Taiping, August 2025

Posted on August 27, 2025 by janstu

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.

Taiping, June 2025

Posted on July 25, 2025 by janstu

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 😉

Penang & Taiping, 2024

Posted on August 23, 2024 by janstu

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.

Taiping, April 2024

Posted on April 8, 2024 by janstu

Before I will visit my hometown Amsterdam in May, I wanted to visit my (second) hometown Taiping. I booked hotel Furama for three nights and arrived on 1 April by ETS, where Lay Chun and Kar Seng were already waiting for me at the station. This time we had lunch in CRC, the Chinese Recreation Club. I had stir-fried pork with ginger, very nice.

A few weeks earlier, Lay Chun had noticed, passing the ruined Town Rest House, that something was going to happen, a “ground-breaking” ceremony, but for what? (left photo). If you have been following my blog, you know about my interest in, and fascination with the two ruined buildings along Station Road, see for example my report Taiping Bandar Warisan, written in 2019. So of course I was intrigued. On 9 March my friend Liew Suet Fun attended the ceremony and reported about it in the Friends of Taiping Heritage Society FB group. It’s a private group, just become a member if you are interested in Taiping Heritage.

The ambitious plan is to restore/rebuild the two ruins and transform them in a 4-star boutique hotel! Many VIP’s were present. See the right photo.

After our lunch we drove past the two buildings. The fencing of the Rest House, temporarily removed for the ceremony, had been put back. Note the remains of the right wing, destroyed by fire last year.

We also had a look at the other ruin, originally the Perak Railway Headquarters. Here I am standing next to the signboard with all the VIP’s. The plan is to keep the facade and add two floors. The “Taiping Boutique Hotel” is expected to be completed in two years.

Actually the building has already occupants. The fencing looks solid, but it has a “secret” entrance, Here it is, a small makeshift door to enter the building. The bike has been parked nicely next to the entrance.

Left the “room” , I thought it wise not to explore further 😉 . Through a small gap in the fence I could take a picture of another “room”. I wonder if the authorities are aware of this use by homeless people.

Here is my “own” room in the Furama Hotel.

I walked to the Lake Gardens, only a few hundred meters away from Furama.

My friends Grahame and Safina had invited me for dinner. Because she is Muslima, I expected a “buka puasa” dinner. But Grahame was the cook and he had prepared a very traditional English dinner with roast lamb , roast potatoes and veggies!

The next morning I had breakfast with my friend Foo. We often have Chee Cheong Fan at Tong’s stall in the Circus Ground, but it is now managed by his son and they have two weekly closing days on Monday and Tuesday. So we went to the Wan Li Xiang coffee shop, next to the Mall. Also quite good CCF.

After breakfast we had a look at the “rebuilding” of the iconic Taiping wet market. Here is the oldest part (1884), the fish, fruits and pork market. Making good progress, the “grapevine” rumours that it should be finished in autumn this year. I am missing the cast-iron metal structure parts, I hope they will be reused. The Taiping people are still a bit worried, read this July 2023 article in FMT: Mystery of the vanishing (Malaysia’s oldest) market.

The other part of the market (chicken, beef and mutton) is still barren, although the piles of wood suggest that work will start soon.

Foo also showed me the house where he was born, and told me interesting details about his life as a kid, enjoying the long stairs, leading to the first floor. It is now an electronic shop, I asked the lady if I could take a picture of the stairs. She must have been surprised, but did not object.

Detail of the first floor facade. Nice architecture, well kept.

Walking back to my hotel, I enjoyed Taiping as usual. I passed the Tsen Loong Association, it was open, I had a look inside.

A nice bungalow near to my hotel, built in 1915. Many street names have been changed in 1955, for example Birch Road is now Jalan Maharaja Lela. First time I noticed that a road near my hotel was originally named Jalan Speedy. Now it is named after Ngah Ibrahim. who asked Speedy to come from Penang and help him in the conflict between the Ghee Hin and Hai San.

One reason that I like Furama hotel is that it is a few minutes walk to the Lake Gardens. The gardens are beautiful any time of the day.

In the afternoon I walked to the Galeri Perbandaran, where I met Jamilah and Aiman, both very interested in Taiping Heritage.

Dinner at the Lemon Tree seafood restaurant in Matang. It has become a kind of tradition during my Taiping visits to have a dinner with a group of friends. They almost weekly join for dinner, this time was a special occasion because one of them had won a Tesla car as a lottery prize. Very nice dinner, as usual.

The next morning I had breakfast with George and Jenny, George was in Taiping for Cheng Beng and to meet friends, quite busy, so it was nice that we could meet, I had very tasty pork noodles.

I walked back to my hotel. Passing the colorful Dobi Line and relaxing for a while at the Lake Gardens.

I skipped lunch, as I was preparing for a buka puasa dinner with my friend Halim. He had suggested that I could fast from noon onwards. Abstaining from food is no problem, but not drinking anything was impossible for me, especially as it was really hot in Taiping.

I didn’t know that my Singapore friend ST Lee would also be in Taiping. We have not met for may years, so we arranged to meet 3 pm at the famous Ansari chendol place.

I decided to walk, although it looked like it would start to rain soon. I had just started, when a car stopped next to me. The driver opened his window and asked me, do you need a ride, it will rain soon. Surprised by his friendliness, I accepted his invite. Andy was the owner of the Rainy Corner restaurant near my hotel. He was on his way to deliver some goods. When we arrived at Ansari, I asked him to join me for a drink. Malaysian hospitality on its best!

A few minutes later ST arrived and we had our cendol. It was in September 2017 that we accidentally met in the same Ansari Cendol!

Here we are standing in front of his Taiping house in Jalan Barrack.

I walked back to my hotel and decided to have a look at the Rest House, mainly to check if it was still possible to “sneak” in with the “new” fencing. And yes, that was still possible. Left picture shows the present condition of the facade, with the signboard showing how the
“new” building will look like. Right the gap in the fence. I do not understand why this has not been blocked

Some more photos, also of the interior. I am not an expert, but I think renovation or restoration is no longer an option, it will be rebuilding, hopefully keeping at least the original design.

Halim picked me up from Furama at 4:30 pm. We visited a Pasar Ramadan to shop for the dinner. Those markets are often crowded, we went early on purpose.

We arrived at Halim’s house around 6pm, I was prepared to wait until 7:30. But what a surprise, at 6:30 he and his wife said, come, let’s eat! It turned out that both were not fasting that day because of medical reasons! It was a nice dinner, too much to finish everything.

Halim is an accomplished amateur painter and was happy to show me his paintings, in the right picture pointing to his latest creation.

They drove me back and I asked them to drop me off at the Raintree Walk. Very scenic to walk back to my hotel.

The last day, my friend Yeap picked me up from my hotel, we had breakfast in an Indian restaurant.

