Since the beginning of the lockdown in Malaysia (March 2020), I have visited only two waterfalls, Templer Park and Lata Iskandar. When you know about my fascination with Malaysian waterfalls, you will understand how excited I was when my friend Edwin suggested a trip to waterfalls in the Batang Kali-Ulu Yam region. Interstate travel was still prohibited, but these waterfalls are in the state of Selangor.
There were two options, either the Kedondong fall or waterfalls in the Batang Kali river, recently explored by him. As I had visited the Kedondong fall already, I was interested in the Batang Kali waterfalls. Interested but also a bit anxious. I am getting older and have lost my self-confidence in the jungle. I discussed my concern with Edwin and we decided to limit ourself to an “easy” waterfall in the Batang Kali River. Teoh, one of my waterfall “godsons” was eager to join as well.
Edwin picked me up from my condo at 7:30 am and took me for breakfast to the 333 Kopitiam in Ulu Yam Baharu, where Teoh was already waiting for us. We had bitter gourd pork noodles and yam pork noodles, especially the second one was delicious and a reason to come back.
333 Kopitiam
Yam and Bitter Gourd noodles
We parked our cars at the Kedondong Recreation Park, for safety, although it meant that we first had to walk along the road about 800 m to the trailhead. We started hiking around 10 am
Ready to go
The trailhead
From the trailhead we hiked down to a tributary of the Batang Kali river, which we had to cross.
Crossing was easy. For the first time in two(!) years I was wearing my kampung Adidas.
There was a clear trail with beautiful bamboo groves. Locals probably come here to harvest bamboo, even a temporary shed was built.
Here and there bamboo had fallen across the trail, but still easy to pass.
It was a real pleasure to be back in the jungle. Only a few leeches.
Nice fungus
Almost looks like mangrove
We had to cross the Batang Kali river once. Easy.
After about 30 minutes we reached the waterfall. Not a tall one, but a lot of water and a huge pool.
Of course we took a refreshing bath.
Edwin is an experienced swimmer and managed to swim behind the water curtain. I took a video, you can hardly see his face behind the water, until he dives through it :-).
Here I am relaxing near the fall. A happy man. I am always a bit worried about bees and wasps as I am allergic to their stings, but there were hardly any in this pristine location.
After frolicking around, we took the same trail back to the main road. Two ways of crossing the river, using the fallen tree (Edwin) or just getting wet feet (Teoh and I).
I wanted to buy an orchid to bring home, the red one I carry in the left picture. A friendly sales guy advised me to choose the one with larger flowers, they would last longer. Three orchids for RM 30 only.
A very rewarding outing. Thanks to Edwin for taking the initiative and to Teoh for his company. Real fellowship, good for boosting my self-confidence.
Here is a Google Earth of the Batang Kali region. The red part is along the road, the green one the trail. I have also marked the locations of the 333 Kopitiam and the orchid farm.
In several earlier posts I have mentioned Isabella Bird, who visited Taiping in 1879. In this post I will describe in somewhat more detail the visit of this intrepid English traveller.
Isabella Bird was born in 1831. Already at a young age she was bitten by the travel bug. During her travels she wrote letters to her sister Henrietta in Edinburgh and these letters have been published in a number of books.
In 1878 she visits Japan (resulting in her book Unbeaten Tracks in Japan) and on her way back to England she spends a few weeks in Hong Kong. On 10 January 1879 she has a lunch with Chief Justice Snowden. In a letter to her sister she writes :
” .. he urges me to go to Malacca on my way home. I had never dreamed of the “Golden Chersonese;” but I am much inspired by his descriptions of the neighborhood of the Equator, and as he has lent me Newbold’s Malacca for the voyage, and has given me letters to the Governor and Colonial Secretary of the Straits Settlements, you will next hear from me from Singapore! “
On 18 January she arrives in Singapore where she is the guest of Cecil Smith, the Colonial Secretary of the Straits Settlements. She writes:
“I wonder how this unexpected and hastily planned expedition into the Malay States will turn out? It is so unlikely that the different arrangements will fit in. It seemed an event in the dim future; but yesterday my host sent up a “chit” from his office to say that a Chinese steamer is to sail for Malacca in a day or two, and would I like to go?”
She has only 5 minutes to decide. And of course she goes, always eager to escape from civilisation 😉 .
The two quotes above are from her book The Golden Chersonese and the Way Thither , published in 1883. Left the original edition, right my own copy, a reprint from 2000. You can also read it online or download it to your tablet.
The Golden Chersonese is the ancient name for the Malay Peninsula. The book contains 23 letters, in the first seven chapters/letters she describes her visits to Hong Kong, Canton, Saigon and Singapore (the Way Thither).
I have read her book with admiration and fascination. What a remarkable lady.
Before I write about her travels, first a short description of the (political) situation in the Malay Peninsula during the seventies of the 19th century.
There were the Straits Settlements, a British Crown Colony consisting of Penang, Melaka ,Singapore ( and after 1874 the Dindings), and many independent Malay states. Several of them were in turmoil, for a variety of reasons, the Larut wars (1861-1874) in Perak , the Klang War (1867-1874) in Selangor, a Civil War (1873) in Sungei Ujong {present day Seremban). The result of the Pangkor Treaty (1874) was that Perak accepted a British Resident and soon Selangor and Sungei Ujong followed. The first Resident of Perak , J.W.W Birch, was murdered in November 1875, resulting in the Perak War (1875-1875) . Turbulent times.
And to give you an impression how unknown the peninsula was in those days, from 1875 until 1882 D.D. Daly, Superintendent of Public Works and Surveys, Selangor, surveyed the Malay peninsula with this map as one of the results. His report, presented to the Royal Geographic Society in 1882, is very readable.
On 19 January Isabella Bird leaves Singapore with the SS Rainbow. A small screw steamer with an interesting history. First owned by Rajah Brooke of Sarawak, later sold to the Government of the Straits Settlements and finally to Chinese merchants. Overloaded with about 150 people, she being the only “white man and Christian”, she lands the next day in Melaka “.. after a most pleasant voyage in a steamer one would have thought too bad to voyage in”.
Melaka was part of the Straits Settlement, a sleepy town ” .. the narrow stream and bridge, and the quaint red-tiled roofs of the town, is very charming and harmonious; yet I often think, if these dreamy days went on into months, that I should welcome an earthquake shock, or tornado .. ” She stays in the Stadthuys.
From Melaka she makes an adventurous trip to Sg Ujong, first with a steam launch to the mouth of the Linggi river, then in a perahu. Her description in letter XI is so fascinating that, many years ago, I followed by car, as close as possible, the Linggi river with a friend, from the river mouth to Seremban: Linggi adventure, 15-7-2008. Here I am standing near the river, no crocodiles or tigers anymore.
Isabella’s next destination is Selangor. On 1 February she arrives in Klang (“a most mistriven, decayed, dejected, miserable-looking place “). She stays in the Residency, makes a trip to Jugra to visit the Sultan and is clearly less happy then in Sg Ujong.
A few days later she sails to Penang aboard the Abdulsamad, the yacht of the Sultan, visiting Kuala Selangor and Sabba (Sabak Bernam) on the Bernam river on their way. She spends one night in the Hotel de l’Europe (nowadays part of the E&O hotel) and 10 February she crosses over to Province Wellesley, where in the evening the steamer Kinta arrives with W. E. Maxwell, the Assistant Resident of Perak. In his company two nice Malay boys, the sons of the exiled Sultan Abdullah who will go to Melaka for their education. This is the Kinta.
They leave at night and the next morning at 7 am they reach Teluk Kertang, in those days the main port of Taiping , (“.. with a pier, a long shed, two or three huts, and some officialism, white and partly white, all in a “dismal swamp”) Nowadays Teluk Kertang is a quiet kampong with several shipyards and charcoal kilns.
In gharries (horse-drawn carriages) they drive to the residency. In Permatang they pass “ … two very large two-storied Malay houses in some disrepair, in which the wife of the banished MÄ•ntri of Larut lives, with a number of slaves. ” That must have been Kota Ngah Ibrahim. Of course it looks very different now.
It was here that in 1876 the trial of Birch’s murderers took place, resulting in the conviction and hanging of two Malay noblemen and the banishment of Sultan Abdullah and Ngah Ibrahim to the Seychelles. The Kota is now a museum, on the first floor you can see scenes of the trial.
They continue to Taiping: “From this point we drove along an excellent road toward the mountains …. and near noon entered this important Chinese town, with a street about a mile long, with large bazaars and shops making a fine appearance, … and on the top of a steep, isolated terraced hill, the British Residency“. The green line in this Google Earth screenshot, is probably how she went from Teluk Kertang to the Residency.
Maxwell resided in what nowadays is the District Officer’s Residence, originally built by Captain Speedy.
It must have looked very different when Isabella Bird stayed there. In her description: “The Residency is large and lofty, and thoroughly draughty, a high commendation so near the equator. It consists of a room about thirty feet wide by sixty long, and about twenty feet high at its highest part, open at both ends, the front end a great bow window without glass opening on an immense veranda. “
She stays a couple of days in the Residency and enjoys it very much. “The house on my side has a magnificent view of the beautiful Hijan hills, down which a waterfall tumbles in a broad sheet of foam only half a mile off, and which breed a rampageous fresh breeze for a great part of the day”. Here is the waterfall, a bit further away than she thought, one and a half mile away from the Residency.
She continues her description: “The front veranda looks down on Taipeng and other Chinese villages, on neat and prolific Chinese vegetable gardens, on pits, formerly tin mines, now full of muddy, stagnant water, on narrow, muddy rivulets bearing the wash of the tin mines to the Larut river”. Taiping as seen from the Residency may have looked like this. One year later, in 1880, the town was destroyed by fire and rebuilt in brick.
