Padang Rengas to Parit Buntar mosques & church

Driving north from Padang Rengas to Parit Buntar in Perak we used the old trunk road. We passed a couple of interesting mosques, a church and a colubarium.

The first mosque is the Ihsaniah Iskandariah Mosque at Padang Rengas. It was built in 1936 and funded by the late 30th Sultan of Perak. The opening ceremony was in Feb 1938 [1356].

The design and ornamentation were based on the architecture of the istana at Bukit Chandan.

There are bamboo strip woven panels in a diamond motif. Every wood joint of the walls are decorated with a carved motif of a flower. The walls are painted in the colours of the Perak state flag.

The mosque has 20 windows, those on the ground floor are higher to provide privacy. Each window is carved with a shark gill's motif, bean shoots and a crescent and 5 pointed star. So many windows provide lighting and ventilation.

The mosque has not been used since 1976 and has since been conserved by the Dept of National Heritage. This is the mosque used today -

The next mosque we photographed is Masjid Al-Ridzuan at Telok Medan, between Simpang Empat Semanggol and Bagan Serai in Kerian district.

 Next was the Masjid Al-Athar at Kampung Masjid Tinggi, Bagan Serai

 Across the road is the old mosque -

 the cemetery is right next to the mosque

 Just before Bagan Serai town is a new colubarium

North of Bagan Serai is St Joseph's Church. It was first set up in an abandoned hut in 1882 for some Tamil Catholics who had come from Penang (history) -

Next to it is the parish house

and a grotto to Our Lady

There is also a shrine to St Joseph

nice tree

 The gardeners were busy in the grounds but one of them picked some flowers for us

our route

© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission

Indian temple at Simpang Halt, near Taiping, Perak, Malaysia

Whilst driving south to Ipoh one evening, using the old trunk road No1, we happened to see an Indian statue featuring several heads. So we turned into the temple to have a look, just as it was getting dark.

The Om Sakthi Sivanandha Arulnandha Muniswarar Temple (Om Sakthi Sivanantha Arulantha Muneeswarar Temple) is located at Simpang Halt, which is near Simpang, near toTaiping in Perak, Malaysia.

As this temple is located near the old railway line in Simpang, Taiping it became known as the Simpang Halt temple. The temple started as a simple shed under a tree. The current temple started in 2005.

It is a fascinating and beautiful place. We arrived during some form of simple pooja. There was music and this young boy was ringing the bell

In the main hall there are 3 main shrines. The central one is for Shiva. The right hand one is Sri Somasundreswarar, or Muniswarar, a saint who represents Shiva and is considered as a form of Shiva.

At the side of the hall are 3 tableaux of large statues

The entrance pillars have similar animal carvings as in Gunung Lang near Ipoh. However there were only 2 here, whereas the Siva temple at Lang has many

There had been heavy rain and the temple men were mopping the floors. Scene outside on the main temple wall

Several of the statues have multi heads.

I liked these "egg fountains"

There is an Ayyappan Temple

The temple is beautiful and well worth a look if you are passing on that route.

© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission

Squirrel eating a raw sausage

These sausages are normally put out for the foxes in the evening. However one morning I noticed a squirrel sitting on the fence eating a sausage. Unfortunately another one soon came along and chased him.

There are many squirrels about but they seem quite territorial or at least competitive, as they chase each other away, so it is hard to get more than one in any photo

This is a cute one