One reason for my Taiping visit was to have a look at the graves of the Malay nobles who had killed J.W.W Birch in November 1875. Recently I came in contact with Sabri Zain, who is very knowledgeable about the Perak War. See my report The Battle of Kota Lama. He wrote a FB page about these graves. They are located in Matang, not far from Kota Ngah Ibrahim!. Even many Taipingites are not aware of their existence! Their location is indicated on Google Maps, access is easy. Here is the small cemetery just beside the road.

There are two graves, of Dato’ Sagor and Pandak Indut. The grave of Maharaja Lela may not have been preserved. I found another page about the graves Makam Dato Sagor Yang Terbiar, dated 2017 Since then the site has apparently been cleaned and is now reasonably well maintained.

Modern technology, click on the QR-code and you will get the English text. The right photo shows the (smaller) grave of Pandak Indut

The grave of Dato’ Sagor is a lot bigger.

Here are two interesting snippets from the Straits Times Overland Journal, 8 February 1877, about the hanging of the pahlawan-pahlawan Melayu (Malay warriors/heroes)

The road passing the tombs, ends at this massive rubbish dump. Probably a reason why the site is quite unknown.

On my way back to my hotel, a last look at the Lake Gardens, before checking out.

I had lunch with David Chiang at Lian Thong, one of my favourite restaurants, where I had roti goyang and coffee. David is a young energetic entrepreneur with an interest in heritage. He has lots of ideas about bringing back to life Taiping heritage sites.

Then it was time to take the train back to PJ

As usual, a rewarding and interesting trip.

Taiping, November 2023

Posted on December 5, 2023 by janstu

At first i considered calling this post Eat Eat Eat, because during this trip I had three sumptuous dinners with friends. But I also did more than eating, so I kept the title neutral. There were two reasons why I came back to Taiping so soon after my October visit. My friend LIew Suet Fun had [published a new book and I wanted to attend the book launch on 25 November. And Sharen, another friend, born in Taiping but mostly living in Switzerland, had asked me to join her to Taiping and be her “guide” .

I boarded the ETS not in KL Sentral this time, but in Sg Buloh. First the feeder bus to the Mutiara MRT station, then the MRT to Sg Buloh. For me a much better option. The MRT has now a special section for ladies only. In the ETS I always choose coach C, because the canteen is there 😉

I am very fortunate to have friends in Taiping who are willing to provide transport. Tung Lay Chun and Kar Seng usually pick me up from the station and bring me to my hotel. But first we had lunch, they know many nice eateries. This time they took me to the SSL Traders hotel in Kamunting, where the restaurant had a very affordable lunch promotion.

I had booked my usual room 201 in Furama, dropped my luggage there and went out again to visit my friend Goh Keat Soon. During my October visit, we had been looking for old heritage buildings, but shortly after he was admitted in hospital with a heart problem, now discharged and recovering. I decided to walk to his house. When you click on the map you can see the many pictures I took during my walk (no need to sign up or login)

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A few old buildings. The left bungalow, built in 1932 is in good condition and still inhabited. I had visited the interior during my August 2020 visit. The right house, in traditional Malay style, looks abandoned and will probably continue to decay . Taiping has many of these houses, and actually they are for me a big part of Taiping’s charm.

It was nice to meet Goh and his wife

On my way back I followed the Raintree Walk. As I took a wrong turn, the total walk was almost 5 k.

During my October visit I had invited Lay Chun and her “food gang” for a dinner and I did the same thing now. They picked me up from Furama and drove to the 83 restaurant in Pokok Assam. We where with 9 pax, ordered 7 dishes and the bill was RM 235.90 (about 46 Euro). Amazingly cheap

And the food was delicious. I forgot to take a photo of one of the dishes 😉

That was a well-spent first day of my visit. The next morning I was planning to have breakfast with my friend Foo, Chee Cheong Fun at the Circus Ground food court, near my hotel, but he warned me that the shop was temporarily closed. He suggested the Wan Li Xiang coffee shop, even closer to my hotel, where they also served CCF. We met there and the CCF was also quite good.

I told him about the book launch in the New Club at 10:30 am and he offered to drive me there. We share an interest in Taiping heritage, it was he who had drawn my attention to the 1932 bungalow shown above. On our way we passed the isolated tomb stones on the slopes of the ….. hill. There are actually three, the third one looks like being partially excavated. I have tried to find out who are buried here and when, but until now in vain.

We had still time enough to have a look at the Pillars, the only remains of what was once the Residency. Right a old photo of the Residency. After Ipoh became the capital, the building was used for other purposes (survey department?, public works department?) and apparently it was destroyed by fire, but when? Another mystery.

The book published by Liew Suet Fun has as title Musings from the Nest .For a number of years she and her husband Peter leased the Nest bungalow on Maxwell Hill from the Methodist Church. They transformed the bungalow in colonial style and made it a heaven on earth. I visited the Nest for the first time in 2017, with Aric and my Ipoh friend Hong, report here. The subtitle of her book “why can’t we stay here forever” applies to me, so I came back in 2018 three times, in April, July and December. I would have liked to continue, but in 2019 Suet Fun closed the Nest, because she was writing a book, then came COVID and a disastrous storm , destroying big parts of the access road to Maxwell Hill. Finally the Methodist Church, for reasons unknown to me, claimed back the Nest.

Peter started the book launch with a short introduction, after which Suet Fun explained how they became managers of the bungalow. She read a few passages from the book, followed by a Q&A session.

Of course the book was for sale (RM 60) and you could have it signed by the author. It was a nice event, for me especially interesting because I met people I had not seen for a long time. In the right picture Sharen talks to Safina and Grahame, who I last met in October 2020, before the Covid pandemic disrupted our lives.

After the event many people stayed for lunch and some chit-chat. One gentleman, Dr Ng approached me and told me that we have a mutual friend, George Tan, who had mentioned me several times. He introduced another friend to me, Dr Neoh and I asked him if he was a birder. I explained that for many years I had maintained a website Birding in Malaysia and that he was mentioned on that site as not only a birder but also a bird painter. He presented me with a calendar containing images of his paintings.

Of course a photo had to be taken. From left to right Dr Neoh , Dr Ng and Dr Stuivenberg 😉 .Malaysia and especially Taiping is a small world 😉

We ended this very agreeable event with a cendol at the famous Ansari Cendol.

I had suggested to Sharen, as her “tourist guide”, that we could go in the afternoon to Matang, visit the museum there, continue to Kuala Sepetang (charcoal kilns, mangrove forest) and finally have dinner in the Lemon Tree restaurant. The dinner plan was accepted, actually Mei, one of her Taiping friends, was going to invite us and host the dinner. For the afternoon she had her own plans, so I was “free” and had a lazy afternoon ;-). Later Sharen WhatsApped me : Pick up between 7 to 7:10pm. A lady by the name of Elaine & Teng Khoe..Please watch out for a red Honda Civic. Another example of the small world Taiping is, as I had met them already a few times earlier 😉

The dinner at the Lemon Tree restaurant was even more elaborate, with a total of nine dishes for 7 adults and 2 kids. From right, anti-clockwise Elaine, Teng Khoe, Mei, me, Sharen, Mei’s son David, one of the kids and David’s wife.