The food is simple and Maxwell is working all the time “There are two simple meals daily, with tea and bananas at 7 A.M., and afternoon tea at 5 P.M. Mr. Maxwell is most abstemious, and is energetically at work from an early hour in the morning ”
She is alone a lot , visits the town and enjoys the company of the two boys. “Those boys of Sultan Abdullah’s are the most amusing children I ever saw. They are nine and twelve years old, with monkey-like, irrepressible faces. They have no ballast. They talk ceaselessly, and are very playful and witty, but though a large sum is being paid for their education at Malacca, they speak atrocious “pidjun,” and never use Malayan, in my hearing at least”. Interesting detail, the two boys, Raja Chulan and Rajah Ngah Mansur were later involved in the creation of the Perak State Anthem.
During her stay she also visits a tin mine in Kamunting. She gives a detailed description of how a mine is working and is treated well by the Chinese owner of the mine who “.. had conveyed champagne, sherry, and bitter beer! His look of incredulity when we said that we preferred tea, was most amusing; but on our persisting, he produced delicious tea with Chinese sweetmeats, and Huntley and Palmer’s cocoa-nut biscuits” She must have loved food, mentions it often in her book!
She also wants to meet Hugh Low, the British Resident, who is residing in Kuala Kangsar, the royal capital of Perak. Kuala Kangsar is less than 25 km from Taiping, as the crow flies, But there are hills and mountains in between . Have a look at this enlarged details of the 1882 map. The only connection between Kuala Kangsar and Taiping was via the pass at Bukit Berapit, and there was no real road yet. The plan was that Isabella Bird would travel to Kuala Kangsar by elephant and a telegram had been sent that elephants should come to Taiping and meet her.
In the early morning of 14 February: “We had bananas and chocolate, and just at daybreak walked down the hill, where I got into a little trap drawn by a fiery little Sumatra pony, and driven by Mr. Gibbons, a worthy Australian miner who is here road-making, and was taken five miles to a place where the road becomes a quagmire not to be crossed”. This place must have been Changkat Jering, via Air Kuning about 6 miles from the Residency.
But the telegraph line was broken, and Maxwell who had accompanied her, was unable to find other elephants. “There was nothing for it but to walk, and we tramped for four miles. I could not have done the half of it had I not had my “mountain dress” on, the identical mud-colored tweed, in which I waded through the mud of Northern Japan. ” Actually she enjoys this walk tremendously, giving a vivid description of all the flowers, shrubs and trees she finds on her path.
Finally “After walking for four miles we came upon a glorious sight at a turn of the road, a small lake behind which the mountains rise forest-covered, with a slope at their feet on which stand the cocoa-nut groves, and the beautiful Malay house of the exiled MÄ•ntri of Larut” Nowadays the house and the lake don’t exist anymore, only the tombs of Long Jaafar, the father of Ngah Ibrahim.
Here she waits for the elephants to arrive, while being offered cocoa-nuts, buffalo milk and lotus seeds. She writes: “Beyond is the picturesque kampong of Matang, with many good houses and a mosque. Passing through a gateway with brick posts, we entered a large walled enclosure …. “ She makes a mistake here, it is not Matang but Bukit Gantang! There is still a mosque, a porch and remains of an enclosure. Of course not necessarily the same as mentioned by her 🙂
Finally her elephant arrives. The ways she describes the animal (a hideous beast) , the mounting ( I dropped into one of these baskets from the porch ), the driver ( a gossiping, careless fellow ), the riding (This mode of riding is not comfortable ), the unmounting ( letting myself down by a rattan rope upon the driver, who made a step of his back ) is so vivid and often hilarious, that I decided to combine all the passages about her elephant ride into a separate document, The first elephant ride of Isabella Bird
Although the ride is not comfortable, she enjoys the scenery (The pass of Bukit Berapit, seen in solitude on a glorious morning, is almost worth a journey round the world ) and the hospitality ( I clambered into a Malay dwelling of the poorer class, and was courteously received and regaled with bananas and buffalo milk) . Because the elephant is “unruly”, she walks the last few miles and has her first encounter with leeches (surprised to find that my boots were filled with blood, and on looking for the cause I found five small brown leeches, beautifully striped with yellow, firmly attached to my ankles. )
After ten hours of traveling she reaches Kuala Kangsar. “When the sun was low I looked down upon a broad and beautiful river, with hills and mountains on its farther side, a village on the shores of a promontory, and above that a grassy hill with a bungalow under cocoa-palms at its top, which I knew must be the Residency, from the scarlet uniforms at the door”.
Here is how she traveled from Taiping to Kuala Kangsar. Air Kuning and Changkat Jering are not mentioned in her book, but this seems to me the most probable route. In red the part she had to walk. The Perak river in blue
Here is her description of the Residency: …at the top of a steep slope the bungalow, which has a long flight of stairs under a latticed porch, leading to a broad and comfortably furnished veranda used as the Resident’s office and sitting-room, the centre part, which has a bed-room on each side of it and runs to the back of the house, serving for the eating-place. It is as unpretending a dwelling as can be. It keeps out the sun and rain, and gives all the comfort which is needed in this climate, but nothing more. Even simpler than the Residency in Taiping.
The Residency as described by Isabella is no more there. In 1885 Hugh Low rebuilt the Residency , there exists a picture of it. The right picture gives a view of Kuala Kangsar in the 1870s,
In 1905 the Residence was demolished to make place for the King’s Pavilion, accommodation for the British High Commissioner to the Federated Malay States . Now it houses a school.
When she arrives in the Residency, she finds out that “Mr. Low, the Resident, has not returned, and I am not only alone in his bungalow in the heart of the jungle, but so far as I can learn I am the only European in the region“. She is received by the butler, has a nice bath, unfortunately her valise has not yet arrived, so she is obliged to re-dress in her mud-splashed tweed dress. She is annoyed when she sees that dinner is prepared for three, as she is not in the mood for social conversation. But it turns out that the other two guests are Mahmoud and Eblis, the two pet apes of Hugh Low!
She is fascinated by these apes and writes so often about them in her letters that I have collected these passages in a separate document Isabella Bird and the apes of Hugh Low .
On the night of her arrival, the Sinhalese clark of Hugh Low suggests that she could make a trip the following day, this time riding the Royal elephant of the Sultan. “He is such a height (they say ten feet!) that, though he lay down to be mounted, a good-sized ladder was needed for the climb upon his back”. They ride in the jungle for seven hours on the left bank of the Perak river, passing several Malay kampongs. She enjoys everything, almost intoxicated by the beauty of the flowers, the butterflies, the majestic trees. After several hours they arrive at a kampong where they dismount for lunch, “looking out from deep shadow down upon the beautiful river lying in the glory of the noonday sun, its banks bright with birds and butterflies”.
The locals tell her guidethat it is possible to ford the Perak river. “The mahout said that the elephant was a “diver,” and would probably dive, but that there was no danger to us except of getting very wet” She likes the idea of crossing the river to the other side and doesn’t mind getting wet. So they go: “the elephant gently dropped down and was entirely submerged, moving majestically along, with not a bit of his huge bulk visible, the end of his proboscis far ahead, writhing and coiling like a water snake every now and then.”
After crossing the Perak river (and getting wet), Low’s clark says “”I’m going to take you to Koto-lamah; no European has been there since the war. I’ve never been there, nor the Resident either.”
The war he is talking about is the Perak war and it was in Kota Lama that the decisive battle between the British army and the warriors of Maharaja Lela took place: The Battle of Kota Lama Kanan. That was on 4 January 1876, just three years before Isabella’s visit! While crossing the river, her guide says “A few months ago they would have been firing at us from both sides of the river “
I have visited Kota Lama Kanan recently . Very peaceful and rural, difficult to imagine that a battle took place here. But at the mosque we found a cannon, the caretaker told us that it is one of the two cannons used in the battle. From the mosque you can walk down to the river. It doesn’t look very fordable here.
The reception of Isabella in Kota Lama Kanan is not unfriendly, although many men are armed with parangs, spears and even muskets and one of the woman she meets is the widow of Maharaja Lela! “However, though as a Briton I could not have been a welcome visitor, they sent a monkey for two cocoa-nuts, and gave me their delicious milk; and when I came away they took the entrance ladder from one of the houses to help me to mount the elephant.”
They ride back on an overgrown elephant track, passing several lairs and tiger tracks until they reach Kuala Kangsar, where they have to cross the Perak river again, this time in a dugout. Here are two illustrations from her book, a dugout and a street in Kuala Kangsar.
When Hugh Low hears about this adventure, he is at first displeased, saying that the clerk was ignorant and foolish, but later he admits that it has been useful to show that the region was pacified now. “..but, he added, it would appear somewhat odd that the first European to test the disposition of the Koto-lamah people should be a lady”
Her stay in Kuala Kangsar is full of variety. She meets Malay Royalty, Raja Yusuf (regent of Perak), Raja Idris (the future sultan) , the two sons of Abdullah, goes bird-shooting with Captain Walker and of course there are the apes.
So it is reluctantly that she leaves Kuala Kangsar. Hugh Low likes her company,. “Mr. Low kindly expresses regret at my going, and says he has got quite used to my being here, and added: “You never speak at the wrong time. When men are visiting me they never know when to be quiet, but bother one in the middle of business.”
Her trip back to Taiping is uneventful and much faster than when she came by elephant, one week earlier. I rode a capital pony, on Mr. Low’s English saddle, a Malay orderly on horseback escorting me, and the royal elephant carried my luggage.
She stays a few more days in Taiping before leaving for Penang, from where she sails back to England on the 25th of February.
