On 10/01/2025, the Ipoh Echo published an article Ng Boo Bee Fountain Restored, about the iconic fountain in the Taiping Lake Gardens. I visited the fountain a few times, last year.
A quote from the article:
Originally located in front of the Taiping Market, this iron fountain was made by Penang Foundry and was donated by Ng Boo Bee
When you Google for Ng Boo Bee Fountain, you will find many similar hits: Donated by Ng Boo Bee in the late 19th century, originally located in front of the Taiping market, removed to the Lake Gardens when the New Clocktower was constructed in the 1960s.
Unfortunately, this story is completely wrong.
I will split this post in three parts, about the fountain in the Lake Gardens, about Ng Boo Bee and- about the origins of the incorrect story.
The fountain in the Lake Gardens
It was an eyeopener for me that there has been a fountain in the Taiping Lake Gardens from the beginning. Presented by the Chinese community, see my blog, Taiping Lake Gardens. I searched the NewspaperSG archive and found another report about the opening of the Lake Gardens.
Source: Straits Times Weekly Issue, 28 November 1893. I have added a transcription.
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When Mr. and Mes. Swettenham arrive, they are met by the two leading members of the Chinese community, Chung Keng Quee (Ah Kwi), and Chin Ah Yam (Ah Yam). During the Larut Wars they were sworn enemies, as leaders of the Hai San and Ghee Hin, now they have become friends and both have been appointed Kapitan Cina. They hand over a silver key to Mrs. Swettenham and ask her to present the fountain on behalf of the Chinese to the Public Garden.
So that settles the question if Ng Boo Bee was related to the fountain. He was not and the name Ng Boo Bee fountain should not be used. Maybe name it Peace Fountain?
About Ng Boo Bee
Although Ng Boo Bee (1853-1921) has been very important for Taiping, not much information can be found on the Internet. There is no Wikipedia topic about him, like there is for Chung Keng Quee. In the Wikipedia article Malaysian Chinese there is only a picture of him with British officials, nothing about his life. Here is the picture, he is seated second from left, flanked by Sir John Anderson(incoming Governor of the Strait’s Settlements, and Sir Frank Swettenham (the outgoing Governor).
Ng Boo Bee was not only an important tycoon and a millionaire, but also a philanthropist . Here is a part of the obituary, published in the Pinang Gazette and Straits Chronicle after he passed away in 1921.
The Taiping people will remember him because of the handsome fountain he donated in 1908 to the fish market of Taiping. Not only decorative, but also functional because there were tanks around the fountain to keep the fish alive.
Two senior THS members remember the fountain, it was still there when they visited the fish market in the early1960s with their mothers. A few years ago they interviewed an old fishmonger, who told them how sad he was when the fountain was destroyed to make place for more stalls. So the fountain donated by Ng Boo Bee, doesn’t exist anymore. It would be wonderful to have a picture of that fountain.
It is not clear when it was destroyed. But this newspaper clipping might be a clue. Source: The Straits Times, 3 February 1965 A big freshen-up campaign by Taiping council. Here is a paragraph that might be interesting for this post:
The council is also considering sponsoring design competitions for a new $100,000 market, a clocktower $50,000 and a $30,000 water fountain.+
The clocktower and the fountain were built, although the fountain (and the roundabout where it was located), do not exist anymore. No new market has been built, could the money have been used to upgrade the Fish Market (resulting in the destruction of the fountain)?
The origins of the incorrect story.
I have spent much time the last few weeks searching for the source of the wrong story. The initial mistake is that the Ng Boo Bee Fountain was located at (outside) the fish market, instead of inside.
The earliest reference to a fountain AT the market that I have found, is this one: Ng Boo Bee Fountain, Taiping (4 February, 2006). It gives some information about Ng Boo Bee and then continues:
Ng Boo Bee’s fountain was made of cast iron at the Penang Foundry. It was originally installed at the Taiping Market, but was later moved to the lawn outside the Lake Gardens.
Another “old” reference is the Taiping Heritage Trail (~2015) which mentions the New Clocktower and writes about it:
Market Square used to feature an iron fountain (Ng Boo Bee Fountain) but this was relocated to the Lake Gardens and replaced by this extraordinary concrete clock tower
These two references are from popular, reliable websites and have percolated the Internet for many years. Even if they are corrected, it will take a long time before the Ng Boo Bee Fountain in the Lake Gardens has disappeared from cyberspace.
What might help, is an entry in Wikipedia about Ng Boo Bee, but to create it, would be a gigantic job.
A few weeks ago, I published a post about the KL Lake Gardens, now renamed Perdana Botanical Garden. The gardens were developed in the 1880s and opened on 13 May 1889. During this period Sir Frank Swettenham was Resident of Selangor, and his wife, Lady Sydney Swettenham, was a strong supporter of the project/ In her honor the lake was named Sydney Lake.
I knew that Lady Swettenham was also a supporter of the Taiping Lake Gardens, I searched for more information and found a Wikipedia article Taiping Lake Gardens, in which she is mentioned in the history section. But how? I was shocked. Here is a quote:
The Taiping Lake Gardens was originally a mining ground before it was established as a public garden in 1880. The idea of a public garden was the brainchild of Colonel Robert Sandilands Frowd Walker.[1] The garden was developed by Charles Compton Reade (1880–1933), who was also responsible for planning the Kuala Lumpur garden town, together with Lady Swettenham.
That the garden was developed by Reade is clearly nonsensical, as he was born in 1880., the year that Colonel Walker came with the idea.
I asked Marianne, a member of the Taiping Heritage Society and experienced in using the NewspaperSG online archive to search for information. She found a gem. Here it is
Source The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser, 4 December 1893 As it is not easy to read, I have added a transcription.
The Public Gardens (the original name) were opened on+ 17 November 1893 by Sir Frank Swettenham, the Resident of Perak and his wife, Lady Swettenham. She performed the opening ceremony by turning on the fountain presented by the Chinese community. Frank Swettenham gave a speech in which he praised W.R Scott who had put his whole heart in the project.
Not only the reference to Raede is bizarre, also the opening date of the Garden is incorrect, and it is not the first public garden in what soon would become the Federated Malay States, because the Kuala Lumpur public garden had been opened in 1889, 4 years earlier.
What I often do, when I find discrepancies in Wikipedia, is to check the history of the article. Followers of my blog may remember the Amelia Earhart saga, where the author of the Tekah Aeodrome article , had wrongly assumed that she had landed there on 7 June 1937.
So I checked the history of the Taiping Lake Garden topic, and I was shocked to find that the creator of the Lake Gardens topic on 5 February 2009, was the same Andrew Kidman, who created the Tekah item on 12 June 2007. He has been quite active between 2007 abd 2012, creating 36 Wikipedia pages. No sign of life after that, I have tried to contact him in 2019, no response.
Does it matter, these two mistakes? Yes, because these errors have percolated the Internet during the more than 15 years that they went unnoticed. Google for the history of the Taiping Lake Gardens and you may find that they are the oldest public gardens in Malaya and designed by the New Zealand town planner Charles Compton Reade.
In my opinion, the Taiping Heritage Society has the best credentials to correct the errors. I am willing to assist them.