Delicious food, but of course way too much. Quite a lot was brought home tapau, Malaysian slang for take-away ;-).

Nice dinner, nice company. Of course I was not hungry the next morning. I had a simple roti canai in the same restaurant where I had CCF the day before.

I had suggested to Sharen to do the EV Heritage trip. This is an electric bus trip, taking 1 hour and 20 minutes, following a route along Taiping heritage locations, with an explanation by a guide. Starting from the zoo, three trips daily.

We walked from Furama to the Zoo, where we bought tickets. RM 20 for adults, RM 10 for Malaysian senior citizens. Quite expensive, but until 31 December you get a discount of 30 %.

No online/advance booking possible, only walk-in. As it was a Sunday morning, with many Zoo visitors, I was a bit worried that the tickets might be sold out. But it turned out that we were the only passengers, a worrying sign for the future of this EV heritage project 🙁 .

A nice surprise when we were waiting for the bus. A lady approached me and asked , do you remember me? It was puan Jamilah who I had met in March 2019, when she was working at the Galleria. She had heard (Taiping is a small world) that I was planning to do the EV heritage trip and decided to join. In the bus we met our guide Fendy

Here is the route followed by the bus, Click on the map to see the many pictures I took during the trip. During the trip Fendy commented on the various interesting locations we passed. There were three stops where we could walk around a bit

The bus is comfortable and can accommodate about twenty passengers. Our first stop was at the Raintree Walk, a pedestrian walk at the Taiping Lake Gardens. A few fallen rain trees have become tourist attractions and of course we had our pictures taken 😉

The next stop was at the clocktower, now the Taiping tourist office, where I had a short, pleasant meeting with puan Kamariah. In the pictures Sharen and I in front of the clocktower and with Kamariah and Jamilah inside the tourist office.

The third stop was at the Municipal Gallery, where we stayed a bit longer. Left a picture of Fendy, Sharen and Jamilah in front of the numerous rewards and certificates obtained by the Taiping Municipal council. In the right photo we are standing in front of the Telegraph museum next door.

The gallery building is still almost empty, but outside there are a few interesting heritage items, related to the railway history of Taiping.

What to say about the trip? It was certainly enjoyable, the explanations by Fendy were useful, and the company of Jamilah pleasant. But in the long term I think the project may fail unless some changes are made. Here are a few suggestions.

The starting point should not be the Zoo but the Galleria.
Online booking should be made possible.
Passing the heritage locations is going too fast. Instead of stopping at three locations it would be more useful to let the bus halt for a short while at many more locations, so the guide can explain a bit , while the passengers can take pictures (not leaving the bus)
It is a bit too expensive.

Sharen had her own programme for the afternoon, one of her relatives picked us up from the Zoo and dropped me at my hotel. I decided to have lunch at Prima and then walk a bit around town on my own.

Here are the former British government buildings, a beautiful creation by Francis Caulfield, completed in 1897, now housing the Larut, Matang & Selama district office. A real gem of Victorian architecture

Recently a few huge murals have been created in Taiping. During my visit in October I had taken pictures of two of them. Here is another one, on the walls of the Kwantung association, showing people playing golf.

As it threatened to rain, I cut short my walk and returned to my hotel via the Lake Gardens

That evening my third sumptuous dinner, offered to Sharen and me in the Soon Lee restaurant by the group of people I had invited two days earlier. The same happened during my October stay in Taiping, I hosted a dinner and two days later there was in return a dinner where I was not allowed to pay. It is a quid pro quo aspect of Chinese culture. Delicious food

The next morning I walked to Lian Thong for my roti goyang, half-boiled eggs on toast. Goyang in Malay means shaking. One of my favourite coffee shops, also a very attractive building.

Our train was leaving at 1:40 pm, so I had time to walk around town. First I walked to the ruins of the Perak Railway building, where I had discovered during my October visit that you still could sneak in despite the solid fencing. Nothing had changed. Same at the Rest House next door, you can just walk in and out. The authorities must be aware of this, why don’t they take action?

I continued to the market, where I got a pleasant surprise. They had started rebuilding. It looks like it will not be a renovation but a replica, but at least something is happening. Will it be completed by August 2024, as promised by the minister?

Walking back to Furama I got a call from Yeap that he and his wife were meeting Halim, if I had time to join them. Of course I wanted to see Halim, who has been diagnosed with a serious illness, but still is full of energy. We have become quite close friends.

Yeap had offered to pick me up from Furama and drop me at the station. On our way, he showed me the remains of what was once one of the movie theatres of Taiping: the Mandarin Cinema. A huge building, abandoned since many years, but at least properly fenced off . A new discovery for me 😉

Then it was time to take the train back home. A nice trip with Sharen, although it was obvious that she didn’t need a guide for Taiping 😉

Taiping, October 2023

Posted on October 28, 2023 by janstu

This time the main reason for my Taiping visit was to watch the Nine Emperor Gods procession, but there was (much) more. In April the iconic market buildings were demolished and last month the equally iconic Rest House was partially destroyed by fire. And of course there were friends to meet and Taiping food to enjoy. So I booked 3 nights in my usual Furama hotel and on 20 October took the ETS, arriving in Taiping around 1 pm. A comfortable way of traveling.

My friend Lay Chun picked me up from the station and first we had lunch in Prima, chicken rice.

She is a very active member of the Shun Tak Association, one of the many Clan associations in Malaysia. Left the Ancestral Home in Jalan Kota, now rented out to a restaurant. Right the Shun Tak gallery in Jalan Pasar, recently opened, More information about the history of the Shun Tak association can be found in this blog, written by Wong Tuck Ee, the secretary of the association.

The gallery is on the first floor and open by appointment only. Lay Chun had arranged a visit. Here you see the interior of the gallery Panels about the history decorate the walls. The spacious gallery can also be used for meetings of the association.

We met Miss Leong , the clerk, and walked around. Right a mahjong table. In the past members often came to the clan house to play mahjong.

The deity in the middle is Kwan Gong, the Chinese warrior god. Right the Ancestral Tablets.

It was an interesting visit, I signed the guestbook and gave a small donation after which I was allowed to ring the bell three times. It would be good to promote the gallery as a Taiping tourist attraction. I am thinking about writing a separate blog about the clan associations of Taiping.

After the visit Lay Chun dropped me at Furama. I have stayed in this hotel numerous times, almost always in this room 😉 . Feels a bit like home.

Lay Chun and her friends organise regular dinner meetings, in the past I attended a few of them. This time I told her that I would like to be the host for such a dinner party. That was accepted, Goh, a member of the “gang”, who lives next door to Furama, picked me up from my hotel, we drove to Matang, the Lemon Tree restaurant, where we met the other members and had a delicious dinner.

Me in the middle, next to me Yong (left) and Goh (right). We were 12 pax, had 9 dishes (pork, chicken, fish, duck, veggies etc) and the bill was RM 330. Unbelievable, so cheap.

