A Traveller's Tale: A Natural Moat

Kellie's Castle seems like a stone throw away from Ipoh, the capital of Perak. Batu Gajah is afterall just 24 km away or about 20 minutes ride away; and nowadays, there is also a nice highway for one to travel on. The castle is not an unkempt place as it was once reported to be and of course not - one has to pay RM 3 to enter and the money most probably is used to maintain the place. Even with its brownish water, Sungai Kinta or the Kinta River that flows near the castle looks like it had been cleaned up too and I would suppose the Scottish planter, William Kellie Smith who reportedly built the castle as a gift for his wife or even as a home for his son, had also meant the river to be a moat. A moat, by the way, is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, dug around a castle for defence purposes. One probably doesn't have to build a moat. God can provide!

Can you spot the tell-tale sign that this is the Kinta River that flows pass Kellie's Castle?









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