A humorous detail: Swettenham compares the two public gardens in Taiping and Kuala Lumpur. He can do that because, before becoming the Resident of Perak (1889-1896), he was the Resident of Selangor (1882-1889). This is his opinion about the Taiping Lake Gardens:
Of course they could never expect to have such a beautiful garden as in the adjoined State of Selangor when the grounds seemed to have been formed by Nature for the purpose
Would current visitors of both gardens still agree with him?
A final remark
Lady Swettenham opened the gardens by activating the fountain given by the Chinese community of Taiping. The beautiful fountain is still there and has been rejuvenated last year. It is commonly called the Ng Boo Bee Fountain. But that is incorrect. In my next post I will explain the confusion.
Taiping, my adopted hometown, is dominated by Maxwell Hill. Now renamed Bukit Larut, it is the oldest hill resort in Peninsular Malaysia. Established in 1884, it contains several colonial bungalows, which make it an important cultural heritage site. My friend Suet Fun published a book in 2019, Beguiled on Larut Hills, in which she describes all aspects of Maxwel Hill in great detail.
This blog describes my personal experience with Maxell Hill.
My first visit to Maxwell Hill was in December 2003. I joined my friend Stephen on a trip to Taiping, his hometown, and we stayed one night in Speedy’s Rest House.
What a beautiful view of Taiping, far below in the plains. The caretaker of the bungalow was Guna. Lat-er that night, after the rain, the night view was spectacular too.
The next year, in April, I came back to Speedy’s with friends to celebrate my 60th birthday.
It was a very enjoyable celebration. Guna prepared a nice dinner. A detailed report about this trip, with many photos, can be found here.
Later that year, in December, I came back to Taiping with my friends Khong and George. Khong had aroused my interest in waterfalls, and we visited several of them. The Maxwell Hill waterfall is visible from Taiping, but we didn’t know how to reach it.
It was only several years later, in January 2007, that a friend of George showed us the trail to the waterfall. Quite impressive.
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I visited Taiping often, as I became more and more interested in its cultural heritage, like the famous Lake Gardens. Even without visiting Maxwell Hill, it was always visible.
In July 2008, I visited a heritage site in the foothills near a mysterious bridge. An old abandoned swimming pool was constructed by the New Club in the first quarter of the last century. It was fed by water from the Maxwell Hill waterfall.
There is another waterfall on the slopes of Maxwell Hill. I visited it in January 2009 with George and Richard. I named it Kamunting Fall, although it is actually a waterfall in the Ranting River. The trailhead is the same as for the Maxwell Hill fall, but access is tougher.
A few months later, George and I used the jeep service to go up the hill. Not to stay overnight, just to walk around in the fresh air and have a look at the bungalows around the jeep station, colloquially called the 6th Mile.
You could call it a small village, with several bungalows and a cafeteria..
Speedy’s bungalow is a bit further uphill. We walked there and found that the bungalow was closed and Guna’s living quarters were vacant. Later, we were told that his lease had not been renewed. Sad.
We met Guna at the Sri Maha Kaaliamman Temple near the “village” where he was working now. Near the temple, they were building a huge complex, meant to become a hostel? Until present, it has never been used.
My next visit to Maxwell Hill was in May 2012. A birding trip with the “extended” Gang of Four. We- had booked accommodation in the Beringin bungalow/.
A detailed report with pictures of birds and flowers can be found here. We walked up to Speedy’s bungalow and noticed that it had been transformed into a Biodiversity Center.
There were signboards in the garden, and we could enter the bungalow, but there was nobody.
We also walked to the Indian temple, where we met Guna, who guided us around.-
I have a fascination for ruined heritage, so I came back several times to the New Club Swimming Pool. My friend Khong shared a picture he took of the access path, taken in 199. I did the same in November 2013 and February 2016. The difference in water flow might be seasonal.-
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Here are four photos of the main basin. In 2003 with George, 2016 with Paul, Fahmi and Rani, 2019 with Halim, and in 2025 with Yeap.
In January 2017 I revisited the Kamunting waterfall with Rani, Paul and Fahmi. On our way back, we also+ had a look at the Maxwell Hill fall.
Close to Speedy’s, there is another bungalow, called the Nest. Owned by the Methodist Church, I had never visited it. That changed when the Church leased the bungalow to my friend Suet Fun and Peter, her husband. They transformed the bungalow into a beautiful home for themselves, with accommodation for paying guests. In May 2017, I visited the Nest for the first time, with Aric and Hong, an Ipoh friend. We had booked a jeep that brought us to Speedy’s, from where it was a short walk to the Nest.
A hearty welcome by Suet Fun and Peter.
I was very impressed by the bungalow. I took many pictures, and Aric had brought his drone. I have written a separate blog, The Nest, Heaven on Earth, with pictures of all my visits to the Nest.-
In this report, more about what we did during our stay. First, we had a look at Speedy’s, which you pass, walking from the Nest to the main road. The Biodiversity Center, which we visited in 2012, was no longer in use, unlocked, a failed project.
Between Speedy’s and the Nest, there existed another bungalow, named the Hugh Low bungalow. Hong and I managed to find the remains of it. A real adventure, as there was no trail, I have never seen a picture how the bungalow originally looked like.
The next day, another adventure. A heritage friend of mine, Wan Amril, knows a lot about Maxwell Hill. He told me that there was a monument for J.W.W Birch, the first British resident of Perak, near the Telecom towers at the end of the road, and he was willing to guide us there. It was a nice walk, and near the end of the road, he showed us a vague trail that led in a few hundred meters to the monument.
The inscription says that T.W.W Birch was the first Englishman to climb the mountain (Gunung Hijau) in 1875. The T must be a mistake, because J.W.W Birch indeed climbed the mountain. I wrote a post about his “expedition”, click here.
After visiting the monument- (many leeches!), we walked to the end of the road, to the Cottage, the oldest bungalow on Maxwell Hill. Unfortunately not accessible as it is occupied by the Telecom people.
Wan Amril drove us back to Taiping after a stop at the Cafeteria, managed by him. There is a small waterfall beside the road, where the jeep service doesn’t stop.
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It was a very rewarding trip. I wrote a detailed report about it, Maxwell Hill
When I visited Taiping later in 2017, I joined Wan Amril on a half-day trip to the 6th mile village, where he had work to do at his cafeteria. I had lunch there and walked around.
Some of the bungalows looked good; others were damaged by landslides. A mixture of beauty and decay, not uncommon in Taiping town as well.
More decay at Speedy’s, the Biodiversity Center was abandoned and desolate.
Although I knew that Suet Fun and Peter were not in the Nest, I had a look. Good that there was a locked gate.
I was fascinated by the atmosphere of the Nest and came back, on my own, April 2018, to relax after busy days in Taiping-
I walked up the road to visit the Birch monument and noticed that there was now a signboard. Actually, it is a bit more than 50 meters!
Speedy’s still the same.
Three months later, I visited the Nest again. Enjoying the hospitality and the food.
Speedy’s apparently had a new destination, a basic hostel?
In November, I came back with Aric. Paul and Fahmi joined us this time.
In the evening it can be a bit chilly.
A few bright lights outside the bungalow attract hordes of moths.
The Nest from the air, drone photo by Aric. Taiping down in the plains.
I was expecting to revisit the Nest more often. But that was not to be. In 2019, Suet Fun and Peter closed the Nest because she was working on her book. At the end of 2019, a major storm caused so much damage to the access road that it had to be closed for repairs. The road reopened in April last year.