I have concentrated in this blog on her travel adventures. The book contains a lot more, there are separate, quite informative, chapters about the states she has visited. Of course she is still a product of the Victorian era, fully convinced of the superiority of the Brits. She can be quite blunt in her opinion about the Malays and especially about the Chinese.
Wow, are you going to Taiping again, my friends asked me, your last visit was in August, only six weeks ago! What could I say, I was just missing my 2nd hometown. So on Thursday 1 October I took the ETS again. I was a bit shocked, especially in the train, by the lack of social distancing, but fortunately I was sitting next to a friendly lady, who was on her way back from visiting her grandchildren in KL. A retired teacher like me, we had a nice chat.
In Taiping, my friend Lay Chun, fetched me from the station. First we had lunch in 3939, a popular hawker center. I had prawn mee.
One of the reasons that I wanted to come back to Taiping so soon, was to see with my own eyes the pillars of the former Residency. In 2013 I wrote a blog Shame on Taiping! about the deplorable condition of several heritage buildings in Taiping. The Pillars and the ruins of the State Rest house/ Casuarina Inn on Residency Hill were one of them. After that report I visited the hill almost every time I was in Taiping.
This picture is from September 2014. I have marked two pillars in this and the following pictures with red crosses.
August 2020. During my last visit we took drone pictures (left). The two pillars have become invisible, completely overgrown (right).
On 19 September a gotong royong (cleaning operation) was organised by the Taiping Heritage Society and many other NGO’s, with a follow-up the next week. I was eager to see the result, so I asked Lay Chun to drive to Residency Hill before dropping me at hotel Furama.
I was really amazed at the effect of the cleaning operation. What a wonderful job had been done, with the support of the Taiping Municipal Council (MPT). All the pillars had been cleaned and were visible again.
Also a start had been made with the cleaning of the State Rest House. This relatively new building was built around 1970, to replace the Rajah Rest House and the Town Rest House. To make space for it, the former British Residency was demolished, with only the pillars left standing.
When I was there, I chatted a bit with Encik Hasmi from the Heritage Unit of the MPT, who was showing the place to a group of interested visitors. I really hope this initiative will result in a new lease of life for the pillars and the Residency Hill.
After taking a rest in my hotel, I walked to the Lake Gardens. Dinner that night with my friend George , who also happened to be In Taiping. Again in Pusat Makanan 3939.
It has become a tradition to visit Mrs Long, the sister of my Singapore friend ST Lee, during my Taiping visits This time I had breakfast with her and her friend Ms Chong in a nearby Indian shop.
She is a well-known and beloved person in Taiping, it was nice to see how happy people were to meet her.
Although she is 90 year old now, she is still full of energy, we walked around quite a bit . The two pictures below epitomise for me the charm of Taiping, a mixture of beauty and decay. Not all Taipingites will agree with me, but personally I wouldn’t mind if the town remained like this forever 😉
Ms Chong is living in a beautiful house on Station Road. One of my favorites, every time I passed it, I admired the architecture and wondered how it would look inside. So when she asked if I would like to come in for a while, I accepted her invitation with pleasure.
After our walk we went to Ansari for cendol and pasembor.
The owner of Ansari was visiting India and can’t come back (yet), as Malaysia has closed its borders because of Covid-19. Therefore his two sons temporarily manage this famous landmark of Taiping.
It was a very pleasant meeting, very nice to see how lovingly Ms Chong was taking care of her friend.
I had rented a bicycle in Furama, very convenient in Taiping. In the afternoon I used it to ride to the Residency of the OBJ. Toh Puan Nori , his wife, had organised a meeting with senior Taiping citizens, to talk about Taiping’s history.
I had prepared a selection of slides. It was an animated discussion, especially about the Pillars and the New State Rest House. I wrote a separate blog about it: A Meeting of Old-Timers .
The next day, Saturday, there was a new round of gotong royong at the Residency Hill. When I arrived there, on my bike, there were already many people from various NGO’s. Here is a video.
To be honest, I didn’t really take part in the actual cleaning, I mainly took photographs (and was photographed). And I had my breakfast, the catering was well organised.
At around 11am the gotong royong was finished. Time for a real adventure! With friends I visited Menggelunchor, a water slide near Kuala Kangsar that was popular in the early 20th century. Here we are standing in front of it, from left to right Syafiqi who guided us to the slide, my THS friend Halim, me and Pak Yang , an outdoor enthusiast. For a detailed report click here.
There was time enough for more. First we visited the Green Stone Camp, a project of Pak Yang, on the banks of the Kangsar river. Remote location and clear water, still under construction, a place to keep in mind.
Then it was time for lunch. We had assam laksa in the well-known Laksa Buyong stall in Bukit Gantang. I had told the others that I would pay for the lunch and was surprised that I only had to fork out RM 6.50 ! It turned out that Aifa, the owner, didn’t charge us for the laksa, as a reward for a useful discussion with Syafiqi and Halim about business! I only had to pay for the drinks. Malaysia boleh!
Our last destination for the day was a disused railway tunnel near Bukit Gantang. Two years ago I had visited other tunnels near Bukit Berapit, but never this one. Access was a bit difficult 🙂 .
This is the tunnel, the last one before you reached Taiping in the past. It’s a pity that also here the rails and sleepers have been removed.
Recently Pak Yang and his friends have found and cleaned the platform of the Bukit Gantang station (right picture). In the left picture we are walking to the station, following the former railroad.
Via these steps, the passengers climbed up to the railroad tracks to board the train.
It was a wonderful day. Here are the GPS tracks of the trip.
The next morning I had breakfast with George, Chee Cheong Fun at Mr Tong’s stall.
As I had no commitments that morning, I decided to take my bicycle and just ride around, taking pictures here and there. Beautiful buildings, buildings that needed repair, or even had vanished completely. The first one near the Esplanade, the other three on Swettenham Road. As I mentioned above, it’s this mixture that I find attractive.
Even the former Perak Railway Buildings have their charm, although it is of course a shame that the authorities have let it go down the drain, without any fencing, so squatters and drug addicts can use it freely. One year ago I wrote a blog about it: Taiping Bandar Warisan .
A good location for another gotong royong?
During my last visit to Taiping, I had a look at an apartment in Crystal Creek and reported: “ The view from the balcony is spectacular, but we found the general atmosphere of Crystal Creek disappointing. Many condo’s are for sale, or used for AirBnb. A bit of a failed project, despite its own waterfall? “
I got a friendly comment on this report by Grahame, living himself in Crystal Creek: “I cannot argue that the finish to the public areas and the recreational facilities is very disappointing. But, and it is a big but, our condo and life in this location is fantastic!! “
We got in contact via e-mail and whatsapp and decided to meet. Here we are having lunch in Double Tap, after our first choice, Doli, had a long queue. Very nice Western style, food.
After lunch Grahame and Safina invited me for tea in their condo. And I agree with them, the view from their balcony is fantastic, and the condo itself very comfortable.
Another view of the Lake Gardens.
I had invited Yeap and Halim for dinner that evening, stipulating that I would be the host. Nice Thai food in the West Joy Cafe. Pleasant company, but when it came to paying the bill, Yeap wanted to pay. Sometimes Malaysian hospitality can be a bit overwhelming 🙂
The last morning I had breakfast at Lian Thong for another favorite of mine Roti Goyang. eggs on toast.
My train would leave at 2pm, so I had a few hours left to work on another “project” of mine. The main river of Taiping is Sg Larut, which splits in several tributaries. With the help of Google Earth I have sketched many of these tributaries here.
Using my bike again, I cycled around town , looking for sign boards where roads were crossing tributaries, expecting that one of them would still be named Sg Larut. Here are a few, none of them is Sg Larut.
Google Maps names the tributary below Sg Larut, but that is wrong, it is Sg Batu Tegoh
For Taipingites, can you identify which tributary this is 🙂 ?
The advantage of cycling is that you reach places that are a bit too far for walking. Here are two buildings I had not yet photographed before. Left the Masjid India (1969) and right the Buddhist Chan Shan temple (1953)
On my way back to my hotel, I passed this interesting villa, near the OBJ Residency. Built in 1940 in late Art Deco style. Pity that it has been neglected.
That was the end of another rewarding visit. Fortunately on my way back to KL, social distancing was no problem. both in the ETS and the MRT.
On the Internet recently I found a book called An Illustrated Guide to the Federated Malay States, published in 1910. You can read it online, or download it in a variety of formats. It makes fascinating reading, a real travel guide, full of interesting details and practical travel tips.
Of course it describes Taiping (“The town itself is one of the most picturesque in Malaya“) and even Bukit Gantang ( “… has always been a great place for tigers“).
Before reaching Kuala Kangsar (“The town of Kuala Kangsar lies on the right bank of the Perak river , at the point where the Kangsar debouches“) a few pages are devoted to the water slide of Mengelunchor, a popular attraction in those days.
There is even a photo in the guidebook where people climb up steps besides the waterfall and then slide down.
Menggelunchor? I had never heard about it and was intrigued. I Googled for it and found a few historical references. Apparently it was a popular tourist attraction in the early 1900s . Here is a description from the book The Malay States by Philip Coote, published in 1923.
From the description above, the water slide should be in the region of Padang Rengas and on the slopes of Gunung Bubu. I gave the photo to my Taiping friend Halim, asking him if he could find more info. He had never heard about Menggelunchor himself, but after asking around, told me that one of his friends had recognised the fall and was willing to take us there. That was exciting news.
On Saturday 3 October we met Syafiqi, who would take us to the waterfall. Actually we were Facebook friends because of our shared passion for waterfalls, but we had never met 😉 . We were joined by Puan Kamariah, Suhaina and Pak Yang.
Between Padang Rengas and Kuala Kangsar, a narrow unmarked road took us under the North-South Highway through nice countryside with orchards and scattered bungalows. After about 3 km the tar road ended. We parked our cars and followed the clear trail for a few hundred meters.