The next morning I had breakfast with my friend Yeap in an Indian restaurant. I had dosai and asked a waiter to take a picture of us, but something went wrong. Nice breakfast place.

A few months ago a Facebook contact had told me about a remote Hindu temple, the Sri Ayyanar Temple, north of Kamunting. When I asked Yeap if he knew this temple, he said, sure, it is not far from my oil palm farm, I can bring you there. After our breakfast we drove there, the signage is no problem, but the road is untarred and the location is really in the middle of plantations.

The beautiful temple comes as a big surprise. Colorful, dominated by a giant statue of Ayyanar, a Tamil deity.

He is accompanied by horse riders, also huge statues. And there can be no doubt about it, the horses are stallions, not mares 😉

A few more pictures. Servants are supporting the temple.

Left Dakshinamurti an aspect of Lord Shiva as a teacher. Right the inner sanctum of the temple. Everything beautifully maintained.

Really an unexpected discovery. When I asked my Taiping friends, many of them were not aware of this gem, less than 15 km away of the town center.

Back in town, I walked around a bit. Next year Taiping will celebrate its 150th anniversary, many activities are planned. I had a look at two recent murals, one commemorating the Treaty of Pangkor (1874). the other one showing dulang washing (the panning of tin ore). They are huge, but I am not impressed. The Amelia Earhart one has more artistic value, but unfortunately, the pilot never landed at Tekah areodrome.

Lunch with Yeap and Halim in Yut Sun. The “new” branch, we first tried the original one, but there the Rajah Muda of Perak had just arrived with his entourage, we expected long waiting times. No Hainanese Chicken Chop for me this time, a simple egg and veggie on bread was enough.

In the afternoon I met my friend Goh, the photographer. He had published on Facebook pictures of old buildings, colonial bungalows but also simple staff quarters. I was interested. We drove around in Asam Kumbang, He took the photos many years ago and was not sure if the buildings still existed. This is what we found. Desolation.

Cleared land, the house must have been demolished not so long ago, One house still standing.

Later, back home, I opened Google Earth on my laptop and selected the “historical imagery” option. Left the situation in 2016, right in 2022. We were too late 😉 I have marked the locations “cleared land” and “house”. It was drizzling which added to the melancholic atmosphere.

We passed the Kempe Club, now closed. In 2019 I visited the club and was warmly welcomed by the seniors who gathered there to play mahjong.

In another part of Asam Kumbang we found a few monumental bungalows. Still standing, but for how long?

Also some simple quarters, a few still inhabited, others empty or already demolished.

We also passed the remains of the Tekah airport. Right a photo of the control tower and arrival hall when the aerodrome was still in operation.

I found the above picture in the Taiping Mall, where Goh and I had a coffee and cake.

After a short rest in my hotel, I had another dinner with a number of “gang” members, again in Prima. I had Bak Kut Teh this time. From left to right Lay Chun, Kar Seng, Dr Poh and his wife Rosalind.

Back in my hotel the reception told me that a procession for the 9 Emperor Gods would pass close to Furama. Although a bit tired, I went out to the Jalan Tupai where soon the procession arrived.

A few people had metal poles pierced through their cheeks. Look how the poles are decorated with led lights. Traditional customs combined with modern technology.

Really a day full of variety.

The next morning my plan was to have my usual Chee Cheong Fan for breakfast, but when I arrived at the Circus ground, it was sold out already. Instead I had Char Kway Teoh, another favorite of mine. Not bad.

Next I walked to 81, Jalan Kota, where I met my friend Bok Kin. Her husband is a descendant of Ng Boo Bee and the Ng family has a tradition of placing an offering table in front of what was originally Boo Bee’s townhouse. When the Nine Emperor Gods procession passes, the participants stop for a while at the table. A good location to take pictures.

Left the house altar and right the offering table. Waiting for the procession to arrive.

In 2019 I had watched the procession at the same location, I wrote a report The Nine Gods Emperor Festival about it. In the following years there was no procession because of the COVID pandemic This year it took place again, I had the impression that it was less elaborate and exotic than the last time. But still fascinating,

Here is a collage of some video clips I took this time, Watch also the more spectacular video I took in 2019.

Here is a photo collection of the devotees who pierced their cheeks or had hooks in their back.

After the procession was finished, we went for lunch, again to Prima, for the third time during this visit! I had fish ball noodles with pork intestines.

My first destination after lunch was the Rest House. Built in 1894 , one of the “Firsts” of Bander Warisan (Heritage Town) Taiping. Now left to rot. It has been fenced off but there is an obvious opening in the fence, for many years already. I am sure the authorities must be aware of this gap, that could easily be closed. Do they leave it open on purpose? Of course I walked in.

Left the opening as seen from the street. Right after entering, through the opening you can see part of KEVII. The yard is partly overgrown, but a clear path proves that people (squatters or drug addicts?) have been using it and maybe still do.

The part of the Rest House that has been destroyed by fire, a few weeks ago.

I could still walk in. And in an undamaged room there were clear signs that homeless people were still using it. As there is no electricity in the building, they may have to use a candle at night. Could that be the cause of the fire, just an accident?

Two pictures from the outside. The right picture is ironic, I took it on purpose.

Next to the Rest House, on Jalan Stesen, are two historical heritage buildings, one of them is the former Perak Railway Building (1885) . Ruined beyond repair, in my opinion, see my blog Taiping Bandar Warisan . After much of the interior had been demolished and/or stolen a few years ago, MPT (the Taiping town council) constructed a solid fence around the complex, to avoid further destruction.

Really solid, I thought, no way to sneak in. So I was shocked to discover that there actually still is an entrance, a jalan tikus (literally a rat road). You can see it clearly when you enlarge the above photo.

With some hesitation I entered. For sure, this complex was used by drug addicts, in the past I have encountered one. They probably still use it, I didn’t want a confrontation. As you can see, it is a regular makeshift wooden door.

I only stayed inside a few minutes, took a photo of the courtyard and didn’t examine the rooms. The courtyard is overgrown, with a clear path, more people must know about this. Leaving, I politely closed the door.

Final destination for the afternoon, the Pasar (1884/85). Two buildings, with Siang Malam in the middle. A few years ago closed for renovation. February this year, Siang Malam was under reconstruction. The exterior has now been completed, the interior is still empty. I heard on the grapevine that the former stall holders, temporarily relocated near the dobi line, like it there and may not be interested to return.

In February the Pasar buildings were still standing, but in recent months first the wooden parts have been removed and later also the metal structure. Taiping people were getting worried, but a minister assured that medio next year, when Taiping celebrates its 150th anniversary, the market would be restored in all its glory. There is some doubt if that is possible, and also if it will be renovation, or a modern reconstruction.

Here are two pictures, which I managed to take, not easy because here the fencing is very solid. Left the location of the veggie, beef/mutton and chicken market.. Completely clean. The right photo shows the location of the fish, fruit and pork market. To my surprise I noticed that a concrete foundation has been laid there. According to the grapevine again, the pasar is being rebuilt/reconstructed in Kelantan at the moment. Later it will be transported to Taiping. Can that be true? Why is there not more transparency from the authorities?