Here is a Google Earth screenshot of the winding road with the locations mentioned in this post. The road ends at the Cottage, but the top of the mountain, climbed by Birch, is still a hiking trail.
Of course, I am very curious about the current situation of the bungalows on Maxwell Hill after six years of forced abandonment. Sad news is that the Church took back the Nest a few years ago, Suet Fun and Peter had to vacate their Heaven on Earth. It seems that the bungalow is now being “renovated. How will Speedy’s look like now? Three bungalows have been reopened. What about the other ones?
I was thinking about using the jeep service for a day trip when I am back in Taiping. Going up in the morning to the 6th mile, walk around, having lunch in the cafeteria, and back in the afternoon.
But I understand that at the moment the jeep service is only available for people who have booked accommodation in one of the bungalows, not for day trippers. Why?
To be honest. I have a suspicion that the authorities have a hidden agenda. To revive the idea of a cable car up the hill. Similar to Penang Hill.
When I celebrated my 60th birthday in Speedy’s bungalow on Maxwell Hill, I knew that there was another bungalow, a few hundred meters away, called the Nest. Apparently, it was owned by the Methodist Church.
More than ten years later, the Church leased the Nest to Suet Fun, a friend of mine. She and Peter, her husband, transformed the bungalow into a colonial-style home. A few rooms were available for paying guests. I visited them for the first time in May 2017 and was so enamored of the peaceful atmosphere that I came back three times in the following year. A Heaven on Earth. I
I had hoped to visit the Nest more often, but unfortunately, that was not to be. In 2019, Suet Fun -closed the Nest for the time being, because she was working on a new book and needed to be in Taiping. Later that year, a major landslide at Maxwell Hill caused so much damage to the access road that the authorities had to close it. After about six years of repair, the road was reopened in April 2025. But in the meantime, the Church had taken back the Nest, so Suet Fun and Peter had to vacate the bungalow. At the moment the Nets is being renovated.
During my four visits to this Heaven on Earth, I took many pictures of the Nest. Here is a selection.
First, an aerial view of the Nest, surrounded by pristine forest, on the slopes of Maxwell Hill.
The drone picture was taken by Aric during my first stay in May 2017. He also took a drone video. For what we did during our stay, see my report on Maxwell Hill (still under construction). In this post I just want to evoke the atmosphere of the Nest and show the hospitality of our hosts.
The moving clouds can change the atmosphere within minutes.
Suet Fun is a creative cook.
The next morning
Lunch and dinner on the second day.
My second visit was in April 2018.
The path leading from Speedy’s bungalow to the Nest. As if you are going back in time.
Three months later, in July 2018, I returned to the Nest, where I stayed two nights
View from the Nest of Gunung Bubu, about 60 km away. And the path leading back to “civilisation”.`
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My last visit was in December 2018. This time I was joined by Aric, Paul and Fahmi/ We stayed two nights. The first night, we were the only guests.
it can get a bit chilly in the evening.
The next day, a group of Suet Fun’s friends arrived. No problem for her to prepare dinner for a large group!
During this visit, Aric recorded another drone video. Here is a screenshot showing the Nest with Taiping far down in the plains. Click on the picture to watch the video/.
My fourth visit to Taping this year! The main reason was the 9 Emperor Gods Festival. But it so happened that my friend Lay Chun celebrated her birthday, and she invited me to her birthday dinner. On Monday, 27 October, I took the MRT and ETS to Taiping. The train was fully booked. And freezing cold.
From the station I took a Grab to Hotel Furama; I always have the same room; it feels like my second home.
I went out for my lunch and walked to the Peace Hotel, where I had my Char Kway Teow. After Lay Chun introduced me to this stall, I became a regular visitor.
A few days earlier, there had been heavy rain with flooding and evacuations in several regions around Taiping, but now the weather was splendid, so I decided to walk around a bit. One of the reasons I love Taiping is the mixture of beauty and decay. Here are two examples. The beautiful Peranakan house on Jalan Stesen and a ruin, which also has its charm..
I passed the former Perak Railway Headquarters (later the PWD department), which was recently destroyed by fire. The third fire in a heritage-related, abandoned building in the last three years. Very suspicious, in my opinion. More about the “Shame of Taiping” later in this post.
PWD building 2025Rest House 2023Majestic Cinema 2025
Before returning to my hotel, I relaxed for a while at the Lake Gardens.
One month ago, Siang Malam reopened after the rebuilding. I was interested to have a look and when I mentioned it to my friends, they liked to join. Pleasant atmosphere, quite a big crowd. I had Wantan Mee, not bed.
The 9 Emperor Gods Festival is held during the first 9 days of the ninth lunar month. The main procession is on day 8, and the firewalking is on the final night. In 2019, I watched the procession for the first time. Click here for a report. I found it so spectacular that I came back in 2023 (report here), so this was my third time. Again, I was the guest of Ng Teng Hin and Bok Kin, in the townhouse of Ng Boo Bee, Teng Hin’s ancestor..
The Ng family always prepares an offering table. When the procession passes the house, they stop for a while and perform rituals.
Here are two short videos about the procession..
A few more pictures. The piercings were less extreme than in 2019 and 2023 but still fascinating. Mostly tongue and cheek piercings
After the floats and devotees had passed the house, I walked slowly back, again encountering the procession. Here, a float is passing the clock tower. The other picture shows Kavadi carriers taking a rest. The Hindu Navaratri festival takes place in the same period as the 9 Emperor Gods festival, and the procession has devotees from both religions.
Devotees are always supported by helpers, who carry a stool if they need to rest.
The floats can be large and are often impressive.
Later that evening, I was picked up from Furama by my friend Goh for the birthday dinner. Lay Chun had invited 17 guests and booked two tables. A delicious mix of Chinese dishes, the picture shows six of the eight courses
At the end of the dinner, of course, there was the traditional birthday cake.
The next morning, I had breakfast with Yeap and his wife. Indian food/
I was interested to (re)visit the old New Club Swimming Pool and asked Yeap if he would like to join me. The last time I visited the pool was with my friend Halim in 2019. The path starts near the Indian temple, just before the bridge. It’s an easy path that, in a few hundred meters, brings you to the pool.
After a few more steps, we reached the swimming pool. It was built in the early 19th century exclusively for New Club members. After the New Club built a new swimming pool near the club building, the old swimming pool was abandoned, but Yeap told me that in the seventies, as a teenager, he. had still been swimming here, organised by his school/
The pool was heavily silted, and the buildings (changing rooms, a canteen, etc) were long gone, but as a memory from the past, the pool could become an interesting heritage attraction..
In 2019, my friend Halim posed as a diver, and I did the same this time. In 2019, the pool was not yet silted!
Small steps lead to an upper terrace. We did not explore further and walked back to the road.
The Indian temple and the romantic footbridge
Next, we had a look at the Kempe Club, visited by me in 2019 (report here) when it was still used by old-timers. Now locked, but still in good condition. Yeap, a Rotarian, told me that the Rotary Taiping had used this club for their weekly meetings.
In the afternoon, I went out for lunch at Ansari Cendol, taking a different route. Again the charm of Taiping, a mixture of beauty and decay.
I like this kind of mural better than the huge “official” ones.
