Adventure page

Taiping, January 2009

Another belated report, like Taiping & CH, August 2006 about a Gang of Four trip. Again to Taiping, this time Khong did not join, but Gilbert and Yoke Sim did. George was already in Taiping. Mainly pictures, a few comments only.

We started with a visit to the Tanjung Tualang no 5 tin dredge. This monumental behemoth is the only remaing tin dredge in Malaysia. During our visit the friendly manager told me that there were plans for renovation.
While my friends were birding around the pond in which the dredge was situated, I got permission to explore the dredge on my own. Aboslutely fascinating, although I would have needed a guide to explain the details of the machinery. There is a small museum.

Front of the dredge

Backside of the dredge

The dredge is tilted

View down from an upper floor

How a dredge operates

We went to Pusing for lunch at the Ming Feong restaurant The restaurant has affordable freshwater prawns and is famous for its "puppie duck".

The manager and I

Ming Feong restaurant

Home-made noodles

Next stop was at Papan, with its overgrown ruins, resembling Angkor Wat. During the Japanese occupation Sybil Kathegasu stayed in Papan and helped resistance people. The house where she lived is now a museum.

Papan

Sybil Kathegasu Museum

We coninued to Taiping where we met George and had a cendol, before we had a look at the SBS, the Sāsanārakkha Buddhist Sanctuary , high on the slopes of Maxwell Hill .

Our last destination for the day was the Om Sri Jada Muniswarar in Kamunting, better known as the Wild Boar Temple. Every day wild boar arrive in the evening from the surrounding jungle to get fed by temple volumteers. After runours were shared that people got rich after touching the back of the animals, the temple became a toruist attraction. Quite an amazing experience to see crowds of people trying to touch a wild boar ;-)