{"id":29026,"date":"2023-12-05T18:13:40","date_gmt":"2023-12-05T10:13:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stuif.com\/blog\/?p=29026"},"modified":"2023-12-06T21:54:39","modified_gmt":"2023-12-06T13:54:39","slug":"taiping-november-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stuif.com\/blog\/?p=29026","title":{"rendered":"Taiping, November 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

I boarded the ETS not in KL Sentral this time, but in Sg Buloh. First the feeder bus to the Mutiara MRT station, then the MRT to Sg Buloh. For me a much better option. The MRT has now a special section for ladies only. In the ETS I always choose coach C, because the canteen is there \ud83d\ude09 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

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eeeee<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

It was nice to meet Goh and his wife<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On my way back I followed the Raintree Walk. As I took a wrong turn, the total walk was almost 5 k.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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And the food was delicious. I forgot to take a photo of one of the dishes \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Of course a photo had to be taken. From left to right Dr Neoh , Dr Ng and Dr Stuivenberg \ud83d\ude09 .Malaysia and especially Taiping is a small world \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We ended this very agreeable event with a cendol at the famous Ansari Cendol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I had suggested to Sharen, as her “tourist guide”, that we could go in the afternoon to Matang, visit the museum there, continue to Kuala Sepetang (charcoal kilns, mangrove forest) and finally have dinner in the Lemon Tree restaurant. The dinner plan was accepted, actually Mei, one of her Taiping friends, was going to invite us and host the dinner. For the afternoon she had her own plans, so I was “free” and had a lazy afternoon ;-). Later Sharen WhatsApped me : Pick up between 7 to 7:10pm. A lady by the name of Elaine & Teng Khoe<\/em>..Please watch out for a red Honda Civi<\/em>c. Another example of the small world Taiping is, as I had met them already a few times earlier \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

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

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

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

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No online\/advance booking possible, only walk-in. As it was a Sunday morning, with many Zoo visitors, I was a bit worried that the tickets might be sold out. But it turned out that we were the only passengers, a worrying sign for the future of this EV heritage project \ud83d\ude41 .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

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The bus is comfortable and can accommodate about twenty passengers. Our first stop was at the Raintree Walk, a pedestrian walk at the Taiping Lake Gardens. A few fallen rain trees have become tourist attractions and of course we had our pictures taken \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

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

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