On my way, I passed the replica of the Pasar. At the moment an empty shell. Will it ever become a market again?
At Ansari, this time I had not only a cendol, but also a pasembor.
I walked back along Jalan Stesen. Two years ago, an ambitious plan was launched to transform the Rest House and the adjoining buildings (Perak Railway building) into a boutique hotel. Click here for the Facebook page. But until now nothing happened; it seems that there is a permission issue, with possibly racial undertones.
Officially, both buildings have been fenced off, but access was still possible, as I have shown in several earlier blog posts. As a result, homeless people have been staying in both buildings. Since earlier this year, the Rest House has even a real entrance gate. I went inside and noticed that the resident had parked his motorbike inside the compound..
The complex next to the Rest House, the former Railway Headquarters, consists actually of two buildings. A two-story timber structure, dated to 1885, and a two-story brick building, added later. It is this brick building that has been damaged by fire. The timber structure, shown below, had its own resident, access via a small opening in the fence.
No sign of a resident this time. I sneaked in to have a look at the murals.
No fire in this building, but for many years it has been a ruin, the courtyard has become a jungle. At the back, you can see the facade of the brick building..
Here is the brick building, where the fire raged. Too dangerous to enter, but I could take some photos from the outside. Left the Cross Street facade, right the main facade at Jalan Stesen.
The brick structure is still solid, but the roof is destroyed. Inside, it was vandalized years ago, and the wooden flooring was stolen. That’s why I assumed that no resident would live in this building.
But there is one location, outside the building, near the counter, familiar to many Taiping folks, that shows traces of human presence. Notice that there is a suitcase, a mattress. and some clothes.
I walked back to my hotel. Again, the charm of Taiping, the mixture of beauty and decay.
The beautiful Larut, Matang & Selama Land and District Office, a design by Caulfield, completed in 1897. One of the few heritage buildings maintained by the authorities, most of the other heritage buildings are preserved by private initiative.
On the other side of the road, the Kwangtung Association building, with a huge mural on its side facade.
The FMS restaurant (on the site of the former Raja Rest House) and the Silver Jubilee Jetty. Walking around in Taiping is always a pleasure.
In the evening, I went with Yeap and his wife to the 9 Emperor Gods Temple in Tupai for the firewalking ceremony. Waiting for them, I walked to the nearby Peng Loong kampong. The kampong had a bad reputation, but it is now peaceful.
The Tupai Temple is the oldest 9 Emperor Gods temple in Taiping, and attracts a crowd of devotees and other visitors during the festival.
During the nine days of the festival, devotees eat vegetarian food. In and around the temple compound, there are many eateries. We had dinner there, the traditional fare, nee rebus, curry mee, all vegetarian..
I had a look at the firewalking place, where they were busy preparing the embers. It is a small stretch, between the two black flags, where the devotees will walk..
I also visited the temple.
There are many rituals in preparation for the actual firewalking. Here is a video.
Preparing for the actual firewalking. The guy with the yellow “apron” is the leader and the caretaker of the temple. Notice the red glowing of the embers!
A video shows better what firewalking is. Some devotees walk slowly, even carrying a kid. Others run as fast as they can.
Teap told me that many devotees stay in the temple during the nine days and showed me the dormitories, with people going home
After the firewalking. preparations are made to send off the Emperor Gods.
A fascinating ceremony! Before I went to sleep, I needed to relax a bit at the Lake Gardens.
The next morning, I had breakfast with my friend Foo, Chee Cheong Fun at the Circus Grounds, , one of our traditions.
Later, he picked me up from Furama and dropped me at the station. I am fortunate to have good friends in Taiping!
Recently, I was in Taiping with two Dutch friends. They loved the Lake Gardens and enjoyed the food. I also showed them the impressive mural of Amelia Earhart, the famous American aviator.
Here, I am standing in front of it.
I pointed out the text on the mural:
Amelia Mary Earhart, the first woman to fly solo around the world stopped to refuel at the Taiping Aerodrome in Tekah on 20th June 1937.
And I told him that Amelia Earhart actually never landed in Taiping.
Of course, Mathew was surprised. I gave him the link to my blog, Did Amelia Earhart land in Taiping?, written three years ago. In that blog I had demonstrated convincingly that she had never landed in Taiping and had not even the intention to do so. Although there was some publicity in the press, no action was taken by the relevant authorities to correct the mistake and I decided to let it go.
Mathew was intrigued and, back in the Netherlands, he searched in Delpher. a Dutch newspaper archive for more information about Amelia Earhart. He found many clippings, in Dutch language of course. I will describe them in the appendix.
Singapore also has a newspaper archive, NewspaperSG. I had used it often to find information about the history of Taiping. But I never searched for information about Amelia Earhart. Now I did! Here is a direct link to the June 1937 database.
Almost immediately I found what I was looking for. In the Pinang Gazette and Straits Chronicle of 21 June. Here it is
On 20June 1937 Amelia Earhart left Bangkok for her flight to to Singapore. The aerodromes of Penang and Alor Star made preparations in case she decided to land at either of them. At 2:35pm a message from Alor STar said that she had passed over. In Penang there was hope she might land there, but after about 45 minutes …
… a message was received from Taiping to say that Miss Earhart’s machine had passed over that State.
This should end the controversy. Will the relevant authorities take action this time and modify the text on the mural?
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APPENDIX
Amelia Earhart’s solo flight around the world was global news. Even more so in the Netherlands, for several reasons. In 1934, the KLM had won the prestigious handicap race, London-Melbourne. The flight of the “Uiver” caused a lot of enthusiasm. In those early decades of aviation, Fokker, a Dutch company, dominated the civil aircraft industry. And Amelia Earhart’s flight plan included Bandung in the Dutch East Indies. a Dutch colony (now Indonesia).
Here are a few newspaper clippings collected by Mathew. I have added the English translation (in blue italics) and some comments of my own
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Sumatra-bode, 19 June 1937
Amelia Earhart’s Flight Akyab, June 18 (Aneta). Amelia Earhart arrived from Calcutta and departed for Bangkok at 6:4 GMT, but after battling the monsoon for two hours and failing to establish radio contact with the bearing stations in Rangoon and Akyab, she returned. The return trip occurred during a heavy thunderstorm. Amelia Earhart encountered dense cloud cover, while visibility was poor over the desolate coastline, one of the most treacherous factors on long-distance flights. Earhart will continue her world flight on June 19.
The original plan was to fly from Calcutta to Bangkok with a refueling stop in Akyab. But she had to battle the monsoon weather and was forced to return to Akyab. The visibility was so bad that she didn’t dare to fly over land where suddenly a hill might appear. Instead, she followed the “desolate” coastline.
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Algemeen handelsblad voor Nederlandsch-Indie¨, 21 juni 1937
Amelia’s World Flight. Arrived in Rangoon. Rangoon, June 19 (Own service). —Amelia Earhart arrived in Rangoon on Saturday morning.She took off from Akyab three times. After the first takeoff, she turned back.After this, she tried again, but again, due to bad weather, she turned back. Finally, the third time, she succeeded. Upon her arrival in Rangoon, the round-the-world flyer declared that the Akyab-Rangoon leg was the worst of the entire trip.