That evening I was invited by the same group of friends for another dinner, this time at Soon Lee restaurant, very close to my Furama hotel. Because I had hosted the dinner in Matang, this time I was not allowed to pay anything. Such a pleasant group of friends!

Another busy day. The next morning I woke up early because I had not yet visited the Lake Gardens and I was going to meet my friend Neal there. The Lake Gardens are beautiful, any time of the day.

Nice weather, I walked the Raintree Walk and met Neal there. We chatted about Taiping, its Heritage and the new Electrical Heritage bus

I invited him and his wife for breakfast at Lian Thong. Eggs on Toast (Roti Goyang) is a favourite of mine. Funny story: after we had ordered our breakfast, a lady customer came to our table and told us that she had ordered Roti Goyang, but could not finish it. Was I willing to take it? Of course I did, we cancelled our own order, and I had a free breakfast. I really love Taiping 😉 .

Walking back to my hotel, I stopped at the clock tower, the location of the Taiping tourist office. It is managed by the Taiping Tourist Association, who don’t have sufficient funds for repairs, maintenance and promotion. In my opinion a tourist office should be managed and funded by MPT itself.

They have leaflets and maps, but there could be more. Also, in my opinion the Heritage Bus should start from here, not from the Zoo.

I wanted to meet Puan Kamaria of TTA, but she was not in. Instead I chatted with Asraf, a volunteer of TTA, very interested in heritage. But only for a short while, because I had to hurry back to my hotel and check out.

Lay Chun and Kar Seng picked me up from my hotel and, after lunch together dropped me at the station.

A very busy, rewarding visit, I needed a few days to recover 😉

Taiping, February 2023

Posted on March 25, 2023 by janstu

Before starting to write this blog, I decided to take a look at the two blogs I wrote about my visits to Taiping last year, in March and June. I noticed that my Taiping visits are usually very similar: I meet friends, enjoy the Lake Gardens, explore the town and its heritage, have nice food. etc. This visit was not different, so be warned ;- .

On 15 February I took the ETS to Taiping I like train travel, it is more relaxing than driving. I always choose a seat in coach C, because the canteen is there 😉

In Taiping my friends Lay Chun and Kar Seng were waiting for me. We had lunch in the 226 Kim Hai restaurant in Aulong, where they are regular customers.

Nice food and as usual they didn’t let me pay for it. Malaysian hospitality!. From left to right, pork ribs, bitter gourd omelet (my favourite) and mantis shrimps.

After lunch they dropped me at Furama. From my hotel room I always had a view of a beautiful (but abandoned) bungalow. I was a bit shocked to see that the bungalow had been completely destroyed and replaced by a non-descript eatery.

After taking some rest I walked to the Novotel where I met my friend Derrick and his “gang”. They were on a road trip, staying overnight in Taiping and he had asked me to show them Taiping. As they had already been walking around in the Lake Gardens, I took them to Kuala Sepetang (Port Weld), where we walked around. Here a view from the bridge.

The first railway in the FMS, from Taiping to Port Weld, was opened in 1885. Dismantled in 1941, now only a signboard remains. On our way back we had dinner in Matang. The Light House restaurant is famous for its seafood porridge.

The next morning my friend Yeap picked me up from my hotel. We had breakfast together, another tradition. This time we had thosai in a mamak.

I had asked Yeap if he had contacts in the Taiping Sikh community, because I was interested to visit the Gurdwara Sahib. Not surprisingly he had, after breakfast we went to the Gurdwara where we met Datuk Balraaj Singh. The present Gurdwara was built in 1970 to replace a beautiful building, completed in 1921. The Taiping Gurdwara Sahib has an interesting history, going back to the times of captain Speedy, who in the 1870s went to India and came back with a group of Sikh sepoys to protect the interests of Ngah Ibrahim. A few years later they formed the Police Corps of Perak and in 1881 a wooden Gurdwara was built in the police compound. During the first world war, most Sikhs left to fight and many didn’t come back. Access to the gurdwara was problematic for their families (high security), in 1916 it was decided to build a new gurdwara.

Left the modern gurdwara, right the only remaining image of the beautiful old building.

Yeap’s wife was interested to see the gurdwara and joined us. Visitors are welcome, but you need a headcover. I had brought my cap, for Yeap and his wife there were shawls. What a handsome couple 😉 . We first visited the main hall (called the darbar), the entrance door was decorated with the Ik Onkar symbol, meaning literally There is only one Creator.

The darbar is a big empty space, dominated at the far end by an elevated throne on which rests the Guru Granth Sahib, the holy book of Sikhism. First I thought we were alone, entering the hall, but coming closer to the “throne”, we noticed that somebody was sitting behind it, reading the book. It was the Granthi, the ceremonial reader of the Guru Granth Sahib.

A gurdwara also has a langar, a community kitchen, where free vegetarian meals are prepared by volunteers for everybody, irrespective of religion or race. There is also a school and a library. Left the communal kitchen, right a few classrooms.

The courtyard of a gurdwara always has a big flagpole, carrying the Sikh flag. As there was no wind during our visit, you can not see the Khanda on the flag , the official symbol of the Sikh faith, After finishing his reading, the Granthi came to greet us and offer us a cup of tea. Here I am standing between him and the caretaker of the gurdwara.

A nice experience and a very interesting religion!

I went back to my hotel but stayed there only a short time, until Goh, another THS friend picked me up and took me to his house. He is a good photographer, a few years ago we had explored Taiping, resulting in an blog Taiping Old and New. He is also an avid gardener and I had asked him if I could have a look at his garden. His wife prepared coffee and we had a nice “senior” chat

He had a big collection of Desert Roses. We are trying to grow them at home, not easy. He also showed me the budding flower of the Queen of the Night, a species of cactus that only blooms for a single night. I asked him to send me a picture of the flower, which he did the following day. So beautiful.

It was almost lunchtime, we went to the Casual Market, where we had char kuey teow. There are two stalls in Casual Market, preparing this popular food, this time we had the fishball variety. The official name of this food court is Larut Matang Hawker Centre, sometimes also called the Cashier Market, but Goh was adamant that this was not correct.

After lunch we drove to the foothills of Maxwell Hill. The next day an exhibition “A Tale of two Hills” would be opened in the Maxwell Base Camp, we decided to have a look already

Everybody was busy with last-minute preparations, but they still had time to show us around. Left Suet Fun (mentor of the project) explaining the project to another early visitor. Right a description of the four contributions. Narrative and narrator are the new fashion words 😉

The contributions contain photos, videos, text. Here are two narrators with their narratives.

After Goh dropped me at my hotel, it was time for a well-deserved rest, Later I went to the Lake Gardens. A few years ago part of the Circular Road has been closed for traffic after a few raintrees had fallen on the road. It is now the Raintree Walk, very popular. One more part , until the Zoo, is now also for pedestrians. Very good initiative of MPT (the Taiping town council).