Soon we arrived at a waterfall. Syafiqi told me that the river is Sg Dal, a tributary of the Sg Kangsar and that the name of the waterfall is now Lata Bubu. Quite an attractive waterfall .
Here is a short video of Lata Bubu.
A short flight of steps leads the top of the waterfall. The steps look old, could they date back to the early 1900s? At the top there are remains of an old lock, maybe to create a shallow pool at the bottom of the water slide?
Here is the Menggelunchor water slide. Comparison with the old photo shows that there was not enough water this time to slide down. The small steps next to the slide have gone, could they have been on the white rock where I have tentatively marked some red stripes?
Here are the intrepid explorers 😉 . From left to right Syafiqi, Halim, Me and Pak Yang. Mission accomplished (picture by Syafiqi)
Syafiqi told us that at the top of the slide there were remains of a swimming pool. Of course we climbed up to have a look. And indeed, it must have been a swimming pool, a bit similar to the New Club swimming pool in Taiping.
After this successful exploration, we climbed down the steps again and walked back to the car.
Here is a Google Earth map of the region. I have marked the location of the Sg Kangsar.
Syafiqi told me that YouTube had several videos of Lata Bubu and I found a few interesting ones. This one shows the Menggelunchor and was taken in 2016, only four years ago. Try to imagine how one century ago, adults came here on elephants to enjoy the fun (and have a nice picnic afterwards).
This video is from the same year 2016 and shows the swimming pool above the slide in full action.
Back home I searched for more historical information. I found the first reference to Menggelunchor in the book About Perak by Swettenham, published in 1883. The link is to the online version. On page 62 and following he describes the Menggelunchor , “Though of ancient origin, it is not well known, even here“. Here is a part of his description, making it clear that he, the British Resident of Selangor, also enjoyed the fun tremendously.
Finally I show here three newspaper clippings, found in the Singapore Newspaper archive. When you search for Menggelunchor, you will get dozens of hits. The left one (13-4-1926) is about a visit of “Mr George Windsor” to Perak. Mr George Windsor is actually Prince George, Duke of Kent , 23 year old during this visit. The right one is about a European party that got lost (20-5-1930) after visitng the Menggelunchor.
The Sultan of Perak regularly invited VIP guests for a visit to the water slide and a lunch. In this case the King of Siam, 3 October 1924. Did they also slide down the Menggelunchor, like Swettenham did?
It was a fascinating excursion and a pleasure to write this blog.
Knowing of my interest in the history of Taiping, Toh Puan Nori, the wife of the OBJ Larut Matang & Selama, suggested that she could invite a group of senior Taiping citizens for a discussion about Taiping’s “recent” history. Of course I accepted her suggestion gratefully and on Friday 2 October I went to the OBJ residency, where I met a small group of old-timers, most of them members of the Kelab Cinta Taiping. I had prepared a selection of slides and Wan Amril had prepared a projector.
It became an animated discussion with input from many. As several attendees were interested to have copies of my slides, I promised them to put my selection online. Here they are, with some comments.
I started with two Google Earth screenshots of the Residency Hill, resp. 2007 and 2019 imagery (click to enlarge). In 2007 the Casuarina Inn is still intact and the pillars of the former Residency are clearly visible. In the 2019 image they are overgrown and the Inn has become a ruin.
2007
2019
In December 2004 I have been staying one night in the Casuarina Inn. It was a bit rundown, but still acceptable. Huge rooms.
During a Taiping visit in 2017, I spent a few hours at Residency Hill, marking the location of all pillars, 34 in total.
Here is the condition of the pillars and the Casuarina Inn a few months ago.
A few weeks ago the Taiping Heritage Society and many other NGO’s took the initiative for a gotong royong (cleaning operation), supported by the MPT (Taiping Town Council).
During our meeting we discussed a lot about the buildings on Residency Hill. Wan Amril had found an article published in Berita Harian, 29 June 1969, that was very helpful. The Residency had been demolished already and behind it the new State Town House would be built. After completion the Town Rest House and the Rajah Rest House would be closed. Teoh KL told us that his father was the first contractor who had leased the State Town House in 1972. And Toh Puan Nori remembered that when she visited the Residency building in 1961, it was no longer occupied.
According to this 1949 article in the Straits Times about Taiping in the 19th century, it was Hugh Low who in 1887 became the first British Resident to live in the Taiping Residence (before that year he resided in Kuala Kangsar). Swettenham, Treacher and many others followed. Slowly Taiping declined, Ipoh took over and in 1937 became the capital of Perak. The Berita Harian article mentions that part of the Residence became the Land Surveyor’s office. Where there other occupants and when became it unoccupied? We could not find answers to these questions.
One more remark about the pillars. I think that there have been more pillars, but that some (10) of them have been removed to create space for the driveway to the State Rest House. Here is my educated guess :-).
In this 1928 Map of Taiping, the building is still marked as Residency (1). I have also marked he locations of the Rajah Rest House (2) and the Town Rest House (3). The map consists of four parts, very interesting, here is the link.
I could not find many photo’s of the Rajah Rest House. On this photo you see that it was quite a big place. Many attendees at the meeting had good memories about this place. We could not find out when exactly it was destroyed (to make place for a parking lot!)
Here is part of a hilarious article about The Inns of Malaya (1930). Both Taiping Rest Houses are very bad, the Town Rest House is noisy and dusty and should be “abolished”, the Rajah Rest House should change its furniture as it harbours unpleasant insects. So at least in 1930 the Rajah RH was already there.
Here are two Google Earth screenshots of the Town Rest House and the Perak Railway Building.
2005
2018
Around 2005, I also have been staying a night in the Town Rest House, then renamed Lagenda Hotel. After a couple of years it closed.
Although it is now a ruin, Taiping, bandar warisan(!) , still includes it in the list of heritage attractions.
July 2018
December 2018
Next to it there are the ruins of what originally was the Perak Railway Building. Here is a page from Anuar Isa’s report Taiping’s Many First
Actually two buildings the wooden building is from 1885, the brick building slightly newer. Many memories, the brick building was occupied by several departments. When readers know more about it, please comment.
Nowadays it is so ruined, that it is beyond repair in my opinion.
I have been following the fate of these buildings for many years, here is a report Taiping Bandar Warisan (2019). And here is an older report Shame on Taiping (2013), also about the Residency hill. When I wrote this report, I didn’t know much yet about Taiping’s history, so the report contains errors. I confused the Residency with the Residence of the Assistant Resident, a common mistake that is prevalent until today, for example in this recent STAR article !
Two more GE screenshots of the Taiping Aerodrome and the Port Weld Railway line. I was interested to know if any of the attendees had memories about either of them. But we had not enough time to discuss.
About the railway line, the orange line is the present track. The green one is the original Port Weld line, ending at what now is KE VII school. The yellow “bend” is a later modification of the Port Weld line, so it would join smoothly to the Ipoh-Butterworth line.
2005
2019
Present situation of the Aerodrome. Left an aerial view, taken by a drone. Right the remains of the control tower and the arrival hall.
Another part of the 1928 Taiping map. I have marked two locations, the Kempe Club (1) and a Ruined Bungalow (2) along King Edward Road (now Jln Sultan Jaafar)
Compare the map with two GE screenshots, 2005 and 2019 imagery. The Playground and the Tennis Courts have completely disappeared, it’s jungle now. Many attendees had memories about the play ground, it was a popular place for sports.
2005
2019
Here is the Kempe Club, founded in 1922. It’s a bit strange that it is not in the 1928 map, possibly the data used for the map are older. When I visited the club, I was invited inside. The interior has know better days, but the building is still in good condition. Interesting detail, when the Taiping Rotary Club restarted after the war, in 1956, they had their weekly lunches in this club.
The ruined bungalow along King Edward Road is one of my favourite ruins. I was hoping to get information about the people who have been living here. I was told that more of these bungalows existed, but many of them have already disappeared.
I had included a few slides about Maxwell Hill, but there was no time to talk about it. This is what is left over from Hugh Low’s bungalow, located between the Nest and Speedy’s. It was quite an expedition , with Law Siak Hong (Perak Heritage Society), to “rediscover it. I would have liked to know if any of the old-timers had visited this bungalow.
And finally two photo’s of Speedy’s bungalow. Left my 60th birthday party in 2004, when Guna was the excellent caretaker. Later it was transformed in a Biodiversity Center, in itself a good idea but it failed in my opinion because of the difficulty of (jeep) transport and insufficient promotion.
It was a very rewarding meeting, there are enough topics for a follow-up. Toh Puan Nori had provided food and drinks, thanks a lot for her hospitality.
From left to right Teoh Kok Liang, who had come specially from KL to attend the meeting, the OBJ, Toh Puan Nori, me and Wan Amril. Thanks everybody.
I was so busy talking and explaining, that I forgot to take notes. If any of the attendees, or other interested Taipingites, have additional information, please comment.
After our trip to the Cameron Highlands had shown us that traveling in Malaysia was possible again after the lockdown, a visit to Taping was of course my first priority. I booked four nights in my favourite hotel Furama, we drove to Taping on Thursday 13 August, Aric went back to KL on Saturday, I stayed two more nights and went back home on Monday by ETS. Here is a report.
My friend George was also in Taiping and suggested that we could have lunch in a Tupai food court, Sin Wong Kok, where they had the best popiah in town, according to him. When we arrived , my friends were already waiting for us, George and Jenny, and also Suet Fun and Peter. A nice start of our trip and the popiah were delicious indeed.
Of course we took off our face masks during the lunch, but in public we were good citizens.