The next day, the weather was even worse. No way of reaching Bangkok. After a few unsuccessful attempts, she managed to land in Rangoon and stay overnight there.
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Nieuwe Apeldoornsche courant, 21 juni 1937
Amelia Earhart to Bandung Won the Rangoon-Singapore route of the “Ibis” and an English plane. Amelia Earhart, coming from Rangoon, landed in Singapore. She arrived ten minutes ahead of the KLM plane, the “Ibis.” The two KLM and Imperial Airways airliners took off from Bangkok at the same time as Amelia Earhart. The brave pilot said she had made a bet with the airline pilots that she would cover the distance from Bangkok to Singapore the fastest. Laughing, she took a picture of the “Ibis” as the plane landed at the airport after her. To continue her flight around the world, Amelia Earhart left for Bandung, in the Dutch East Indies, last night.
On 20 June the weather improves and Amelia Earhart reaches Singapore, after a refueling stop in Bangkok. A bit earlier than the Ibis and the English plane, but the story about a bet is fake news and will be corrected later. Notice how this newspaper, based in the Netherlands, writes that she left for Bandung “last night”. Amelia avoided flying at night, she left Singapore early morning on 21 June, Different time zones… 😉
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Het nieuws van den dag voor Nederlandsch-Indie¨, 21 juni 1937
WHERE WAS AMELIA EARHART…? Last Saturday, wild rumors circulated in a small circle in Bandung that the daring American ocean aviator Amelia Earhart, who was on a round-the-world flight over the British East Indies, would be honoring Bandung with a visit. The Royal Netherlands Air Force (KNIL) agency here had received word that Lady “Lindy” would most likely land in Andir on Sunday, or yesterday during the day. However, it was not to be. An Aneta report,distributed via the Nirom, informed the public yesterday morning that Lady “Lindy” had only arrived in Rangoon last Saturday afternoon, after having taken off from Akyab three times previously; however, the exceptionally bad weather forced her to return to Akyab an equal number of times. Last night we received a telephone message from the KNIL agent here, Mr. L. Mees, in Bandung, stating that Miss Amelia Earhart is expected in Andir Monday morning (today) between 8 and 10 a.m.
A nice article from a newspaper in the Dutch East Indies, where people are anxiously waiting in Bandung for her arrival on 20 June, until they are notified about the delay in Burma.
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Dagblad nieuwe Hoornsche courant, 21J une 1937
Amelia Earhart in Bandung. BANDUNG, JUNE 21 (Aneta—A.N.P.). Amelia Earhart arrived in Bandung at 1:56 p.m. local time. Further information. BANDUNG, June 21 (Aneta—A.N.P.). The aviator Amelia Earhart landed in Bandung this morning at 10:56 a.m. on her round-the-world flight. She circled above the airfield for fifteen minutes, presumably because the various signs on the ground were obscured by the low-hanging clouds. Then several aircraft from the aviation department took off and landed to show Amelia how to land. There was great interest at the airfield. The “Bandung Vooruit” association offered flowers. Miss Earhart will stay here for three days, as KLM has the only equipment in Bandung where it can have the instruments of its modern aircraft thoroughly overhauled. Miss Earhart will visit the Tangkoeban Pra-hoe this evening.
On 21 June, Amelia Earhart lands in Bandung. Notice that the arrival time is given twice, with a strange difference of three hours. The report contains one interesting detail, which I have not found elsewhere, that local aviators took off to help her land because low-hanging clouds obscured the landing signs on the runway. Amelia stayed three nights here, so the KLM workshop could thoroughly inspect her plane. Therefore, she had time to be a tourist and visit the Tangkoeban Pra-hoe , a famous volcano near Bandung.
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Dagblad nieuwe Hoornsche courant, 21J une 1937
No Bet BATAVIA, June 21 (Aneta—A.N.P.). The commander of the “Ibis,” Mr. Stork, reported that Amelia Earhart, after taking off from the airport in Singapore, returned there due to engine trouble. She was still there when the “Ibis” took off. Regarding reports of a so-called friendly competition between Amelia Earhart and the KLM “Ibis,” he stated that competitions are never held with KLM aircraft, and moreover, the Rangoon-Singapore route for the “Ibis” was completely different from that for the American aviator. The “Ibis” made stopovers in Bangkok, Penang, and Medan, where delays occurred for refueling, food, mail, and loading, while Amelia Earhart—except for a stopover in Bangkok—flew directly to Singapore. It should also be noted that the “Ibis” had a speed of 270 km/h, while Amelia Earhart, with her Wasp Junior engines, had a speed of 237 km/h. The entire betting story must therefore be considered completely false.
In the same newspaper, a correction of the “bet” story. The pilot of the “Ibis” explains that there has never been a bet. The Ibis was a commercial airliner; it had to make two intermediate landings, in Penang and Medan. In a direct competition, the Ibis would have won, because the machine was faster.
My blog post will end here. Amelia Earhart stayed in the Dutch East Indies longer than planned (repairs, sickness), then continued to Australia and New Guinea. On 2 July, she and her navigator, Fred Noonan, started for the long flight (about 20 hours, more than 4000km) to Howland Island.
Where they never arrived. Most plausible explanation is that the plane ran out of fuel and crashed into the Pacific Ocean. But there are other possibilities, including several conspiracy theories.
In my latest report about my ‘second hometown, Taiping. August 2025, I mentioned that I was working on a project to show my numerous photos of Taiping on a location map. That was a big job. Here is version 1.0 of my Photo map of Taiping. You can also click on the introduction page below. Here is a manual.
My first visit to Taiping was in 2002, but it was only in 2014 that I started using a smartphone with built-in GPS to take pictures. In the introduction page the left column shows the years, only 2021 is missing, because of COVID. You can select one or more years. In the right column, you can select one or more categories. In the introduction page above I have selected year 2025 and the category ‘nature’. Part of the map is show (green markers).
Here is the map for 2025 with all categories selected. There are 10 categories at the moment, all with their own color code.
Abd here is the map with all categories and all years selected. More than 1500markers. Not advisable , it gets messy, although of course you can zoom in. Loading the map will also take quite some time.
It is better to select a limited number of categories and or years. Here is a map of heritage photos. You will see that some official heritage buildings are missing, and other buildings are marked heritage, because they are old and look good. It is a bit arbitrary.
In this map, I have selected hotels/restaurants (yellow markers) and the category ‘social’ (light blue markers). This category is more personal, photos with myself in it, or friends.
Here is the map with ruins and abandoned buildings. I am a fan of ruins, and Taiping has a lot of them. For abandoned buildings, I have sometimes added a question mark. Notice the concentration of black markers around the buildings on Station Road, just left to rot, one of them the Rest House (1894).
The “Shame of Taiping”, as I call it, zoomed in. Together with other markers to show that there is more in Taiping than ruins. The white markers show museums, the blue markers are for murals.
Finally, here are the houses of worship in Taiping and its surroundings (purple), combined with the cemeteries/graves (grey).
I named this Photo Map of Taiping version 1.0 because it is still a work in progress. I am looking forward to suggestions and comments.
My third visit to Taiping in 2025!. This time, the main reason was to visit the painting exhibition of my friend Halim..He is suffering from MND (Motor Neuron Disease), can not speak anymore, is confined to a wheelchair, but is still full of energy. He started painting again as a hobby and held a solo exhibition in the Taiping Clock Tower on 9 and 10 August,
On Sunday, 10 August, I took the ETS to Taiping. My favourite coach, C, has a canteen, but this time, I prepared bread and coffee at home.
