KELLIE'S Castle, Malaysia's version of India's Taj Mahal, is the country's oldest castle and only one of its kind.

Like Taj Mahal, Kellie's Castle near Batu Gajah, Perak, was a labour of love.

It was built by Scottish planter William Kellie-Smith for his wife, Agnes Smith, who missed home tremendously.

Construction of the mansion which combined three distinct architectural styles - Moorish, Greco-Roman and Indian - started in 1915 and went on for six years.

Following an epidemic of Spanish flu that killed most of the 70 Indian construction workers brought in to work on the project, construction was halted. To appease the remaining workers, Kellie-Smith built a Hindu temple near the castle.

Sadly, Kellie-Smith was said to have died of pneumonia shortly after he left for England to bring back a lift that he intended to install in the castle tower. With his death, his dream castle was left uncompleted.

In June 2003, during a road widening exercise at the 6th kilometre stretch of the Gopeng-Batu Gajah road, workers uncovered a section of a tunnel believed to connect the castle to the Hindu temple.

Measuring 1.5km high by 1m wide, the tunnel added yet another touch of mystery to the castle.