Category Archives: Malaysia

The Ng Boo Bee(?) Fountain

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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.

The Taiping Lake Gardens

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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.

CNY 2026

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In my last blog post about the Chinese New Year, CNY 2025. I mentioned a few more CNY-reports. Interesting for me to read them again, as I forgot many details. They are basically all very similar, spending a few days with Aric in Parit Baru, meeting his extended family, and having lots of food.

This post is not different, but I have tried to change the format a bit and add some details.

Preparations

Compulsory preparations for CNY are buying new clothes and having a haircut.

Early Celebration

Ten days before CNY, there was an early reunion for Aric’s maternal family in Kepong.

Family members had prepared food for reunion dinner in buffet style.-

Of course ther was Yee Sang, tossing a salad.The higher you toss, the more luck it will bring you.

There was also a birthday celebration and of course the traditional group photo.

Two days before CNY

We arrived one day earlier than usual, because Aric needed time to prepare the CNY decorations. We reached Parit Baru in the evening and had dinner in the fishing village, a few km from the family house.

Not many people yet. We had dinner with Aric’s older brother Ah Peng, older sister Aei Ling, and her two kids, Teng Wei and Chun Yee. Of course, we had seafood.

CNY Eve

It is nice to join Aric at Parit Baru, after so many years, it feels like I am a family member. But it is also a challenge, because it is difficult to get some privacy. Fortunately, the family has a bungalow, a few minutes’ drive from the family house. We stayed overnight there, and Aric was my Grab driver when I needed some rest and privacy.

Next morning, we drove back to the family house, where an offering table had been prepared, prayers for the ancestors. That is a tradition on the last day of the year. At the back of the house, there was another, smaller offering table, which I had never noticed earlier. Apparently, it can be found in the countryside, also on the last day of the (lunar) year. Google gives various explanations (chicken, local deities, ancestors).

Aric was busy the whole day, preparing the CNY decorations with the help of nephews and nieces. It was a kind of three-dimensional construction kit, not easy.

I had nothing to do, so I decided to take some pictures of the house and its surroundings. The house is located in a Malay kampung. Many years ago, Aric’s father and two uncles started a hardware shop here. Three families lived in the house. The hardware shop is doing well.

In the past, the three families always had the reunion dinner on CNY eve together, but this time it was separate. Aric’s brother Raymond had arrived with his family. Of course, we had the traditional steamboat 😉 .

CNY day 1

Here, Aric is inspecting the result of what they had prepared the day before. He is a perfectionist, so he was not 100% happy. “It could have been better” But it was good enough to enable him to create his usual digital CNY card.

There was another offering table for the ancestors. The first day of the month, so vegetarian this time. Note that the table is set for nine ancestors. The Deity on the altar is Tua Pek Kong, the Taoist god of Prosperity.

It was a quiet morning, but a bit hot to stay inside the house.

In the afternoon, we drove to a small shrine, a few km from the house. It’s a Datok Shrine, dedicated to a local deity, you find them everywhere in Malaysia. This one is situated nicely beside a small stream. We visit it every year.

Back at the house, I took a few pictures of the shrines there. Left is the shrine for the sky god, right a small Datok Shrine.

During the day, many more cousins, often with their kids, had arrived. I know the names of Aric’s nephews and nieces, but not of his cousins. Here everybody is relaxing in the common living room, playing cards or watching their smartphones.

Scenic photo of the front door with Aric’s decorations.

CNY Day 2

This year (and also the next two years), CNY and Ramadan start in the same lunar month. Because the Islamic calendar requires the new moon to be sighted, the actual start of the fasting is one or two days later. Parit Baru has a Kedai Kopi with very good roti canai, we went there for breakfast on the last day that it was open.

More photos of the family house. The living room and the kitchen are shared by the three families, but meals are prepared separately. There are three fridges, dining tables, kitchen sinks, etc.

Left the part of the kitchen for Aric’s family, the other photo shows the tables for the families of the two uncles.

Left the toilet and shower section. Right the backyard, doing laundry is a daily chore.

After many days of Chinese food, I was in the mood for something different. We drove to Sungei Besar where they have a McDonald’s. I enjoyed a cheeseburger.

CNY day 3

The last part of my pictures of the family house. The house is partly wooden, especially the first floor, where each family has its private rooms. During CNY so many people come back that all available space is used to put mattresses. Good that I could escape to the bungalow 😉 .

Giving and/or receiving Ang Pow is part of the CNY celebration. The small red envelopes contain money and signify good luck and prosperity. They are usually given by older people to younger ones. I give Ang Pow, as Uncle Jan, but I also receive them, not sure why ;-). Giving Ang Pow to Aric’s nephews and nieces is always a nice ritual. Aric invites them to the family room, where he has prepared surprises for them.

A few of the young ladies had prepared two beautiful vegetarian Yee Sang plates. The three families did the tossing in the common living room.

Day 3 is always the party day for the Cheah family, with Aric as the organiser. It was a bit unfortunate that it started raining in the afternoon.

The family had decided to use a caterer for the buffet dinner. Indian food for a change.

For the young kids, a fire was prepared, so they could put marshmallows on a stick and fry them.

Later, the rain stopped. Aric always organises a kind of lottery game.

The traditional group photo. More than 50 people.

Of course, there were fireworks.

CNY day 4

In the morning, there was another offering table, set for one ancestor only. The first wife of the grandfather, who had passed away on day 4, many years ago. The family is very traditional in keeping the rituals alive. In the right photo, you see how everybody is folding “ghost money” to be burned later.