In Taiping, my friend Yeap picked me up from the station. and after we had lunch, he dropped me at the Furama hotel. I took some rest and had a look at the Majestic cinema, where recently there had been a fire (see my June 2025 post). There was now no police tape, so I had a look inside. Empty space, the fire had destroyed the roof. Was it arson?
It is a short walk to the clock tower. I was welcomed by a lady, who turned out to be Halim’s daughter. There were a few other visitors.
Halim’s painting collection.
When I told the lady that I was a friend of her father, she called him, and soon he arrived. We have been friends for many years, and I have bought two of his paintings that are now decorating my study.
More visitors arrived, it was a very joyous meeting. Mission accomplished.
It has become a tradition that Yeap and I meet for breakfast during my Taiping visits. He asks me what kind of food I would like and then he chooses a location. This time a new one he had found on TikTok(!), the Roti Bakar Arang Fadzil House, a Malay eatery in Tupai. Not bad, I had my favourite roti goyang.
When I mentioned to him the fountain in the Lake Gardens, recently restored and redecorated, he said, let’s have a look.
The original plan for the next two days was to show the attractions of Taiping to my KL hiking friend, but there had been a change of plan, so I had two “free” days 😉 As I had visited Taiping already in June, I decided to do something different, explore the Lake Gardens. For the last few years, I have always walked the Raintree Walk, but never the rest of the gardens. I also wanted to have a closer look at the fountain.
During my walk, I took many photos. Instead of some photos here, I decided to show all of them in a special page on my website, using my (fading) programming skills. The page is still under construction. It works like this: click on the screenshot below, and you will open the page with a map of the Lake Gardens. When you click on a green marker, you will see the photo taken at that location. Click on the photo and you will see the picture on a larger scale. You can zoom in and out on the map. Later, I may add photos of other locations in Taiping and add captions. Comments are welcome.
After leaving the Gardens, I followed Jalan Kota, passing the Public Library, one of the Taiping heritage buildings. I went inside for a while,
I also passed one of the huge Taiping murals. Well done, but just using the wall as a canvas. Those huge murals are a specialty of Taiping murals, not really my favorite.
The Land and District Office is the most prominent landmark of Taiping, a reminder of the glory days of Taiping when it was the capital of Perak. The small building opposite was a personal landmark for me. Lian Thong restaurant, where I often had my breakfast. Pity that it has been sold and renovated, losing its charm.
I had a late lunch at Prima, where I unexpectedly met Yeap again. Taiping is a small town. Back to my hotel for a well-deserved rest, I had walked more than 9000 steps. In the evening, I met Indra, who had been very active with the restoration of the Ceylon Association heritage building on Station Road. Some time ago, he messaged me about another restoration project, the Sri Sithi Vinayagar Temple, built in 1924 by the Ceylon Tamil community of Taiping. I was interested to have a look and Indra was willing to take me there. Also located on Station Road, near the Sikh Gurdwara.
The temple is dedicated to Ganesha, and inside the temple compound, there is a beautiful sculpture of Ganesha with his parents, Shiva and Parvati.
Indra presented me with an interesting book about the temple. We met the priest, who put a pottu on our forehead. Last May, after finishing the renovation, a consecration ceremony was held the Kumbhabhishekham. Hinduism may well be the most complicated of the major world religions.
There was an interesting table outside the temple with the “Nine Planets.” Did the Hindu religion already know about Planet 9? No, at home I Googled for the Hindu nine planrets, The official name is Navagraha. The nine heavenly bodies represent the Hindu deities influencing humans. They are Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn (the 5 planets known in antiquity) plus two more of the Moon, too complicated to explain here. Interesting and beautiful.
After our visit we had some snacks in an Indian restaurant, the Sri Annapoorana Curry House. Worthwhile to come back next time for a full meal.
I just mentioned Lian Thong as my personal landmark. During my many visits, I became friendly with its owner, Teoh, and we kept in touch after he sold the restaurant. We met for breakfast the next morning in a kopi tiam near Novotel. We had a fascinating conversation about Taoism. Teoh is Chinese-educated and dedicates much of his time studying the Tao writings.
How to spend my second “free” day? A considerable part of the Lake Gardens is occupied by the Taiping Zoo. I must have visited it in the past, don’t remember much, so I decided to go again. I took a Grab and paid RM 8 for my (senior) ticket.
The Zoo was disappointing. Maybe the reason was that my timing was wrong, around 2 pm. It was a hot day, and most animals were smarter than I and were resting in their shelters.
No tiger to be seen. I walked around and took many photos, which are included in my picture webpage.
Walking back through the Lake Gardens, I took more photos. This is the famous zigzag bridge, more on my webpage.
I was dehydrated and needed a beer, together with a late lunch. Later that evening I had dinner with my friends Lay Chun and Kar Seng.
The next morning, I had breakfast at the Circus Grounds, CCF with my friend Foo. Another valuable tradition..
My plan was, on my way back home, to stop at Ipoh, stay overnight, and meet a heritage contact. But last minute that morning, he WhatsApped me that he had another assignment and could only meet me at dinner. I was quite upset, cancelled my hotel and bought a ticket Ipoh-KL. I had lunch at the New Club with Bok Kin and Teng Him, who then dropped me at the station
.I had a few hours to spend in Ipoh. I know Ipoh reasonably well, click here or here, so I took only a few pictures. Here is the iconic railway station.
The impressive town hall. Compared with Taiping, Ipoh has an amazing number of beautiful heritage buildings.
The Birch memorial. When I bring friends to Ipoh, I always tell them that the two roads on both sides of the memorial were originally named Station Road and Post Office Road. Now they have been renamed Jalan Dato’ Sago and Jalan Dato’ Maharaja Lela , the killers of Birch. I also point out the whitened historical figure on the frieze and ask them if they know who it is .
There are plenty of heritage buildings in Ipoh Old Town. Left the Chung Thye Phin Building (Arlene House) and right the former Straits Trading Company building, now a bank.
Details of those buildings
This time, no pictures of the pasar replica, the ruined heritage buildings, the infamous Amelia Earhart mural. And no Ansari chendol. But still interesting and always nice to meet friends.
My last visit to Taiping was end of February. Click here for the report. There were two reasons that I went again after a few months. I was invited for the wedding dinner of my friend Yeap’s son. And my Dutch friends Yolanda and Math would be in Taiping, after spending a few days with us in PJ, see the report Visit of Yolanda & Math.
Most of the content in this post will be familiar to my regular followers. As usual, I went by public transport. It was Muharram that weekend and when I booked, there were only a few seats available. Left the MRT to Sg Buloh, right the ETS.
I took a Grab to Furama and, after checking in, went out to have a look at the former Majestic cinema, around the corner of Furama. It’s been an empty shell ever since my first visit to Taiping. A few weeks earlier, there had been a fire (arson?). The building is still undamaged. I always wanted to have a peek inside, now I could, but there were police tapes around the entrance, so I decided not to trespass.
So tempting to go in! It looks like only the roof was damaged.
That evening I had dinner in Restaurant Yes with my gang, with Yolanda and Math as special guests. A Dutch party, each of us paid RM 30, unbelievably cheap.
