| A Heritage Trip, September 2011 |
With two friends I have recently made a heritage trip to Papan and Taiping. One of them is active in the Siamese Heritage Protection and he was interested to learn more about heritage conservation in Malaysia.
Our first destination was Papan, where my friend Hong showed us the clinic where Sybil Kathigasu worked during the Japanese occupation and which is now a Memorial to this courageous woman. After lunch in nearby Pusing, we explored Papan town.
Many of the houses are ruins, and the explanation is simple. The town is sitting on a rich tin ore deposit. Decades ago a mining company has already acquired much of Papan and the fate of the town hangs now on the tin price.
Next we visited the Rumah Besar Raja Bilah, built in 1896 by the Mandalaing nobleman Raja Bilah. Around that time Papan was the administrative center for the tin mining activities in the Kinta valley.
Then we continued to Taiping where we had dinner with several Taiping friends, all interested in the rich history of their town.
Recently in Taiping the First Galleria has been opened, and its owner, Anuar Isa, was so kind to invite us for coffee and give us a private tour.
The next morning we first visited the shop of Yeap, the Vice-President of the Taiping Heritage Society and after that several other places of historical interest. We even entered the Peace Hotel, now a brothel. The ladies must have been disappointed that we were more interested in the architecture of the hotel than i what they had to offer..:-). And we had a look at the Shun Tak Association building, which hopefully will be restored soon. In the afternoon we drove to Kuala Kangsar and from there to the Suka Suka resort at Cenderoh Lake. The owner Aziz is interested in repairing and rebuilding traditional Malay houses. After a relaxing afternoon we enjoyed a pleasant dinner prepared by his wife Asiah.
Near to his resort, high in the hills, there are remains of an airplane, that was shot down during the Emergency in 1952. Only the engine and a wheel are left, and with the help of a local guide we visited this spot. A very different kind of cultural heritage and a nice ending of an interesting trip. |
 Papan
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 Sybil's Museum
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 Inside the house
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 Hong explaining details
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 The garden
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 The secret hiding place for the radio
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 One for the album
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 Lunch in Pusing
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 Famous Ming Feong restaurant
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 Old shop interior
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 Street in Papan
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 Ruined shoplot
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 Even more ruined
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 Nice gallery
3 comments |
 The Mandalaing Rumah Besar
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 Interior
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 The entrance
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 Traditional mosque
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 Taiping Tourist Office
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 The Lake Gardens
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 Serene...
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 And beautiful
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 Dinner
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 Anuar and the First Galleria
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 Yeap signing the guestbook
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 Coffee time
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 Dim ssum breakfast
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 Yeap's shop
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 First floor. Spacious
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 Inside the shop
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 Old staircase
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 The Peace Hotel
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 Detail
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 Inside the hotel
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 Interior of the Peace hotel
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 Shun Tak Association
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 Interior
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 Ms Tung, explaing the plans
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 Roof of the hall
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 Another old shoplot
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 Detail
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 Now a kopi tiam
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 All Saint's Church (1886)
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 Interior
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 Detail
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 The Perak Museum
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 Inside the museum
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 Lunch
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 It often rains in Taiping
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 The Ubudiah Mosque Kuala Kangsar
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 Old house near the mosque
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 And an old car..:-)
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 Ruined house
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 Interior
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 Muzium DiRaja
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 Closed for years already
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 Suka Suka
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 Orchids
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 Azam catching fish
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 Dinner time in Suka Suka
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 Start of the hike
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 Trail not always clear
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 We found it. The wheel
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 And the engine
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 Close-up
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 Leech country!
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 Goodbye and see you again!
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wrote on Sep 15, 2011:
a galley? what's that? in local lingo it is a "five-foot way". yes, measure it. it should be 5ft wide. that's the ancestor of the modern "covered walkway". /stephen |
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wrote on Sep 15, 2011:
where are the pigeons? there's usually a flock where the loan pigeon seen is. did you check if there's a stall inside offering double-boiled pigeon?
also, you should have visited the bazaar next door -- you can see its roof to the right. it is also an icon of taiping. generations of parents have bought their childrens' school uniforms, shoes and bags there. this applies specially to parents from the outlying kampongs such as batu kurau, semanggol and even as far as bagan seria.
the taiping bus station used to be situated opposite -- right where the malay bazaar and car park now is. and it is only logical for the parents from outstation to just hop over to the bazaar. most of the shops are hand me downs from one generation to the next.
there's also another bazaar on main road
btw the chicken hor fun in peace hotel used to be a favourite among the town folks. wonder if it is still as good. /stephen |
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wrote on Sep 15, 2011:
did you meet james foo, a classmate of mine, there? used to be secretary or some other post. i often wondered how a 'banana' managed to helm what is essentially a chinese association. /stephen |
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wrote on Sep 15, 2011:
the building itself is a museum piece. is the bird collection still on display? the last time i visited -- and that was years ago -- the specimens were in rather poor condition already. but the python skeleton should still be imposing -- for its length. /stephen |
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wrote on Sep 15, 2011:
my lovely hometown, Kuala Kangsar. |
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Kwai Loh wrote on Sep 16, 2011:
A gallery, my friend, not a galley...:-) Click here for a definition. |
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wrote on Sep 16, 2011:
bro, that 'galley' was a typo, lah. just missed the 'r' /stephen |
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Kwai Loh wrote on Sep 16, 2011:
There were ladies of pleasure inside. They sure would have been offended if I had called them double-boiled pigeons, haha! |
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