After checking in at Furama and taking some rest, we went out in the evening and drove to Simpang for the famous char koay teow prepared over charcoal fire. Char koay teow is a favourite of mine, I had visited this stall before, but for Aric it was a first. The shop has been operating since 1972, nowadays the son has taken over from the father. The char koay teow was perfect, we also had very nice stingray.
Young mr Loh in action
Very nice char koay teow
Succulent stingray
One for the album
On our way back we stopped for a while at the Lake Gardens and had a look at the Chinese Pagoda bridge. That the bridge is illuminated is in itself not a bad idea, but the gaudy and continuous change of colors is ugly, IMHO. Judge for yourself.
The next morning we had chee cheong fun for breakfast at Tong’s stall in the small food court in front of the Novotel hotel. That has become a routine for me when I am in Taiping 😉 .
Back in our hotel, we noticed a group of monkeys in the huge tree opposite the hotel. Spectacled Langurs, we were quite surprised to see them there, and were wondering how they would go back to the Lake Gardens, where they probably came from.
Our first stop this day was in Barrack Road where we visited Mrs Long, the sister of our Singapore friend ST Lee. Another tradition. During my last visit I had promised her a photobook with pictures of Taiping.
Beautiful house
Presenting the booklet
Our next destination was the Taiping Aerodrome. There was some activity at the entrance, friends told me later that they were preparing for a skydiving event on Merdeka Day.
I had asked Aric to bring his drone, here is the first result. The former runway is clearly visible.
I am working on a blog about Isabella Bird in Taiping and one of the targets for this trip was to visit places related to her visit in February 1879. AFter crossing the Straits from Penang and entering the Sg Larut, she landed in Teluk Kertang, from where she continued to Taiping. In those days this was the main port to ship tin to Penang!
Now it is a romantic stream, with quite a few shipyards and charcoal kilns on the opposite bank of the river
We continued to Port Weld (Kuala Sepetang), the successor of Teluk Kertang, where we had the famous curry mee for lunch.
On our way back to Taiping we stopped at Kota Ngah Ibrahim, mentioned by Isabella Bird in her book The Golden Chersonese. Next to the fort is Speedy’s bungalow.
Kota Ngah Ibrahim
Speedy’s Bungalow
The fort is now an interesting small museum, free of charge and worth a visit. The centerpiece on the ground floor is a statue of an elephant . According to legend this elephant came back from the jungle in the 1840’s with tin mud on its legs, starting the tin mining in the Taiping region. The first floor tells the history of the court case against the murderers of J.W.W Birch, the first British Resident of Perak, who was killed in 1875. The trial took place in this fort.
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The Kota has also been used as a school, a teacher training college and it was the HQ of the Japanese army during the war. Because of his involvement in the murder plot, Ngah Ibrahim was exiled and died in Singapore. His remains were brought back to the fort in 2006 .
Ngah’s tomb
A drone picture of the complex.
Our next stop was at the pillars in front of the ruined Casuarina Inn. The Taiping Heritage Society (THS) is planning a gotong royong (cleaning) operation of the pillars. The bungalow still existed in 1961 and has been used as accommodation for visiting Residents and Governors. Some of the (34) pillars are completely overgrown, cleaning them will be a formidable job.
A drone picture of the hill with the pillars and the ruins of the Casuarina Inn (originally the Taiping State Rest House).
From the same location the drone took a nice picture of the Lake Gardens. Just visible in the bottom right corner is the former Residence of the Assistant Resident, now the DO’s bungalow. Speedy started building it, Maxwell lived there and received Isabella Bird as his guest in 1879. Of course in those days it was only a simple bungalow, as described in her book.
We decided to have dinner in Yat Sun, one of Taiping’s landmark restaurants. It has now two branches, both in Jalan Pasar. The original establishment was closed that day, so we went to the new one. A bit lacking in atmosphere, but the Hainanese chicken chop was still very good.
After our meal we were looking for coffee and cake. We tried Yinn’s but found it closed. The owner told me later that they close earlier these days because of the covid19 crisis. So not everything is back to normal yet. The beautiful illumination of the facade (the former town house of the Hai San leader Kapitan Chung Keng Kwee) deserves a picture.
During my last visit to Taiping in February I had a look at a bungalow in Tupai, near my hotel, which had been overgrown for years, but recently cleaned. The building intrigued me and with the help of a friend I found out who the owner/caretaker was. Yeap, the president of the THS contacted this Dalbir Singh, who was willing to give us a tour of the inside.
Here is the bungalow, looking glorious in the bright morning sun.
The bungalow is in good condition. The house has not been inhabited for a long time, but it looks like the last residents moved out just recently.
Hopefully this house, built in the 1930’s, will get a new lease of life. I would not mind living there 😉 .
Next we visited Crystal Creek. A larger contrast is hardly thinkable. We wanted to have a look to see if apartments here could be a good investment.
We had a look at a penthouse, apparently never inhabited yet, so a massive “renovation” would be needed. The view from the balcony is spectacular, but we found the general atmosphere of Crystal Creek disappointing. Many condo’s are for sale, or used for AirBnb. A bit of a failed project, despite its own waterfall?
We had lunch in the Peace Hotel, char koay teow again. Notice the nice decorations on the pillars. Built it 1928, it is one of the many decorative buildings in Taiping.
After lunch Aric drove back to KL and I took some rest. These days I am a volunteer gardener at the TTDI edible garden, so I was interested when my friend Lay Chun told me that she had started a garden behind her house a few months ago. She showed me around, I was surprised how much she had achieved already in such a short time.
Taiping is called “Rain Town”, but during this visit there was not the usual afternoon rain. It was a Saturday, many people were at the Lake Gardens, boating, walking or just relaxing in the grass. Taiping, my 2nd hometown 😉
When I visit the Lake Gardens, I always have a look at my favourite cannonball trees. For those Taipingites who don’t know the location, here are the coordinates: N 4° 51.05′ E 100° 45.10′
One problem I have in Taiping, is paying the bill after a dinner with friends. They are hospitable and generally faster. This time I was the host at Restoran Yes and I found a trick, by warning the waitress halfway the dinner that the bill was for me. It worked.
We had pig trotter, fish curry, sotong, tofu and veggie. Total bill RM 119.80 for six pax. Amazing 🙂
Halim had told me that he was free for a trip on Sunday, did I have an idea? I suggested that we could explore Kuala Kangsar and surroundings and he agreed.
Actually I wanted to visit two places related to Isabella Bird. In February 1879 she travelled (by elephant!) to Kuala Kangsar to meet the Resident Hugh Low. She stayed a few days in his Residence, a simple bungalow on a hill top. This bungalow was demolished in 1904 to make way for the King’s Pavilion, designed by Arthur Benison Hubback in 1906, and meant as a residence for visiting Governors of the FMS. Now it is a school.
Nearby is one of Hubback masterpieces, the Ubudiah Mosque, completed in 1917, in my opinion the most beautiful mosque of Malaysia.
Next to the mosque is the Royal Mausoleum of Perak, built in the same period. The two tombs in the right picture finally gave the answer to a question I have often asked (in vain) my Muslim friends :-). Graves have either two round tombstones or two flat ones. What is the difference? The answer is, the round tombstones are for males, the flat ones are for females.
After Kuala Kangsar we went to Kota Lama Kanan. Ever heard about it? After Birch was killed in 1875, the Brits retaliated of course with the Perak War as result. The decisive battle of Kota Lama Kanan was fought against Maharaja Lela and his army on 4 January 1876.
Nowadays Kota Lama Kanan is a peaceful rural district. We went to the mosque and were pleasantly surprised to find there a cannon, according to the caretaker dating back to the battle.
Why was I interested to visit this place? Because Isabella Bird also went there on 16 February 1879. Riding an elephant and crossing the Perak River on it. At that time, three years after the battle, the region was still a “black area”. Detailed story in my forthcoming blog about Isabella in Taiping.
From the mosque you can walk down to the mighty Perak river. It looks impossible to cross this river on the back of an elephant.
We were intrigued by the mention of a Batu Peringatan (memorial stone) on the signboard, looked around for a while, but could not find anything. Finally we asked the caretaker of the mosque who told us that the memorial stone was actually inside the mosque. He allowed me to enter the mosque, after washing hands and feet. A very nice guy.
Mansur Shah I was the 2nd sultan of Perak (1549-1577), he had his residence in Kota Lama Kanan, and in 1577, during Friday prayers in the mosque, he disappeared without leaving a trace. This memorial stone (round and only one!) has been placed in the mosque in 1916. Probably the sultan was kidnapped by the Acehnese. Interesting story.
Our last destination had nothing to do with Isabella Bird. I wanted to show Halim the Suka Suka Lake Retreat of my friends Aziz and Asiah, because I was sure he would love the place. I had stayed in this peaceful resort five times between 2010 and 2014, and it was nice to visit Aziz and Asiah again after a long time. Aziz buys old Malay houses, disassembles them and then rebuilds them on his resort. Halim liked the place very much and I think he will come back soon.
It was a wonderful day, full of variety, really grateful to Halim, hope we can do something similar during my future Taiping visits.
The next day I took the train back to KL, but in the morning I still had meetings with friends. First breakfast and an interesting chat with Anand in Lian Thong. Later, after checking out at Furama, my friend Bok Kin picked me up for lunch, again at Lian Thong. Bomb Mee this time.
After lunch she dropped me at the station. It was a wonderful visit, looking forward to go back soon.
Very convenient way of traveling with the ETS, and no problem with social distancing 🙂
Here is a short video taken by the drone. It shows the Taiping Aerodrome, the Kota Ngah Ibrahim and the Casuarina Inn with the the pillars.
Two months ago I published a blog Lockdown!, about our experiences during what in Malaysia has been called the Movement Control Order (MCO). In June this was relaxed into the Recovery MCO, slowly restaurants and hotels reopened and (interstate) travel within Malaysia was allowed again.