These pictures show what we had. From the upper left, clockwise: minced pork tofu, Fried squid, fried chicken, Tempura Kangkung, Stingray curry, and French beans with dried prawns.
After our dinner, we went to the Aeon mall, a tradition for my gang, but an unexpected ending for my Dutch friends. We had an ice cream there as dessert.
The next day, Math and Yolanda went to Kuala Sepetang, and I went for a walk to visit my favourite haunts. First breakfast. Lian Thong had recently changed ownership, was renovated, and had lost its charm. But I found a suitable alternative in Jalan Pasar, where I had my favourite roti goyang (toast with “shaking eggs”).
Next I went to the replica of the market buildings. Still not occupied.
The same for siang malam, still an empty shell.
The other part of the Pasar, also empty. Will the vibrant market atmosphere ever come back? I doubt it.
A short stop at Ansari Cendol. A visit to Taiping is not complete without a refreshing cendol.
What I love about Taiping is the mixture of beauty and decay.
There is a lot of decay. Here is the Rest House, a heritage building (1894). A fire destroyed part of it
As an urbex fan, I used to explore the ruin, using a “lorong tikus”, but there was no need now, a real entrance was open.
Homeless people are still living here, butt I didn’t see anybody during my visit.
The other Shame on Taiping building also has somebody living there, but his/her bicycle was not there. I didn’t enter.
A few years ago an ambitious plan was presented to transform the two buildings into a boutique hotel . Since then all has been silence. The other pictures shows the counter window, familiar to many Taiping Lang.
I passed two of the huge murals, a specialty of Taiping.
It was a very hot day, so I went back to my hotel for a rest. I skipped lunch, because that evening I would attend the wedding dinner/ Later I went out again for a stroll at the Raintree Walk. Many people enjoying the holiday weekend.
I asked permission to take a picture of this nice group. No problem, but of course also a picture had to be taken with a Mat Salleh in the center.
The wedding dinner was in the Soon Lee restaurant, a short walk from my hotel. It was a big event, about 45 tables. Luckily, my friends Bok Kin and Teng Hin were at the same table.
I have known Yeap and his wife for many years, but I had never met the groom and his bride.
It was a traditional wedding ceremony, with the pouring of the wine, yam seng, a speech of the father, and a reply from the groom.
I had an enjoyable evening at my table, with a lot of alcohol.
The next day, I showed my friends the town. We started with a walk in the Lake Gardens and met my friend Foo for breakfast. We had chee cheong fun.
They were interested in the Perak Museum and we decided to walk. I had not been in the museum for a long time.
There was an event going on, so it was quite busy. There was a drawing competition for the kids.
The first floor is dedicated to the Orang Asli, the original inhabitants of Malaysia.
Outside the museum there were various means of transport.
Walking back, we passed the prison, one of the many “firsts” of Taiping.
The All Saints church was closed, we took photos in the cemetery
Time for lunch, I brought my friends to Prima. I ordered popiah for them, which they liked
More murals, of course I had to show them the (in) famous one of Amelia Earhart, who actually never landed at the Tekah airfield..
As they are also urbex fans, they wanted to have a look inside the ruined buildings. There was no bicycle outside, so we ventured in. It is clear that there is still somebody living there..
They also wanted to have a look at the Rest House.
The building of the Ceylon Association is an example of successful renovation. We skipped the Ansari Cendol, as it was too crowded.
I prefer this kind of murals.
At the end of the afternoon, Aric arrived in Taiping. We went for dinner to Mattang, the Lighthouse seafood restaurant.
Leaving the restaurant after a delicious meal, we heard music and had a look. A surprise, never before had we visited this temple.
It is called the Sam Teong Ong (Hock Chuan Keong) temple and supposedly very old (1838). A committee member gave an explanation. Must explore more during my next visit.
There was a lot going on during our short visit. A puppet theatre with front seats for the spirits.
I had a third, secret, reason to visit Taiping again. I wanted to take an ultru-light flight over my 2nd hometown. During my last visit, there were no time slots available, so this time I had made an early booking. But it depends on the weather conditions whether you can fly, so I had not told my friends about my plan.
The weather was perfect. We were at Tekah 7:45am and after registration and payment (RM 350 for me, RM 250 for Aric), we were strapped in our seats.
Ready for take off. Click on the picture to watch. Video taken by Aric before he started his own flight. The pilot is sitting in front of me.
Included in the package is a video of the flight. taken by a GoPro camera. mounted on a wing tip. Here it is, 15 minutes, from takeoff until landing. You can scroll through.
It was an unforgettable experience, worth every Ringgit. Here I am after landing with my pilot.
Math and Yolanda were so pleased with Taiping that they stayed one more night. Aric and I went back to KL, but first we had lunch together in the Casual Market.
On our way back we made a detour to Chepor where we visited the Seen Hock Yeen Confucius Temple, with a nice lake and a lotus pond.
It was a rewarding weekend, but I needed a few days for recovery 😉
My blog post headings tend to be descriptive rather than imaginative. Here is a blog post I wrote two years ago: Penang & Taiping, 2022 😉 . Very similar, first two nights in Penang, then one night in Taiping. But also different, in 2022 we went with friends, this time it was a trip of Aric and me, like the trips we made earlier to Teluk Intan, Seremban and Melaka.
On our way to Penang we stopped at the Sungai Perak R&R for coffee and Cekodok Pisang (fried banana balls).
We had lunch in Bukit Mertajam with Assam Laksa. Aric is an assam laksa fan and on our trips he is always looking for new laksa stalls. He has a website, Assam Laksa Review, which contains at the moment 28 Assam Laksa shops. This one was very good, Aric gave it a rating of 9 out of 10.
Crossing the (old) bridge to Penang island.
In Georgetown we usually stay in heritage hotels, but this time Aric had booked a very modern one, the OZO hotel in Argyll road. Interesting car parking, you drive the car in a lift, and then it is transported to its place. When you need it again, the car comes out of the lift, nicely rotated 180 degrees!
Another interesting detail, the lobby is at the 20th floor. We had a comfortable room on the 18th floor.
A room with a view !
Recently Aric had bought a new camera for time-lapse photography and that was the main reason he had booked this hotel. Here he installs the camera to take pictures every ten seconds.
After a short rest we went out again, to visit an art exhibition, the Galeri Khazanah. A temporary exhibition of Malaysian artists, from 19 July until 17 August, in the beautiful UAB building, the headquarters of Khazanah Nasional Berhad , the sovereign wealth fund of Malaysia.
Free access, after registration. An interesting collection with 46 diverse artworks by 31 modern and contemporary Malaysian artists.
A variety of styles, abstract, realistic etc.
Left the exhibition poster. The other two pictures show augmented reality artworks. The white base is empty, but after scanning a QR code , a 3D artwork appears for a while in your smartphone camera, positioned on the base. Amazing,
Our dinner plan was to go to a lok-lok restautant. In 2022 we visited with friends the Peng Hwa Lok Lok in Pulau Tikus (No 2 in the link above). But it was closed this time, so we went to another one, the Ah Beng Lok Lok at Padang Brown (No 1 in the link). Also closed! Then we realisded that probably the night before there had been a Hungry Ghost event. So we gave up and found another simple stall, where I had prawn mee (also known as Penang Hokkien mee).