Until now four of the majestic raintrees have fallen on the road.

Several other trees have fallen in the opposite direction and still manage to survive.

Some more pictures of the Lake Gardens. I like the photo of the ladies who have brought a table and chairs and are enjoying an afternoon tea (?) at the water edge.

A walk in the Lake gardens in not complete for me without having a look at the cannonball trees.

I had invited Bok Kin and her husband for dinner that evening and they suggested the new Brew House, next to my hotel. I asked them to notify me when they had arrived in the restaurant, then I would join them in a few minutes 😉

The food was not really that special, but it was very nice meeting them.

During my visit in June I had visited a number of Hindu temples with Muthu Pulai, another THS member. He had suggested a day trip to a Muniswaram temple in Prai (Penang) for the following day, but when I was back in my hotel, I received his message that he had to cancel the trip last-minute. So I had to improvise a program for the next day.. Fortunately my friend Halim was free.!

I decided to start with Chee Cheong Fun breakfast at my usual stall no 37 in the Circus Grounds food court opposite Novotel. Very close to Furama, on my way I passed the colorful Dobi Line.

At the CCF stall I met Foo, earlier working at Furama, having breakfast with a friend. The stall is now managed by the son of Mr Tong, who has retired. Food quality still the same.

Later Halim picked me up from my hotel. First we went to his house, He has a lovely house and a beautiful garden.

Halim has recently started painting and I was interested to see the results. I was quite impressed. A few months ago he had a mild stroke, causing him some speech problems and I was even more impressed by the way he handled this (hopefully temporary) handicap. He carried a notebook to write down what he couldn’t tell and was not shy to communicate with other people.

There are several places I always like to visit when I am in Taiping, many of them heritage related. We had a look at the Residency pillars, cleaned a few years ago by THS and other NGO’s. See my report Taiping October 2020. They still look quite impressive.

The same can not be said of the remains of the former Casuaria Resthouse, still a ruined mess.

Then it was time for lunch, in the nearby New Club

Halim told me that he could see a waterfall from his home in Taman Lake View and that he would like to visit it. I told him that it was the Kamunting fall (Sg Ranting fall). After lunch we drove to the Indian temple near the Water Reservoir, where the trail to both Taiping waterfalls starts. I told him the trail to the Ranting fall is not that easy. We will see, during my next visit.

Back in my hotel, there was the usual afternoon rain.

After the rain stopped, I walked around the town. The egrets were still coming back to roost, It is a fascinating sight to see the flocks of birds return around 7 pm

In Jalan Kelab Cina the façade of a shoplot has collapsed a few months ago, damaging a few cars parked in front. The owner has now put up shielding with a warning sign “Park at your own risk”. Through a hole I could take a photo of the interior. Will be interesting to follow the development, if any, of this property. Taiping has (too) many of those ruins.

Next I walked to the Central Market. Part of it, Siang Malam is being renovated. Left a picture I took last year June, right how it looks now. There is progress !

Left the interior of the Siang Malam, still a lot has to be done. Right the main building of the market. No visible activity since last year.

Not really hungry after my lunch in the New Club, I just had some snack food in my hotel.

The next day I woke up early for a day trip with my friends Henry and Soon Lay. Visiting temples and caves around Ipoh was the target of this trip. We did so many interesting things, that I wrote a separate blog about it Take Your Time. Here two pictures, to give you an impression.

The next day was already the last one, going back by ETS in the afternoon. First I had breakfast with Henry and Soon Lay in D’Cherry , Tupai district.. According to Henry the best Nasi Lemak in town. Quite good.

After breakfast they were willing to drive me around the town, so I could have a look at a few of my “favourites”

Recently the STAR published an article about the Taiping murals A total of nine has been planned. We passed one that was still under construction. Here is a picture taken by me next to a Google Earth Street View. Personally I have reservations about this approach, using the wall just as a canvas. Compare it with what Zacharevic has done in Penang and Ipoh, basically using the structure of the old wall instead of obscuring it..

Here is another (in)famous example. Again the wall is just used as a canvas. Infamous because Amelia Earhart never landed in Taiping. See my latest blog Did Amelia Earhart land in Taiping? Two recent newspaper articles, from the STAR : QuickCheck: Did pioneer female pilot Amelia Earhart make a stopover in then-British Malaya? (verdict: “FALSE”), and from the NST: Earhart’s Taiping mural will not be erased . Sigh, Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur

Then it was time for what I call the Shame of Taiping, the two heritage buildings on Station Road, the former Perak Railway building and the Rest House. In 2013 and 2019 I wrote blogs about it, Shame on Taiping! and Taiping Bandar Warisan. Here a few photos, when you compare them with the two blogs, you will see that the decay has progressed.

The Perak Railway Building (Later PWD). At least now solidly fenced off (after the interiors was demolished completely)

The Rest House has also been fenced off, but it is still easy to enter.

Opposite those two ruins, the impressive buildings of the King Edward VII school. But don’t be mistaken, when I visited the school in 2018, parts were not accessible because they were infested by termites.

Finally a photo of me and my favourite ruin. Located at Jalan Sultan Jaafar, behind KEVII I read that the the land is for sale for RM 1.3 million. I would like to find out who were the original owners/tenants and why this bungalow was left to rot.

After Henry and Soon Lay dropped me at my hotel, I packed my stuff, checked out and waited for Halim. Our plan was to visit the Kota Ngah Ibrahim, have lunch, after which he would drop me at the Kuala Kangsar station.

First we went to the Ansari Chendol, where the biasa chendol was still only RM 1.80.

Then we drove to Matang where the fort has now be renamed Muzium Matang. Because it is more than the fort now. The building next to it, which I always called Speedy’s bungalow, has been renovated and is open to the public, free of charge. That was the reason for our visit, the fort itself I had visited many times,

The beautiful building next to the fort was actually the Security Guardhouse of Ngah Ibrahim’s police force.

We spent quite a lot of time in the museum, lots of information, the captions were not always easy to read

The restaurant Halim had in mind for lunch was Selera Azrorasa, located in Matang Gelugor. Famous for its fish curry, he said. Nice location, very remote. We ordered food and soon discovered that the service was very slow. And it was still quite far to Kuala Kangsar. I was getting worried.

Finally we decided that we had to leave, we asked the waiter to “tapau” the food (common practice in Malaysia to “take away” food) . Ten minutes before departure I arrived at the station. Halim took our lunch home and told me later that the food was good. I ordered coffee and sandwiches in the train canteen 😉 A funny ending of a very rewarding Taiping trip.

Did Amelia Earhart land in Taiping?

Posted on October 8, 2022 by janstu

In September 2019 I published two blog posts about Amelia Earhart, the American aviator, who flew over present-day Malaysia from Bangkok to Singapore on 20 June 1937. A mural had been created in Taiping, honoring her landing on 20 June at the Taiping Aerodrome for a refueling stop.

