Some enjoy geocaching while others prefer to spend their time on urban exploration (urbex), and then there are those who like to combine both activities whenever possible. Whatever option might apply to you, you're covered with this cache! This historical location is quite unique being on the edge of Bukit Nanas surrounded by jungle trees and thick foliage, while right in the middle of the city.
An eye-catching mural.
(Photo: Faidz Zainal, 2011)
Stage one
At the given coordinates, the first thing you will notice is a large mural. It was created in conjunction with Malaysia’s 57th National Day, and part of a series of six commissioned by Petronas. This particular artwork was created by Kenji and Cloak, and is an allegory of Malaysian life. More murals can be found across Kuala Lumpur and Malaysia, information on this campaign can be found here: Petronas #Tanahairku Street Art.
The mural was painted on the first in a row of eight dilapidated heritage buildings. These photogenic buildings provide a stark contrast with the modern developments around them. This would have been prime realestate back in the day, and it would probably still the case if only they would have been maintained. A good example of what is possible can be found at the recently restored Old Malaya restaurant (further to the right). While their historical relevance is obviously recognised, and one or two houses might still have an owner that checks in every now and then, absolutely nothing is done to do save these building from further decay.
Considering their age and prominence, the information available on these houses remains scarse at best; a date in the centre of this row reveals they were built in 1931, while a resident knew the area was once known as Serani Row (Eurasian Row). These buildings are devoid of any outstanding features, and their sentimental value outweighs their architectural value. However, they do boast two intricate crests, each bearing the undeciphered acronym "oEs", a feature vaguely reminiscent of the Eastern & Oriental Hotel's crest in Penang.
Stage one: Task
Establish a new set of coordinates: add the house number from the eighth building to the last digits of the latitude (N), add the house number of the first building to the last digits of the longitude (E).
Note: This cache is not meant to be difficult, it is only a multi-stage because the heritage buildings found at stage one fall within the perimeter of this cache and are simply too interesting to ignore. If you cannot be bothered with stage one or you're are in a hurry, read on; KL'ites might recognise the location just looking at the photo below, others might pinpoint GZ without doing stage one.
Serani Row (Eurasian Row), built 1931.
(Photo: MagMaster, 2011)
Stage two
Arriving at stage two, you will right away notice the challenge ahead. This ruin is probably one of the most photogenic abandoned structures in Kuala Lumpur due to the thick foliage that surrounds it. Again, little is known about this building, it is however very well possible that this was once the home of one F.B. Hicks.
F.B. Hicks (d 28 September, 1900) was the Secretary of the Selangor Planters' Association and a partner of the Skinner, Parry & Hicks syndicate that purchased the old Weld's Hill Coffee Estate en subdivided it into building lots for sale. Weld's Hill is of course the old name for Bukit Nanas (Pineapple Hill). In fact, the dead end lane in which stage two is located, is called Lorong Hicks (Hicks Lane) and lies within said property.
Rubber has been vital to the local economy for over 100 years, but if things had worked out differently, it could have been coffee and everything would have started right here. In the late 1870, European coffee planters in Ceylon left the island to try their luck in Malaya because a fungal disease had decimated their crops. By 1880, the Honorable R.B. Downall obtained two concessions totaling 77 hectares (194 acres) on a hillock near the heart of Kuala Lumpur, which he named Weld Hill after the Governor of the Straits Settlements, Sir Frederick Weld. It was the first European estate in Selangor and it cultivated Liberian coffee, pepper and tea. However, some Malay stallholders were already planting Arabian coffee on the slopes of Bukit nanas.
In the next three years, Downall planted coffee in other parts of Selangor including an area near Batu Caves. Meanwhile, two other planters T. Heslop Hill and Ambrose Rathborne joined forces to buy up Downall's interests. By 1886, Hill and Rathborne owned three coffee plantations in the Kuala Lumpur area. From 1893 onwards, the Selangor planters enjoyed a boom when coffee production from Ceylon dropped and the world price of coffee beans shot up.
In 1892, there were fewer than a dozen European plantations in the Malay States. Four years later, there were 73 and nearly all of them planted Liberian coffee. That was why the Selangor Club was also known as the "planters' club" - most of its early members owned or managed coffee plantations.
Nevertheless, their fortunes sank in the 1890s when the price of coffee tumbled due to an increase in supply of coffee beans from Brazil. Hope for them came in the form of a tree called Hevea brasiliensis, or simply, rubber. Most of the coffee planters switched to rubber and managed to survive. Some even made fortunes. One coffee planter who invested £4,000 in a coffee estate in Selangor in 1897 replanted it with rubber and within 10 years, his investment was worth £250,000.
As far as the Weld's Hill Coffee Estate is concerned, you will not find any further evidence of it, only Menara Weld, an office tower at the nearby intersection with Jalan P. Ramlee, serves a reminder to the past.
Stage two: Mission
Your suspicions are correct, if you want the retrieve the cache that has been carefully hidden behind the main structure, you will have to scrape together your courage and enter this ruin to find it. Sharpen your geo-senses and keep your eyes peeled, or cheat and take a quick peek at the hint and/or the spoiler photo.
Kuala Lumpur's most photogenic ruin.
(Photo: Barnyard Dawg, 2017)
Request
This cache is all about the location, photos and a proper description of your experience and if any way possible a selfie taken in or outside the building are very much appreciated. If you've enjoyed the search and the thrill of the location, please honour my humble cache with a favourite point!
You are free to post any photos, including spoilers, but to ensure the survival and integrity of this cache, we kindly request that you hide the cache exactly as you found it, standing up and properly covered.
One more tip: More abandoned buildings can be found just a short stroll further up the road.
More abandoned buildings nearby.
(Photo: Barnyard Dawg, 2017)
Advice
It comes highly recommended that you do not enter with brand new shoes! After a downpour the soil becomes a bit saturated, and there are a few spots where your feet might sink a few centimeters into the mud. This place is very shady and it probably never dries out completely. Also, if you do not like wet and dirty toes, do not go in with open slippers either. You do not have to go far, but it can be enough to get dirty. Furthermore, there are times where this place is akin to mosquito hell. Seriously, if these bloodsucking vampires attack all at once, chances are you might not make it back out! This cache is not meant to make you suffer extended agony, only to get you accointed with a forgotten relic of history, so please refer to the hint and/or spoiler photo if you prefer to get in and out fast. And oh yeah, this is an abandoned structure on the edge of a jungle setting, there might be a few bats hanging around too! On the bright side, no spiders or snakes have been spotted, or rather not yet. Any rubbish in the area is completely beyond my control, a heavy-duty CITO event might do the trick but until that happens, please... try to look past it!
Credits
Sources:
Kuala Lumpur Street Names (2015) Mariana Isa, Maganjeet Kaur.
Insider's Kuala Lumpur (2011) Lam Seng Fatt.
For more information: Geocaching Malaysia
My geocaching blog: Barnyard Dawg