Back in our hotel, we enjoyed the night view. This is a “normal” picture taken with my iPhone.
And here is the artwork made by Aric with his new camera. It is a collage of 150 time-lapse pictures, with a diagonal slice of each picture.
As we had a very early dinner (around 6 pm), we got a bit hungry and went out around 10:30 pm for supper. Within walking distance from our hotel, there is a popular restaurant for prawn mee and loh mee, the Green House. We had to queue! It received a Michelin Bib gourmand, never heard about it, it is a bit similar to what my friends here call VFM (Value for money). My second prawn mee this day, better than the first one 😉 .
Walking back to our hotel, I was as usual impressed by the beauty of Georgetown.
The next morning we had breakfast with fried carrot cake, pau and coffee, in a cafe near our hotel. Befiore checking out, we had a look at the infinity pool on the 22nd floor. OZO is a bit like a little brother of the iconic Marina Bay Sands hotel in Singapore ;-).
One reason to visit Penang was to meet our friend Lim Chong Keat (LCK). He is the owner of the Bellevue Hotel on Penang Hill, we had booked to stay overnight there and had arranged to meet him in the afternoon. So we had a few hours to spend.
We drove to Bayan Lepas, near the airport. Aric knew about another laksa stall there, but first we visited a small waterfall, the Air Terjun Sg Ara. Never heard about it!
Unfortunately the laksa stall was closed, but nearby was a “famous” stall where they sold prawn crackers. We bought two and then went looking for another stall where we could have lunch.
We found another stall nearby where they sold Mee Siam, Mee Siam is a bit similar to Assam Laksa, it originated from Penang but can now be found all over Malaysia and in Singapore. Very tasty and the prawn crackers were the best I ever had.
After lunch, Aric suggested to visit the Wat Chayamangkalaram, a Thai Temple, famous for its large gold plated Reclining Buddha. The temple was founded in 1845 and is the oldest Siamese temple in the state of Penang.
The main hall , with the Reclining Buddha inside, is well guarded
The Reclining Buddha is one of the world’s longest (about 32 m from end to end). Very impressive.
The main hall also has a columbary.
You can spend hours here, but it was a very hot day and the bright sunlight was almost painful to the eyes.
Opposite the Siamese temple. there is a Burmese temple, the Dhammikarama temple. which is even older, founded in 1803. Both are Theravada temples. Because of the hot weather, we didn’t stay long.
Just a few more pictures. The pots in the pond are slowly rotating. The idea is to throw a coin into a pot, when you manage to do that , it will bring you good luck. Not easy.
When you are interested in Buddhism, you can just take a free book, but only when you are not a Muslim.
The two guys are happily carrying the temple bell.
At 4 pm we arrived at the family house of the Lim family. LCK was still talking with a group of botanists from the University of Malaya (UM).
With him we drove to the Bellevue hotel.
The Bellevue Hotel was originally the residence of William Halliburton, the first Sheriff of Prince of Wales Island, as Penang was called in those days. We have stayed a few times in the hotel , I love its old world charm. . The view from the veranda is fabulous.
We had a chat and a drink with LCK. He is an interesting personality, architect of the Komtar tower, now a botanist of international renown, with a wide interest in classical music, a “universalist” like his role model Buckminster Fuller.
A view of the hotel from the garden. And a view of Georgetown. In the garden a geodesic dome. There are many memories of Buckminster Fuller in the hotel.
We had local dishes for our dinner, prawns, veggie and tom yam soup.
Here is another creation by Aric, made with his new toy. This time it contains 30 time-lapse slices.
Rain during the night, still cloudy in the morning. Nice temperature.
The walls of the corridor have informative posters. We had a local breakfast, nasi lemak.
The hotel has an aviary, with several peacocks and other birds.
Around 11am we got transport down to our car. We drove back to the mainland where we found another laksa stall for our lunch. This time in Butterworth, not really special, Aric’s rating: 5-6 out of 10.
On our way to Taiping heavy rain. As usual I had booked “my” room in hotel Furama.
My friend George was also staying in Taiping, we are both friends of Suet Fun, so we invited Goerge & Jenny and Suet Fun & Peter for a dinner in Soon Lee. We thought no booking was needed, as it was the Hungry Ghost month, but that was a mistake, the restaurant was fully booked. So instead George suggested Restoran Kampoung Wan, a good alternative. Delicious food and a pleasant atmosphere.
The next morning we had breakfast in the Rainy Corner, around the corner from Furama. Very good coffee.
It is always a pleasure to be back in my adopted hometown. Here is the famous Dobi Line.
A few weeks ago I had received photos of the Lake Gardens, almost completely dried out after a long dry spell, unusual for rain town Taiping. Now the water level was back to normal.
This time I had a special reason to visit Taiping, I wanted to see how the reconstruction of the two pasar buildings was going on. To be honest, I was impressed by the progress. Left the former chicken, beef and mutton market in April, right how it looks now.
A few more pictures. I will not discuss the issue whether this kind of rebuilding contributes to heritage preservation, but at least they are rebuilding. I hope the original stall holders will return, a bit worried that it might become like Pasar Seni in KL.
A visit to Taiping is not complete without having a look at what I call the Shame of Taiping. The Rest House and the building next to it. The illegal entrance to the Perak Railway /PWD building is still there, but it was now in a makeshift way closed with iron wire. Good that I didn’t enter, because actually the inhabitant was sleeping.
The two heritage buildings have been neglected for many years. In 2019 I wrote a blog with the sarcastic title Taiping Bandar Warisan (Taiping heritage town) about them.
In my blogTaiping, April 2024 I mentioned that in March an ambitious project was launched . Quotes from that blog:
The ambitious plan is to restore/rebuild the two ruins and transform them in a 4-star boutique hotel! Many VIP’s were present. and The “Taiping Boutique Hotel” is expected to be completed in two years.
The glamorous posters are still there. But nothing else happened, as far as I know. Completed in two years ?
We took the old road to Kuala Kangsar and passed the tombs of Long Jaafar. Very well kept.
We stopped for a while in Kuala Kangsar, because I wanted to visit the grave of Major Hawkins. He died on 4 January 1876 during the Battle of Kota Lama , speared by a Malay warrior. Read my blog The Battle of Kota Lama for more info about this battle.
At Bukit Chandan, next to the former Government Rest House (now Casuarina Hotel) lies a small Christian cemetery. Part of it is a war cemetery, Only 16 graves from the Perak War (1875-1876). There is a memorial with information about this (minor) war. Sabri Zain who pointed out a mistake in my blog (right <-> left), told me about this grave. It was easy to find.
Our trip had a nice, unexpected ending. On our way back, Aric mentioned a Cave Temple that was clearly visible from the North-South highway, but where exactly he was not sure. Using Google we managed to find it, it is the Kong Fook Ngam temple.
The temple is just one of the many cave temples around Ipoh. Officially it is closed on a Monday.
But a friendly caretaker let us enter and told us that there was a “Crystal Cave” behind the actual temple. We were allowed to explore. What a spectacular surprise.
Here is a collection of pictures taken in the huge cave complex. Really amazing.
Back in the temple, I bought a candle and placed it at the Reclining Buddha.
What a trip! Full of variety. And yes, with a lot of food.
