit!

 Carvings at the entrance

 The grounds

 The gallery

 Outside the gallery

 Costume for rent

 The roofs

 Ancestor's home

 A lonely monkey

Finally, some humans! So happened that these men had finished carving one of their master pieces, a standing arm gripping a ball. I actually thought it was something else from afar and that caught my attention to walk closer into the shed!!! Pretty friendly guys. They showed us some small pieces that they have carved as well.

 The mozzies loves me there. I was bitten badly even though I murdered some.

This wooden house was most interesting. Just built with simple planks, it actually has electricity! People here live with such basic needs, it is almost incomprehensible especially in this century.

Carey Island is literally covered with oil palm estates owned by Sime Darby. There is actually a Plantation Museum whereby you are allowed to drive along never-ending well-tarred roads to see the oil palm trees and witness how people work there.

 Newly planted oil palm trees

Being a city girl, I was fascinated to watch people cutting down the oil palm and set them by the side of the road to be collected.

Tanjung Rhu beach at Carey Island.  We came when it was high tide. I read that during low tide, people would come digging for "Mentarang", a kind of longish clam.

You won't miss this beach. Just drive along Jalan Pulau Carey, the main road, all the way to the end!

Before we leave Carey Island, gotta have a seafood meal at this famous restaurant by the Straits of Melaka.

 That's the bridge which connects Carey Island from the mainland (Teluk Panglima Garang).

 Very generous with their garlic and chillies

 This is "La La" meehoon @ Clam vermicelli.

 Oyster omelette

 Kam Heong crabs

Tummies all full and happy. Let's drive to Jugra.

Stopped by a "chips" warehouse. O M G, really CHIPS galore!

 Noooooo, these were not ours! We only bought 4 bags!!!!

This is Istana Bandar @ Castle Town at Jugra. I will blog about the Istana @ Castle in the following entry as there is quite a bit of interesting history there and I took a whole lot of beautiful pictures of the castle too!

 

Welcome to Jugra Hill! Loved this hill. So breezy and paragliders come up here for their fun activity. It was great watching them literally run into the wind. Jugra was the royal capital of Selangor back in the 1800s during the reign of Sultan Abdul Samad. It overlooks the Straits of Melaka and Langat River.  

A nice chilled Heinekan to end a great Saturday!