In my two reports, Amelia Earhart and Taiping and Amelia and Taiping (Part Two) I showed that Amelia Earhart never landed at the Taiping Aerodrome and not even had the intention to do so. I shared these reports with the Taiping Heritage Society (THS). Lukewarm response, no follow-up. A few months ago the Perak Heritage Society came into action: “She Never landed in Malaysia” Amelia Earhart Mural In Taiping Puzzles Locals It will be interesting to see if now something will happen.

Here is a bit more information about how the confusion started./

In 2007 a Wikipedia contributor, Andrew Kidman, starts a topic Taiping Airport. He adds content in the following years, for example on 1 February 2009 :

” … The airport also achieved fame through the famous American aviator, Amelia Mary Earhart in 1937, when she was doing her world flight and stopover at the Taiping Airport for refueling petrol. Amelia Earhart was doing her flight route from Thailand to Singapore, her permission to land at Taiping Airport was allowed on 7 June 1937 by the then Resident-General of Malaya….”

The second sentence is correct, the first one is his own conclusion and erroneous. His last edit of Taping Airport was in April 2009, he is not active anymore, I have tried to contact him, without success.

Yes, Amelia Earhart received a letter on 7 June that she was permitted to land at the Taiping Areodrome. Does that make Taiping at least a bit special? To make clear that this was mot the case, we must keep in mind that in 1937 Malaysia did not exist, it was British Malaya, consisting of the Straits Settlements , the Federated Malay States and the Unfederated Malay States, Crossing the airspace of British Malaya, Amelia needed several authorizations. In my second blog copies of these letters are shown. Each gives authorization for a specific period (‘in or about June’) and mentions the airports where she is permitted to land. Here is the list, with date of the authorization letter and the airports. Kedah and Johore were unfederated states and had to give authorization separately.

15 June Straits Settlements (Penang, Singapore)
.7 June FMS (Taiping)
17 June Kedah (Alor Star)
17 June Johore (Batu Pahat)

Taiping was just one of the five airports where she was allowed to land. But she did not , as is clear from the book Last Flight. In her report she mentions a few times Alor Star (We checked over Alor Star airport but did not stop, and headed for Singapore)

Amelia Earhart never landed in Taiping and had no intention to do so

Taiping, June 2022

Posted on June 28, 2022 by janstu

In my blog Penang & Taiping, 2022 I reported about a 4D3N trip with friends to Penang and Taiping. I decided to stay a few days more in Taiping, my 2nd home town. I had lunch with my friends in the Old Railway Station and decided to walk back from there to the Furama hotel, where I had dropped my luggage already. An easy walk, about 2km, less than half an hour. The Central Market is under restoration and I wanted to have a look.

As I would pass on my way the house of my friend Ms Long in Barack Road, I called her and asked if I could pay her a visit. I was welcome and we had a nice chat.

In March, during my last visit to Taiping, I also visited the market, Click here for my blog. Left picture shows the main market in March, the right picture was taken this time. I could not see any sign of recent activity.

But progress has been made on the wet market (better known as Siang Malam). Left the situation in March, right this time.

Some details of the restoration.

Of course I also had to have a look at what I have named the Shame of Taiping, the sad remains of the heritage Rest House (1894).

After checking in at Furama I took a rest before going out later to walk in the Lake Gardens and watch the egrets coming back to roost at the bamboo bushes.

After the food orgy in Penang, I was more thirsty than hungry 😉 I bought some chips and had satay in the Taman Tasik food court. A quiet evening.

During my last trip Halim and I had visited a few Indian temples in the Matang region. See my blog for the pictures I took during that trip. I talked about these temples with Muthu Pillai, a member of the Taiping Heritage Society, who knows a lot about Hindu religion. He was willing to accompany me on a trip to several Hindu temples..

Our first visit was to the Vinayagar Temple, dedicated to Ganesha, my favourite Hindu deity, son of Shiva and Parvati. If you are interested to know why he has an elephant head, you should read this: Short story for kids: How Ganesha got his elephant head

Muthu told me that many temples have a place, dedicated to the nine planets, the Navagraha. Nine planets? Actually it is better to call them the nine heavenly bodies. Sun, Moon and the five planets, known in antiquity: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Plus two demons, Rahu and Ketu, related to the moon. All nine play a role in Hindu astrology.

Next we visited the Sivan Temple, dedicated to Shiva. Here some pictures of a few deities.

The left image show Shiva as the cosmic dancer. The right image shows Murugan again, this without his spear, but with his characteristic mode of transport, the peacock.

Muthu helped me to put a pottu on my forhead ;-). While we visiting this temple, we were invited to have vegetarian food. Very friendly atmosphere.

The third temple was the Mariamman Temple on Jalan Kota. Mariamman is an incarnation of Parvati. This temple I had visited already during an earlier visit

Finally we went to the Muniswaran temple at Simpang Halt. When we arrived, the temple was closed already for lunch, but the friendly lady caretaker let us in, through a backdoor of her shop. During my earlier visit with Halim I was captivated by the beauty and serenity of this temple, although the weather was too hot to enjoy everything. The weather was milder now, I walked around and took numerous pictures. It confirmed my earlier impression, that this is one of the most beautiful temples I have seen.

Hanuman

Inside the temple. Right the shrine of Muniswaran

Some of the statues are colorful, as is common Hindu temples.

But I was very impressed with the many “uncolored” statues.

On the Internet I have found colored pictures of this temple, for example in this blog, written by my friend Liz Price in 2014. Are the statues painted for special occasions?

The temple has a romantic, relaxing garden. I was pleasantly surprised to find a Buddha statue in the garden.

A monumental angsana tree on the temple grounds is very old, you can see it on a photo of the Simpang Halt railway station. The temple itself is actually very new.

After our visit we had lunch in the small shop at the entrance of the temple. Really a very rewarding visit.

In the afternoon I visited the Perak Museum. Of course I had been there before, but this time there was a special exhibition about Taiping and its history.

The exhibition was interesting, mostly photos, but not spectacular.

I liked the photo of Captain Speedy, dressed as an Englishman, because mostly you see him in his exotic Ethiopian outfit. The map of Larut should have come with a comment from the museum staff 😉 The map was published in 1883 and shows the Port Weld-Taiping railway, , but this line was not opened until 1885!

A real mistake from the museum staff concerns the landing of Amelia Earhart on 7 June 1937 at Tekah Airport. As I have shown in my blog Amelia Earhart and Taiping, this American aviator flew on 7 June 1937 from Brazil to Africa! And actually she never landed at the Tekah airport.

I walked around in the rest of the museum. Well organised, worth a visit

On my way back to my hotel, I passed the All Saints’ Church, the first church in the Federated Malay States, founded in1886.

A cemetery next to the church has interesting tombstones.

Muthu had suggested to meet again for dinner that evening, after first attending a meeting of the Taiping Toastmasters of which he intends to become a member.. Some of my friends are Toastmasters, with some hesitation I accepted his invitation. It was an interesting experience. Members were asked to give a short, unprepared speech on a given topic. Memories surfaced of my college days as a member of a sorority ;-). Of course I was asked to participate, but i politely declined.