We wanted to see if life had gone back to normal a bit , and decided to make a short trip to the Cameron Highlands. First trip since February (Taiping).
We started with breakfast, near our condo. Basically you have to write down your name and telephone number, but most people didn’t do that. Half-boiled eggs, toast and coffee, a good start of the day.
We stopped in Bidor for lunch at the Pun Chun restaurant. Also here registration and temperature check. They are famous for their Duck Noodles, Aric doesn’t fancy duck and had Wantan Mee.
Bidor is a good place to buy petai and next to the restaurant they were working on mural art related to this delicacy (if you like it, haha) .
We took the old winding road from Tapah to the Cameron Highlands and stopped for a while at the Lata Iskandar waterfall. A grandmother fall, as my friend Khong would call it. Perfect for a senior citizen like me!
The first impression you get from the Cameron Highlands is rather disappointing. Vegetable farms with their ugly grey plastic covering, hotels everywhere, like here in Ringlet.
But there are still beautiful tea plantations.
We stopped for tea at the Bharat tea shop where we had tea and scones, of course! More people than we expected (as it was a weekday).
We had booked accommodation in the Lutheran MIssion Bungalow. It was my fifth visit to this unspoilt gem, first time was in 2010, ten years ago 😉 . Not much has changed in these ten years, the bungalow is well maintained. They have twelve rooms, but we had the bungalow for ourselves.
We arrived around 4pm, had tea and took some rest.
A visit to the Cameron Highlands is not complete without a steamboat dinner. You find steamboat restaurants everywhere, a favourite of us is Jin Jin in Brinchang. It was crowded, when we arrived there was still a free table, but later people had to queue. Registration as usual, but in the restaurant there was no social distancing. Nice friendly atmosphere.
We ordered steamboat for two people, but could not finish everything.
The sound of birds woke us up next morning, for the rest it was absolutely quiet in and around the bungalow. A bit later we could hear the sound of the caretaker who was preparing our breakfast. Breakfast in British style, with cereals, fried eggs, sausage, toast and jam.
The weather was splendid, super blue sky. We walked around in the garden and took pictures of flowers.
Two views of the garden, the left picture is taken from the living room. There is one room upstairs, with a balcony, from where I took the second picture . Will try to book that room (no 12) next time.
Before we checked out, I walked some distance back on the access road, and then walked again to the bungalow. Always when I come here, I have the feeling of going backwards in time. I hope to share that feeling with these three photos.
The first time I visited the Lutheran Mission Bungalow with my friend Ashleigh in 2010, we were on a mission 😉 . Ashleigh wanted to write an article about the disappearance of Jim Thompson on 26 March 1967 from the Moonlight Bungalow in the Cameron Highlands. He was last seen by the cook of the Lutheran Mission Bungalow. Read more about our mission in my blog What happened to Jim Thompson? .
Here is a Google Earth map of the two bungalows with a photo of the Moonlight Bungalow, which is used as a hotel at the moment. Notice the winding access road to both bungalows
Before leaving the Cameron Highlands, we stopped at a few stalls to buy sweet potatoes and petai.
We used a different route to go back home. From Ringlet to Sg Koyan and from there to Raub, as we wanted to have durian and Raub is famous for its durians. The first time I took this road was in 2008, when it was still under construction. A very adventurous trip, here is a report : New Road to the Cameron Highlands . Now the road is a good alternative to the old Tapah road.
We had durians at this stall in Raub. You could not have them in the stall, only take away.
We bought two durians and asked the lady to open them for us. She used a nice contraption to do that.
Next to the stall, beside the road, there were a few makeshift tables , where we could enjoy the “king of fruits”.
It was a nice trip, we should have stayed another night in the bungalow. Our conclusion is that traveling within Malaysia is almost back to normal.
A few years ago, 31 December 2017, I published a post Waterfall Nostalgia, in which I described the beginning of my waterfall addiction. Here is another nostalgic post.
I have kept track of the waterfall trips I have made in Malaysia. Often they were day trips to waterfalls, not too far away from where I live. But also longer “expeditions” to farther away places, like Kelantan, Johore or East Malaysia. From my first waterfall trip in 2003 until now I have made about 300 trips and visited more than 200 different waterfalls.
A few times I have been camping on a waterfall trip and they belong to my most memorable experiences. Here I will describe a few.
———————————————– Berkelah Falls 2004
August 2004 I visited the Berkelah Falls in Pahang with Paul and Rahim. In those days you needed a 4WD for the last part of the road, we had booked transport in a nearby kampung.
A nice campsite with no other visitors! We had lunch before exploring the falls.
Berkelah has multiple falls. This is the impressive twin fall, near to the campsite.
Fall after fall. The right picture shows the main fall, with a huge pool.
In the afternoon we walked back and had a drink before preparing dinner.
Enjoying the evening , sitting around the campfire.
———————————————– Jerangkang Falls 2008
In the same year I had also visited the nearby Jerangkang Falls, a camping trip organised by a friend. A large group, nice people, but I prefer a small group of friends. A spectacular series of falls, I decided to go again, and went back in August 2008. This time with my own friends Rani, Richard, Paul an Karl. FRom the car park, we had to hike a short distance to the campsite.
Ready to go
Our campsite
We were lucky again, no other people around. After lunch we explored the waterfalls.
We came back to our camp quite late, but it was still light enough to prepare dinner.
Dinner
Coffee time
Early morning. Morning atmosphere in the jungle is magic. Slowly it is getting light and colours appear again.
We had breakfast on a big boulder near our camp. And before leaving, we had time to explore more and play around. Beautiful pools.
Breakfast
Find Paul and Karl 🙂
Here is a picture of our fellowship. In 2008 I have published a more detailed report about this trip: Camping in Paradise.
———————————————– Tigok Fall 2009
My waterfall friend Siang Hui is very good in discovering new waterfalls, using topo maps and Google Earth. On GE he found a very remote fall in the Bidor region, estimated altitude about 750 m above sea level. When I was passing Bidor on my way back from Taiping, I did a short recce and found a signboard to Pos Gedong, from here it might be possible to reach this fall.
So Siang Hui, Aric, Rani and I decided to give it a try and camp overnight near Pos Gedong. After arriving there we talked with the the penghulu, who knew about the fall and found a guide for us.
We found a suitable place for camping not far from the village near the bank of the river and we could even park the car almost next to our tents 🙂
The weather was nice, we had a relaxing afternoon, there was beer, we made a campfire and later prepared our dinner.
The next morning, after breakfast and packing our stuff, we met our guide in the village and went on our way. First following a logging road, river trekking the last part.
It took us more than three hours to reach the fall, our guide had to chop his way often, hardly a trail. But it was worth the effort. Not many outsiders must have visited this fall, no rubbish, pristine condition.
To go back to the village took us about two hours. Here is a Google Earth map of our route. We walked about 15 km. Very rewarding adventure, here is a detailed report Ulu Gedong Adventure
———————————————– Sg Luit Falls 2011
The first time I explored Sg Luit was in 2010 with my friend Keong. Here is a report: Following Chapman’s footprints. After friends told me that there was a beautiful waterfall further upstream, I went back with them to this impressive Lata Makau. Back home, studying Google Earth, I noticed that there could be another big waterfall, just around the corner from Lata Makau. In July 2011 I went again, with Keong, Rani, Jim, Ben and Vincent. We decided to camp near Lata Makau, to have more time for exploration upstream.
It was my most adventurous camping trip. As we didn’t expect to find a regular campsite, we brought hammocks. I had a hammock, but never really used it. No problem because Rani and Keong were experienced hammockers who could help me 🙂 Dark clouds forced us to set up camp before we reached Lata Makau, near a nice small waterfall.
Here is our romantic campsite.
The afternoon rain didn’t last long. We prepared dinner, made a campfire and had a pleasant evening. Real jungle feeling.
The next morning after breakfast we continued to Lata Makau. Beautiful fall with a huge pool.
We managed to scramble up to the right side. No trail , we had to use our parangs, but it was not far. As I expected, around the corner, there was the upper fall, also expressive. Compare the fall with the size of Jim and Rani, who climbed up to see if there were more falls upstream.
Mission accomplished ! Here is a more detailed report: Three times Sg Luit .
———————————————– Jeram Berdebu 2013
Our trip to the remote Berdebu waterfall in Terengganu had a special background. In August 2012 Harry, one of my waterfall friends, had visited this waterfall and on his way back from the fall had died in a fatal accident. He was alone and his body was found only a week later. So it was a kind of memorial trip, I was joined by Aric, Siang Hui, Teoh and Nick. Because of the remote location we decided to camp.
The Berdebu waterfall is located in the Kelemin river and to reach this river you have to follow a logging road for more than 20 km to a logging camp, where Harry’s car was found. We came across fresh elephant dung!
A few km after this camp we found the perfect place to pitch our tents on the bank of the Kelemin river.
It was already late afternoon, time to make coffee and a campfire.
We had enough time to relax.
Before we got busy preparing our dinner.
The next morning after breakfast, we started hiking to the fall. The first part was still a logging road, but soon it became river trekking, not always easy, huge boulders.
After a few hours we could see the spectacular Berdebu fall.
It was still a few hundred meter to the fall, with difficult river crossings and terrain. I decided that it was enough for me, Aric stayed with me and Siang Hui, Teoh and Nick continued. The right picture was taken by Siang Hui.
Before hiking back we took a group photo. Later I found out that we were resting here at the same location where Harry had also taken a photo. Read my report A Memorable Trip.
This was seven years ago, time flies. It is still a very vivid memory for me. The stone marker that you see in the picture above, was erected for Harry.