After lunch it was time to go home.

I had asked Aric to bring his drone and take some aerial views of the family house and the surroundings. At the horizon the Bernam river, with Perak at the other side.

Left Pekan Pari Baru, right a close-up of the Cheah “mansion”.

CNY day 5

I was quite exhausted after a 6D5N stay in Parit Baru. But on day 5, we were invited to another CNY reunion in Damansara Mutiara, near where we live. Another big crowd, I escaped to the garden. Aric’s extended maternal family this time.

Both kids and adults like to play cards.

And of course, another group photo, the third one for me 😉

Hokkien New Year Eve,dy 8

After recovering during the weekend, there was a nice, small-scale finale on day 8. Aric’s brother-in-law is Hokkien, and they celebrate the New Year on day 9. We visited them in Puchong on the evening of day 8.There was the usual offering table.

Although I am not a Taoist, I don’t mind joining them in prayers.

Folding the joss papers and burning them.

After midnight, there were fireworks.

The KL Botanical garden

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In May 2025, my friend Pek Foong invited me for a walk in the Lake Gardens, a visit to the Tun Razak Memorial, and a drink in the Royal Lake Club. It was a nice outing, resulting in a blog post: KL Lake Gardens. During that walk, I didn’t see any lake, so a few days ago I came back with my friend Paul for another walk. Here is a Google Earth screenshot, with our walk marked in green.

I took the MRT to Museum Negara, where I met Paul. I have visited the National Museum only once, decades ago. I must go again soon.

It’s a short walk, using a tunnel under a busy highway, to reach the entrance of the Lake Gardens. The official name is now Kuala Lumpur Botanical Garden.

Here is the lake. It is not a former mining pond, like the Taiping Lake Gardens; it was created in the 1880s by damming a small river. The park was officially opened in 1889, and the lake was named Sydney Lake, in honor of Lady Sydney Swettenham, a strong supporter.

The park is close to the center of Kuala Lumpur and well-maintained, although the paddleboat section was closed.

Signboards indicate the various attractions.

Trees have information boards. There were not many flowers during our visit.

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A decorative building is a nice place to rest.

Another attractive building made of bamboo.

Peaceful and scenic.

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The lake is located in a valley, and stairs lead to the higher parts of the gardens.

There is a deer park.

The Tun Razak Memorial is located just outside the Botanical Garden.

It is really a beautiful garden.

Halfway, we took a rest for coffee and biscuits. An exotic visitor was interested in the crumbs. It looked like a pitta, but it is a Splendid Starling, that has escaped from the nearby Bird Park. Its habitat is East Africa. Not shy at all, a nice surprise.

Attractive bridges are very suitable for taking pictures.

Walking back, we had a good view of the Merdeka 118 skyscraper, the world’s second-tallest building.

We will come back another time.

The Sultan Abdul Samad building

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In 2017, I published a detailed report about KL Heritage. In this report, I give more information about the impressive Sultan Abdul Samad building, the former Government Offices during the colonial era. After the independence of Malaysia, the building housed the superior courts of Malaysia until they were relocated to Putrajaya in 2003. Since then we could only admire the impressive building from the outside. But last year it was refurbished, and a few weeks ago it reopened to the public.

Free access during February, so we joined the crowd to have a look inside. We parked our car under Merdeka Square and walked to the building. The facade must have been cleaned; it looked fresh and wonderful. It was already late afternoon, as we wanted to take night pictures.

We didn’t even need to register; we could just walk in. The building is large, clear ground plans are helpful for your orientation. The group floor has two galleries. We started with the Royal Selangor gallery (number 1 in the plan).

It is mostly a sales gallery. Royal Selangor, world-renowned for its pewter, has its visitor center in Setapak, and has now opened a branch here.

Beautiful stuff, very expensive.

One part of the gallery is the School of Hard Knocks (5), where workshops will be held for people who want to craft their own pewter dish.

There is also a cafe (4) where we decided to have a coffee and cake

Next, we wanted to visit the Kuala Lumpur Gallery(2), but it closed at 6 pm. This gallery about the history of KL will be more interesting, so I have to come back another time. I understand that the exhibits are basically the same as the former KL City Gallery (See my KL Heritage blog), but it will be interesting to see them in this new location

So we walked up to the first floor. Of course we took numerous pictures.

There are more restaurants in the building, on the ground plan I counted six(!). This is a real restaurant,

We could not resist the temptation to take a picture of ourselves.

There were many visitors, both locals and tourists.

At around 7 pm, the lights came on. We went back to the ground floor. This is the backside of the building, a nice, quiet courtyard.

We left the building and crossed Merdeka Square to the Selangor Club. What a fantastic view of the whole building.

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A few more pictures.

The building deserves to become one of the top attractions of Kuala Lumpur.

Before driving back home, we took a few more night pictures of other interesting buildings in the region. Here is the Masjid Jamek, rather dwarfed by the modern background.

Old Railway Station and the National Mosque.

KL Tower and the Merdeka 118 skyscraper.

No idea if access will remain free after this month. For those living in Malaysia, use the opportunity. Open from 8 am until 10 pm, but galleries close at 6 pm.

Maxwell Hill

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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.-

1999
2013
2016

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.

I will wait and see.

The Nest, heaven on earth

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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/.

Taiping October 2025

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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 2025
Rest House 2023
Majestic 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!

Amelia Earhart, one more time.

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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.

A Photo Map of Taiping

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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.