I visited the old Sri Menanti Palace in Negeri Sembilan back in June this year during the school holidays. I was at Melaka for a few days prior to this trip but since my wife is a Melakan and we were practically bored with the tourists assaulting and choking the places of interest as well as the food stalls and restaurants, we decided that a little adventure to the unknown will do us some good. The last time we did this, we ended up with a boat ride in Tasek Bera. This time, we'll see what's up at Sri Menanti...it's one of those places where you thought you knew and then, it just deludes you at the point of departure. We snaked through busy trunk roads through rolling hills and villages for quite awhile before discovering that the palace is quite out of the way. I really thought that it would be well indicated by it was actually not the case...
Once you've got the right way from the junction indicating the palace, you've still got a few dozens of kilometers to run before arriving. The surprise is that the lasts kilometers were the most pleasant as the landscape suddenly acquire a rather quaint and 'foreign' allure. Out of the blue, the architecture of the wooden houses takes on the traditional Minangkabau formes: the combined effect with the fields gives it a post-card like landscape like those seen on Indonesian touristic landscapes. Very deja vu.
The palace itself is quite well managed. There is lots of information on the illustrous heritage of the royal family of Negeri Sembilan and there weren't that many tourists around too. The immense wooden structure somehow reminded me of the Club Med building in Cherating... To get to the highest point of the building, one has to climb some really steep stairs, almost a vertical climb and anyone who suffers from vertigo should never try this one. Easy to get up, dizzying to get down.
Once you've got the right way from the junction indicating the palace, you've still got a few dozens of kilometers to run before arriving. The surprise is that the lasts kilometers were the most pleasant as the landscape suddenly acquire a rather quaint and 'foreign' allure. Out of the blue, the architecture of the wooden houses takes on the traditional Minangkabau formes: the combined effect with the fields gives it a post-card like landscape like those seen on Indonesian touristic landscapes. Very deja vu.
The palace itself is quite well managed. There is lots of information on the illustrous heritage of the royal family of Negeri Sembilan and there weren't that many tourists around too. The immense wooden structure somehow reminded me of the Club Med building in Cherating... To get to the highest point of the building, one has to climb some really steep stairs, almost a vertical climb and anyone who suffers from vertigo should never try this one. Easy to get up, dizzying to get down.
Main entrance to the palace. It is free. Just register at the counter and happy visiting.
The back quarters of the palace.
One of the side entrance
Beautiful ornate wood carvings decorate the pillars and wood beams all over the impressive wooden structure of the building.
Details of the ornate decorations...
Do I look like a tourist from Shanghai? I asked myself this as some foreign tourists asked me that question. I was often mistaken for Japanese, sometimes Chinese from China when I was living in France, also quite often when I shop in Malaysia, of all places...but precisely a Shanghainese? They have a trait for that??? What is it...the shirt? The hat maybe, or is it the shorts???I mean I don't even speak Mandarin well enough to begin with...asumptions, asumptions, asumptions...
The symetrical garden at the palace ground, akin to the strict symetrical gardens found in most French chateaux. This is a view from the balcony of the second floor.
A strange incomplete house with fanciful details just before reaching the palace. In the garage, there's a lot of big engines lying wasted...(big bikes)
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