———————————————– Dipang Falls 2014
In 2009 I visited the Pos Dipang falls for the first time. On this trip I met Jinnah, a friendly Semai orang asli, who told us that there were many more waterfalls instream. With him as a guide I went three more times, exploring the upper falls. The last time even camping there, because the upper falls are very remote. Here is my report Three Times Dipang. In 2014 I went again to the upper falls, this time with Aric, Teoh, Nick, Eddie, Edwin and Janine. Camping again and with Jinnah as our guide.
We met Jinnah in Pos Dipang and got permission from the Penghulu to camp. After some discussion with Jinnah, we decided to camp in the same place where I had camped earlier with Rani.
Where to camp?
We chose this location
As dark clouds were approaching, we had to protect our tents with fly sheets against the heavy downpour that followed.
Luckily around 5 pm the rain stopped.
So we could enjoy a drink 🙂
Basically we had all brought our own food for dinner, but why not join and share ;-). It resulted in a nice evening of fellowship.
The next morning. Ready to go.
It was a long, but pleasant hike. First we visited Lata Cheroh, during my last trip I had only seen it from the top, now w arrived at the bottom, quite a spectacular waterfall.
It was a steep scramble to reach the top of the fall and from there no problem to reach Lata Merjur, the upper fall. I would have enjoyed this impressive fall more, if there had not been big swarms of sweat bees. They are not aggressive, but I am allergic to bee and wasp stings, so I did not feel comfortable.
While I was watching the sweat bees around me, my friends were enjoying Lata Merjur. Because of the rainy season, the water flow was quite spectacular.
This has been my last camping trip. Main reason is the above-mentioned allergy. I always carry an Epipen, but still I am reluctant now to venture deep into the jungle. Besides, I am getting older and less confident. But I am happy with these wonderful experiences.
On Monday night, 16 March 2020, the Prime Minister of Malaysia announced in a live telecast that the country would go on lockdown Wednesday 18 March, because of the increasing number of Covid-19 infections in the country. A very strict lockdown, schools and borders (even interstate) would be closed, people had to work from home, only essential shops (groceries, pharmacies, etc) would remain open. People had to stay at home, no outdoor exercise, no social visits allowed. It was called a Movement Control Order (MCO)
In this post I will give an impression about our life the past 2 months.
The next day there was a rush on supermarkets and groceries, to buy food. We were a bit late, many shelves were empty already.
That day was also my last chance to visit Bukit Kiara. This time I walked in the lower part of the park (green line). The prison fence in red.
The first day of the lockdown. Visiting a supermarket to buy food was still allowed, so I walked to Tesco, carpark almost empty. Not much useful stock left in Tesco, because many people had been panic buying. Other shops closed, also next door IKEA and Mcdonalds.
We managed to buy some canned food, crackers, maggi mee, just in case there would be a shortage.
People were advised to wear masks when going out. Although I was personally not convinced that it would help, we went with the flow.
But our supply of masks was very limited. Hin, a Kiara friend of mine, had ordered a few boxes, and I could buy one from him. A transaction without physical contact, I drove to his house where the box was waiting for me on a pillar next to his gate. Payment online 😉 .
We were not allowed to receive visitors in our condo. So, for many weeks I didn’t talk to anybody, except the occasional cashier in the supermarket. I don’t think I would have managed without Aric. Whatsapp also helped, I spent many hours a day chatting with family and friends. Physical distancing led to social bonding! But still I had a few days of depression.
No visitors allowedDistancing in the elevator
Most of our shopping we did in the Jaya supermarket, about 500 m from our condo. After the first days of “hoarding”, stock was generally sufficient. When I went shopping I always walked, to have at least some exercise.
Supermarkets had introduced a door policy, limiting the number of customers, measuring their temperature and sometimes providing them with plastic gloves. It resulted in sometimes large queues, but as a senior citizen I didn’t have to queue!
To have more exercise I sometimes walked to Tesco about 2.5 km one way. The first time I was a bit worried about the police, as they were sometimes overreacting. One senior citizen had been arrested because he was walking to the grocery, 300 meter from his home, wearing sport shoes. Read the report here. But nothing happened to me (I was wearing sandals haha)
Regarding food, before the lockdown it was our usual routine to go out for dinner a few times a week, or order food to be delivered, and only prepare food ourselves one or two times a week. But now all restaurants were closed and Aric was reluctant to have food delivered by Grab or Panda, because of the hypothetical risk of infection. So from 18 March until last week, we have been preparing dinner ourselves every day!
Here is a selection of dishes prepared by Aric. Mostly Chinese cuisine, from the nice composition you can see that he is a designer 🙂
Here is a selection of my “creations” , Italian food and traditional Dutch fare.
With so much nice food and without my usual hiking in Bukit Kiara, it was no wonder that I gained some weight during the past period.
Did I do anything else beside eating and chatting? Yes, I watched a lot of movies. I am a fan of Pier Paolo Pasolini and many of his films can be downloaded from the Internet. I watched Edipo Re (1967), Teorema (1968), Porcile (1969), Arabian Nights (1974) and a few more.
Two more films I watched and (only) one book I read. Monty Python’s Life of Brian (1979) is a religious satire about Brian, a Jewish boy, who is born on the same day as Jesus and is mistaken for the Messiah. It was so controversial that it was banned in several countries and I had never watched it, although I was a big fan of Monty Python. Hilarious movie.
Not hilarious at all, actually quite scary, is the movie Contagion (2011) . It describes quite accurately a virus outbreak similar to the Covid-19 pandemic. Contact tracing, fomites, the frantic efforts to develop a vaccine.
I was planning to read more, but I only finished one book. 21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari, the author of two bestsellers, Sapiens and Homo Deus. The book was published in 2018, before the Covid-19 pandemic, otherwise he would probably have added a 22nd lesson, read for example this article written by him: In the Battle Against Coronavirus, Humanity Lacks Leadership.
I also tried to blog, but I was not always in the mood. I only published one post about an unknown opera from Domenico Scarlatti. So unknown, that it took me a long time to Google for information. Here is the result, click on the image to go to the blog.
Of course I followed the news about Covid-19, especially in Malaysia and the Netherlands. Here are two graphs (from the Worldometers site). It is interesting to compare them. First of all, the vertical scales are different! Many more people have been infected in the Netherlands than in Malaysia. When you take into account the difference in population (Malaysia has almost twice as many people), the difference becomes even more dramatic. Per 1 million people Malaysia has ( as per 17 May) 213 infections and 3 deaths, compared to the Netherlands 2561 infections and 331 deaths.
Another conspicuous difference is the shape of the graph. You expect a bell-shaped curve (for many years already I am planning to write a blog about exponential growth and S-curves) , for the Netherlands that is roughly the case, but not for Malaysia, where there is a sudden start of infections around 17 March. An explanation can be found here.
On 17 April I celebrated my 76th birthday. A lockdown birthday, no visitors of course. But a few days before my birthday I received an email “16282 is out for delivery” from a company selling liquor. As I had not ordered anything, I thought it might be spam and didn’t pay attention to it. So I was very surprised that GDEX actually delivered a package with a nice bottle of whisky! Turned out to be a present from our UK friend Rodney! Very much appreciated 😉 . Aric surpassed himself by preparing a sublime meal and baking a delicious birthday cake.
Birthday presentBirthday dinnerBirthday cakeScallops with lemon garlic sauceMango chickenSalad with bacon bitsIce Cream with forest fruitsLemon Cheese Cake
The first MCO was for two weeks, but it was extended by the government several times. On 1 May the Prime Minister announced that from 4 May some of the regulations would be relaxed, the Conditional MCO . For me the most important relaxation was that we were again allowed to be outside , walk and exercise. Immediately I started walking around our condo. No jungle, but at least green and refreshing.
Unfortunately Bukit Kiara still remains closed, but it is possible to hike in North Kiara. Of course keeping social distance 🙂
The CMCO has been extended until 9 June. If any new developments happen, I will update this post
In a recent post, I reported about a trip to Kuala Selangor with our UK friend Rodney. He had also never visited Taiping, my 2nd hometown.! A good reason to plan a short trip, only 3D2N, because he was flying back to UK on 24 February. A bit too short for me, so I booked 2 nights in Furama for Aric and Rodney, and two more nights for me. Therefore this report is in two parts 🙂
We started early on 20 February, because our first destination was Penang. Rodney’s longtime Malaysian partner, Keng, had passed away in the UK, a few months earlier and Rodney had brought his ashes to scatter them in the sea near Penang, where Keng was born. We had offered to help and support him.
On our way North we had breakfast in Tanjung Malim. We had half-boiled eggs with ice coffee, where the ice was made of coffee in the shape of a heart, so it would not dilute the coffee, while melting. A clever trick.
Traffic was smooth, we reached Penang in time to have lunch at the Taman Emas restaurant we had visited before, with good char kuey teow and assam laksa.
We continued to Teluk Bahang near the northwestern tip of Penang Island, where Aric had, with the help of a friend, booked a boat.
We had bought yellow and white chrysanthemum flowers to scatter with the ashes.
It was a simple, moving farewell ceremony.
The road ends here. There used to be a restaurant here, aptly named The End of the World.
From Teluk Bahang we drove back to Taiping, where we arrived in hotel Furama around 4 pm. After a short rest we walked to the nearby Lake Gardens. Usually it rains in the afternoon in Taiping, but this time it was beautiful weather. We enjoyed the tranquil atmosphere.
A few more pictures. Top right flowers of the Rain Trees (Samanea Saman) that border the Lake. Bottom left the fruits of the Cannon Ball Tree, not all Taipingites may be aware that a few of these strange trees are growing in the Lake Gardens.
The sunset was very nice. Look at this picture, isn’t it beautiful? The Lake Gardens are fascinating, any time of the day.
