Beauty of Life with Jo: Batu Arang

Saturday, May 12, 2018

Batu Arang

My first picture of Batu Arang!!! Moo moos were free to roam everywhere.

Batu Arang was known in the 1900s as Mini Gold Hill by the British as the hills were filled with coal. Coal mines had operated for a good 47 years before it ceased operations in 1960. Batu Arang was also known for brick making. Today you can still see original houses made of good ole bricks around the town.

Old shophouses

Morning market

Was enjoying my market walk and suddenly I noticed a car on top of planks! The market lady said that the car owner had slowly heightened his car into the air with planks. God knows how he did it but he still working on it.

Old brick house

Monkey here and there

Old dilapidated brick house but to my surprise, there are people still living in there. A lady was out hanging her laundry when I drove passed the house.

Old miners' settlement

Old Chinese school

This was the brick factory I read about in the newspaper. The above article was written in April 2015. I drove around and around in search for the chimney but I couldn't find it. So I dropped by the police station to ask for the location. Mr Policeman walked me out of the station and right opposite (picture below) the station was the brick factory, minus the chimney!!!

I was so upset. I just could not understand why the town did not maintain its old memories. This was one of the reasons why Batu Arang became rich and famous Batu Arang in the 1900s, but nobody cares any more today. Mr Policeman was most amused when I asked about the chimney. Nobody asked about it any more. Well, I want to see it. In fact, I want to see the old mines too but those were gone altogether too.

The new monument is a replica of the chimney that I wanted to see so much.

Wandered off to see what is The Lord's Garden as it was suppose to be a garden and there were supposed to be fruits and vegetables for sale. Nope. Looked dead. Was I surprised? Nope.

One beautiful cosy-looking lane

Went off hunting for the United Malaysian Orchids Sdn Bhd. Was praying 1000x that this place would not disappoint me after Batu Arang. This orchid farm was HUGE. I will have a blog entry for it alone to show off its beautiful array of orchids for sale.

This is a famous eatery in Rawang known as Restoran R. Cheng Fei Zhou Yee Wantan Mee. This restaurant's speciality is Tilapia steamed with wantan noodles, cooked in 5 different recipes. They also offer a large range of other dishes from pork to tofu to vegetables.