The trip back from Pulau Semat

Continued from Visiting the mystical island of Pulau Semat.

Once we're done visiting the tomb of Sultan Tajul Ariffin, it's time to head back to Manong. However there's a condition we must observe said the boatman. You cannot simply leave Pulau Semat and head back to the mainline. You must go anti-clockwise first and circle the island, otherwise you might risk bad luck and capsize or drown! Here's a picture as we head downstream to get to the island's tail...

Now, Pulau Semat is more than 2 km long. After the tail is another island situated very close to it and so you must pass around its side too. Here's the pix when we have made it past that island and started heading upstream.




Here we have totally cleared the smaller island allowing Pulau Semat to fill in the view...

As we headed further upstream, Gunung (mount) Bubu became more prominent in the background. The sky appeared pinkish in this picture. Little did I realise then that my beloved Olympus Stylus digital camera was showing signs of permanent damage...

How I could I realise when it could still churn out beautiful pictures like this? On the right one could see parts of another small island...

Here's a look towards our left on to Pulau Semat. The boatman said this is actually the closest approach to get to the tomb of Sultan Tajul Ariffin. It's just there is nobody coming from here due to the fact that there is no populated area at the nearest mainland, and the banks are just too steep...

A look again towards Gunung Bubu and of course Manong.

The Manong jetty as we were ready to land.

This satellite picture from Google Earth should show Pulau Semat in relation to Kuala Kangsar and Ipoh...

Note the actual position of the island and two smaller ones...

Here one could see the path actually taken by our boat. Click on the pictures or open it in new windows to get a clear look.

Visiting the mystical island of Pulau Semat

Continued from Mouth of Sayong river and the palace of Bukit Chandan.

After we're done visiting places in Kuala Kangsar we next travelled to the small town of Manong to get a boat at its jetty.

We almost didn't make it as the locals were reluctant to transport us upon realising our destination was Pulau Semat, an island in the middle of the Perak river. You see the island is considered mystical. You can't simply set your foot on it, you have to be pure in thought and intention.

The were many stories of people drowning or boats getting capsized on the way there. Thank God after a while waiting there were those willing to help...

So here we are. In this picture one could see parts of Pulau Semat to the left.

This is the proper jetty to get onto the island...

But the boatman was worried that the path there could be blocked by falling trees and foliages. So we embarked a bit further downstream on into a banana orchard...

From there we walked towards the path connected to the jetty.

There was substantial clearing to make it easy...

Yes, there are parts were the foliage made it hard...

But as it turned out the path we were looking for itself was free from fallen trees and such despite what the boatman was worried about.

The path leads to our real destination, tomb of the fourth Sultan of Perak, Sultan Tajul Ariffin. Ruling the kingdom more than 400 years ago from this island, his highness is said to be a religious saintly person and that is why the Pulau Semat is mystical.

Mouth of Sayong river and the palace of Bukit Chandan

Continued from The bridges across the Perak river at Kuala Kangsar...

After the Sultan Abdul Jalil bridge, I decided to follow the small rural roads further downriver and reached this part...

In the background once could see the towers of the palace of Bukit Chandan, the official household of the Perak royal family...

Towards the south one could the range that forms Gunung (mount) Bubu...

Here's the wife posing with our baby...

Further downriver we could catch a better view of the palace.

Actually I took these small rural roads because I wanted to have a look at the mouth of the river Sayong, wrongly spelt as Saiong in this picture...

The last time I was here was sometime in 2001 while this recent visit was made last month. Then only did I know that they have practically cut the mouth to extract sand...

So I can't really tell where old river mouth lies. Hazarding a guess, perhaps this is where the Sayong river originally merges into the much bigger Perak river flow...

The bridges across the Perak river at Kuala Kangsar

Peace be upon you all my dear readers. Today I'm going to start the supporting articles for a series on Perak recently started in the blogspot CATATAN SI MERAH SILU. Come...

On the old trunk road from Kuala Kangsar to Ipoh lies an old bridge across the Perak river...

Known as the Iskandar bridge, it was built in the year 1928. Here's a view from the other side...



Some 7 km downriver nearer to the town of Kuala Kangsar lies the Sultan Abdul Jalil bridge...

Completed less than a decade ago, it connects the sub-urban area of Sayong to the fringe of Kuala Kangsar town.