A nice group of friendly people. This photo was taken by Lawren, the outgoing president of the club

After the meeting we adjourned to a nearby restaurant for supper.

The next day I had my usual chee cheong fun breakfast in the stall of my friend Tong.

In the afternoon I was going back by train to KL. My friend Halim often brings me to the station where we have lunch together.. This time he had organised a durian party at his house. Would I mind joining the party, he asked. Of course I accepted his invitation. The durians came from Batu Kurau and were first class. For the first time I tried them together with pulut (glutinous rice) and santen (coconut milk), A delicious combination.

There were lots of other food as well. Nice Malay atmosphere.

As Halim was busy, being the host of the party, one of his friends took me to the station.

A short visit, but full of variety!

Penang & Taiping, 2022

Posted on June 25, 2022 by janstu

A scuba diving friend of Aric, Tony, has an apartment in Georgetown and invited us and a few friends for a food trip to Penang. He was also interested in Taiping, so it became a 4D3N tirp, two nights in Penang and one night in Taiping.

Tony lives in Kota Kemuning. After meeting him, we first had breakfast at Kheng Chew Kopitiam. From left to right Aric, John, Tony and Rodney. I had my favourite breakfast, half-boiled eggs and toast. with coffee.

With only an intermediate sanitary stop we drove straightaway to a small village, Bagan Samak, not far from Parit Buntar. Here is a Google map of the region, as you see it is a very small village. Surprisingly there are quite a few popular restaurants.

A friend of John had suggested the Sloam Mit Thai restaurant and that was a good choice. We had catfish, lala, prawn crackers, fried pork and paku (ferns)..A good start of our food trip 😉

We continued to Penang, where we decided to have a dessert in the Kek Seng coffee shop. Founded in 1906 the café is famous for its durian ice-cream and its ABC. Nice antique furniture

The coffee shop is not far from the Komtar tower. Left picture from the ground, the right one from Tony’s condo, where we arrived around 3 pm and had a well deserved rest.,

Tony’s apartment is spacious and has wonderful views

In preparation for our trip Aric had selected a few interesting food venues. One of them was the Peng Hwa Lok Lok in Pulau Tikus. Lok Lok is a kind of steamboat, where the food is skewered on sticks, which you dip in boiling water. Interesting at this stall is that the skewers are already present on the table and regularly refilled. You keep the sticks which at the end are counted to determine what you pay. The place is very popular, you share a table with others. A very interesting experience.

Back in the condo we enjoyed the night view and had a glass of wine

The next day we went again to the Pulau Tikus market, this time for Apom Manis at the coffees hop of Swee Keng. Another must-try on Aric’s list. You have to come early otherwise they are sold out.

After breakfast we split for a while. I visited a friend, LCK, who is living in a colonial mansion at Macalister Road. We had a nice chat with coffee, durians and interesting miniature bananas from his own garden in Balik Pulau.

The others visited the Penang Botanical Gardens.

When they came to fetch me, LCK invited them for more durians.

For lunch we went to the New World Park, where we only had some light food, because more food was waiting for us in Tony’s condo 😉

Through Facebook, Aric had discovered an Assam Laksa “shop” that did delivery service only and had good reviews. Here you see Tony and Aric preparing the laksa. Aric loves this kind of noodles and has a website, Assam Laska List in which he describes and assesses the various Assam Laksa shops. His verdict: eatable, but not that special

Afternoon view of Gunung Jerai, from the condo.

We had bought (expensive) tickets for the Komtar tower. More precisely for the Komtar Skywalk, added to the tower in 2016. These top floors offer spectacular views of Georgetown. In the left picture I have marked with a x the location of Tony’s condo.

But the views were not what we came for ;-). Both the 65th and 68th floor have glass walkways, where you can look to the ground below, 250 meter down. The walkway on the 65th floor is the most scary, because the glass is transparent and colorless. I have no fear of height, but, to be honest I had to force myself to stand on this glass. Here Aric is lying down.

Of course we took many pictures. Once you are on the glass, you feel safe, but the first step is really scary.

On the 68th floor a curved skywalk has been created. If you look carefully at the Komtar picture at the beginning of this blog, you can see the “horseshoe” sticking out. A limited number of people is allowed to enter at any time. Because the glass floor has a blueish color, it is less scary.

We wanted to see the sunset and Georgetown after dark, so we had to spend quite some time on the roof, taking more pictures 😉

The sunset was not special, but the view of Georgetown with the lights on, was worth the waiting

On our way down, we passed this giant durian. Rodney doesn’t like the King of Fruits 😉 The Komtar tower was nicely illuminated.

We had Crab Char Kuey Teow at the Bee Hooi Cafe for dinner and as a dessert Tong Shui at the Traditional Home of Dessert ,

We walked a bit along the esplanade. I took a photo of the City Hall (1903), just to show that I was not only interested in food 😉

The next morning , before leaving for Taiping, we visited the scenic Hean Boo Thean temple, at the edge of the Yeoh jetty, dedicated to Guan Yin.

We lit candles. I wrote my Chinese nickname 😉

On our way to Taiping we stopped for lunch at the Law Cheang Kee restaurant in Nibong Tebal , another eatery on Aric’s list. Mud crab porridge is one of their specialities. The fresh stock of crab was just brought in when we arrived. We also had fried kembong , a kind of mackerel.

This was our table when we left.

We arrived in Taiping around 3pm and had cendol and pasembor at the Ansari Famous Cendol shop, before checking in at the Flemington Hotel. From the rooms and especially from the roof (with swimming pool) you have a beautiful view of the Lake Gardens

After a short rest we went out again, to visit Port Weld, now renamed Kuala Sepetang. On our way we had a look at one of the charcoal kilns. During my last visit, a few months ago, I was disappointed that it had become very touristy. But this time, almost 6 pm, it was deserted and very scenic.

One of the kilns was working. Controlling the temperature inside to transform the mangrove wood in charcoal, is a complicated process.

Another kiln was being filled with mangrove logs

We walked around in Port Weld and had a nice view from the bridge.

I had invited a few Taiping friends to join us for dinner in Teluk Kertang. There are several popular seafood restaurants in this village (where in 1879 Isabella BIrd landed, see my blog). We had booked at table in the Lemon Tree restaurant. It was a pleasant meeting with nice company and good food.

The next morning we walked in the Lake Gardens. Splendid weather.

Not even all Taipingites know that the Lake Gardens have a few Cannonball trees. After I “discovered” them, many years ago, I always have a look at these magnificent trees..

Here is another view of the gardens, with Maxwell Hill in the background.

After our walk we went back to Flemington to take a shower and check out. My friends were going back to KL, I was going to stay a bit longer. I dropped my luggage at my usual Furama hotel and then followed them to the old Railway station where we had another Assam Laksa.

It was a nice food trip. About my two extra days in Taiping I will write a separate blog.

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