Compare it with this video. The famous Chinese Pagoda Bridge in the Lake Gardens has been recently decorated with gaudy LED-lights. Many people are happy with it, personally I think it doesn’t go well with the atmosphere of the Lake Gardens. Feel free to comment.
After this long day we had our dinner at the outdoor food court of Prima. With beer, satay, rojak, otak otak and other delicacies.
The next morning we started with breakfast in a small hawker center near my hotel, often called the Circus Ground by locals, because in earlier days circus shows were given here. The grassy field in the center is surrounded by palm trees and recently “decorated” with “I Love Taiping”. Hmm. We had delicious Chee Cheong Fun in the stall of my friend Mr Tong, 4th (!) generation owner.
Our morning program was to visit the Ayer Hitam waterfall, near Batu Kurau, the rural backyard of Taiping. My last visit was three years ago, it is a 45 minute drive from town. Approaching the trail head, I got a bit worried because quite a lot of development had taken place, a new resort was still under construction. Notice the concrete reinforcement of the river slopes!
The road ends at a small water catchment where we parked our car. Fortunately the trail was still unspoiled, although I noticed some work going on to widen the trail.
It is only a 20 minutes walk on a clear, partly cemented trail, to have a view of the waterfall. From there a small trail brings you in a few minutes down to the base of the fall.
A short video of the impressive and still pristine waterfall. Better don’t wait too long to visit this fall, before “development” takes over.
It was an easy half-day trip, we were back in town for lunch at the Yut Sun restaurant in Jalan Pasar. Of course we had the famous Hainanese Chicken Chop 🙂 .
After a long rest in our hotel, we drove to Kuala Sepetang (former Port Weld). It has become quite touristic, but when you cross the river on a pedestrian bridge to the other side, it is still quite unspoiled. From the bridge you have a good view of the fishing village.
We walked the (only) street until the end, to a big Taoist temple, the Shang Di temple, dedicated to the Emperor of Heaven. Recently built, maybe because the villagers have more income these days? Richly decorated with a huge statue of the Dragon Turtle.
Shang Di temple
Dragon Turtle
Beautiful tile tableaus, illustrating the dangers of the sea and the importance of paying respect to the gods.
We stayed quite some time at a jetty, watching the sunset and the traffic on the river. Very relaxing.
On our way back to Taiping we stopped in Matang for dinner. There are a few popular seafood restaurants in this small village. We chose the Light House Seafood restaurant where we had a nice seafood porridge.
Almost back in our hotel we came across a Hindu procession. A chariot was pulled by two impressive buffalos. Asking which deity was venerated, I was told that it was Shiva Lingam. I leave it to the reader to find out what a lingam is 🙂 .
Impressive buffalo
The musicians
Priest with the lingam
Of course I had to show Rodney the mural of Amelia Earhart, the famous American aviator, commemorating that she had landed In Taiping on 20 June 1937 to refuel. A beautiful mural, only problem is that she never did! Read more in my two posts Amelia Earhart and Taiping and Amelia and Taiping (Part Two) .
The next morning we decided to have our breakfast in Casual Market. But before walking there, we first made a detour to have a look at a bungalow, a few hundred meter from the hotel.
Why? Mr Foo, working at Furama and, like me, interested in Taiping and its history, had told me about this bungalow, that until a few months ago it was almost completely invisible because of “jungle” surrounding it. Now the land had been cleared and a beautiful bungalow had come into view. Abandoned, but still in good condition. Built in 1932.
Here is a close-up of the bungalow and a screenshot from Google Street View, taken last year. You can just see part of the roof. An interesting discovery, I know more about its history, but will keep that for another post.
Now
One year ago
We didn’t take my usual route to Casual Market and passed on our way a small Chinese temple, which I had never noticed before. Notice that the “deities” are wearing a songkok! It is a so-called Datuk Kong temple. A mixture of Chinese folk religion with Malay influences, there are many of them in Malaysia. The right picture shows the Peace Hotel, opposite the Casual Market. Built in 1928, it has a rich history. Nowadays there are food stalls on the ground floor.
Stairs lead up to the first floor. As far as I know that is the domain of the ladies of the night 🙂 . I climbed up to have a look, didn’t meet any ladies, but the wooden interior was nice.
Casual Market is another favourite food court of mine. There are two popular stalls with Char Keow Teow, this time I chose the fishball version.
After our breakfast I showed Rodney and Aric a few of the heritage sites of Taiping, both the positive and the negative ones. Here is the Central Market of Taiping, an iconic building (1884/85).
There are several separate sections. Left a stall in the pork market, I wonder how old this stall is. Right the fish market.
Front view of the Market. Good news, there are plans (and funds!) to restore the market in its old glory (not like Pasar Seni in KL, I hope).
Taiping has many famous schools. This is Saint Georgius Institute (SGI), one of them.
To be honest, it is the mixture of restoration and decay that attracts me in my 2nd hometown… 🙂 . Left the attractive restoration of the Ceylon Association Building. Right the remains of the Rest House.
The government buildings next to the Rest House are still easily accessible. Am I too negative in suspecting that the authorities leave it like this, hoping that drug addicts who are still staying there, will cause a fire one of these days that will destroy the whole building? See my detailed reports Taiping Bandar Warisan and Taiping, October 2019 . Don’t worry , I did not climb up to the first floor 🙂 .
Two more pictures. A nice mural and the skeleton of what once must have been a nice house. As I wrote, the mixture of development and decay attracts me.
After this morning visit of Taping, Aric and Rodney drove back to KL.
The second part of my stay. A nice lotus flower at the entrance of Furama and a picture of me and a huge tree, around the corner of the hotel.
In the afternoon I visited with my friend Halim two quite different kinds of graveyards. First the large Prestavest cemetery in Tupai. I thought that these huge rows of tombs were graves, but the space is too small, they are rest places for the urns of cremated people!
So it is an elaborate (and very expensive!) version of the traditional columbarium, where we also had a look. The caretaker must have thought that we were potential “customers” 🙂 Nice statues of the Buddha give the place a serene atmosphere.
Columbarium
There was still time to visit the tomb of Long Jaafar in Bukit Gantang. He was a Malay nobleman who supposedly (accidentally) discovered tin in the Taiping region. The tombs are well kept, but from his fort nothing remains.
On our way back we enjoyed assam laksa in a roadside stall near Bukit Gantang.
The next day I had breakfast with my friend George. He introduced me to Taiping, many years ago. He suggested the Ee Ee Fatt 128 coffee shop in Tupai. I had Chee Cheong Fun again, not bad, although I still prefer Mr Tong’s 🙂
After breakfast we visited the Botanical Gardens of Taiping next to the Lake Gardens. I had been there when it was still under construction and wondered why to create a botanical garden, with the beautiful Penang one so nearby. Better a botanical garden than a new residential area, my friend Yeap said, and I think he was right 🙂 .
The garden is still under construction,, many trees and palms have been planted already, and there are several scenic spots.
Here is an example, a Fan Palm. I have enlarged the name tag, because I am wondering who has designed the format. Why is the name Taman Botani Perak so dominating? The name of the plant, PALAS KIPAS should be on top in large capitals. Below it, in a slightly smaller font, the Common name : Fan Palm, the Official name, Licuala grandis, the Family name, Arecaceae . Missing the country of origin, Vanuatu. Last lines, in a small font, plant id number, planting date and Taman Botani Perak. Why not Taman Botani Taiping, by the way?
Not yet many flowering shrubs, I found a few.
Next to the Botanical Garden, but now separated from it, one of the oldest heritage sites of Taiping can be found, the communal tomb of the Hai San. The Hai San and the Ghee Hin were two Chinese factions, fighting each other in the Larut wars.
For lunch George and I were invited by Girlie and Yeoh, two other Taiping friends.
I still had some energy left for another trip to the Ayer Hitam waterfall, this time with Halim. Two times the same waterfall? As access is so easy, I had sent a WhatsApp message to my Taiping Heritage friends, if they were interested to join me for another visit. But only Halim responded.
Left the start of the trail, right one of the several sheds where locals stay during the durian season, to guard the king of fruits.
Halim had never visited this fall before and, being an adventurous guy, suggested that we should come back another time and camp overnight. An attractive idea, but I feel a bit too old for it.
Walking back, I found this ginger flower, an Etlingera coccinea , one of my favourites. It looks like the flower just grows from the earth.
We passed again the new resort, Chalet Latip D’Ayer Hitam and had a chat with the people working there. Modern, colorful design, but I have my reservations about building the chalets so close to the river that you have to reinforce the river banks with concrete.
An beautiful old-fashioned Malay house that reminded Halim of his younger years .
In Batu Kurau we had a teh tarik and apom balik. Batu Kurau has a volunteer fire brigade, the stall was next to it, and our table in front of the “bomba” truck. Fortunately no fire alarm went of during our stay.
Taiping is famous because of its Lake Gardens, so neighbouring Kamunting also wanted one. A nice try, but they can not compete. This is the most interesting part, a lotus pond, crossed by a bridge. Two metal towers at both ends of the bridge. No idea if they ever had a function.
Next morning I had breakfast with Yeap in Lian Thong , soft-boiled eggs on toast, named roti goyang in Malay, “shaking toast” Do I have to explain the name? Later, Yeap picked me up from Furama to bring me to the station, but first we had lunch in the restaurant, that is part of the Ceylon Association building. Nice Tom Yam fried rice. During our lunch a lady joined us, a friend of Yeap, but also a karaoke partner of my friend George. Proving once again that Taiping is a very small world 🙂 .
Waiting for the train back to KL. One of the reasons that I feel so at home in Taiping, is the hospitality of its inhabitants. Will go back soon 🙂
