Saturday, April 25, 2009

Introduction to Taiping, Perak. Malaysia. Visiting Taiping

This website is dedicated to those who are visiting or born in Taiping. View using web version on a PC is better. Its aim is to inform you The best of what Taiping have to offer even though if you are local..

Broadcasting Taiping to the world on historic and new sites! Designed by Taiping faithful who enjoys the life in this great town. While jogging up Maxwell Hill, one of the resident said, do you notice that the air is fresh and different from the city? I paused a while to have a small thought and really felt appreciated with the freshness. A great place for cheap and good food. Lodging is within 5 minutes walk. Some of the pictures are from other Taiping Sites whom I believe won't mind me using it. You can also use mine. No one site is perfect. We strife for perfection! BTW, I will add more information and pictures when there are new suggestions. Hope it brings good memories back to you!

Taiping is a beautiful town situated in the state of Perak in MALAYSIA. Formerly known as Klian Pauh, it was renamed Taiping to commemorate the end of the Larut War in 1874. With the signing of the Pangkor Treaty on the 20th of January 1874, Taiping emerged to be the major town in Perak. Taiping comes from the Chinese word Tai-Peng which means ETERNAL PEACE. And indeed with the decision of the British government to make Taiping into their administration center, the once slow-paced town has been transformed into a busy and developed town compared to the others in that era.

Together with progress comes a string of historical firsts that has made Taiping into one of the oldest town in Malaysia. Today, more than 100 years later, Taiping unfolds the history of the making of this modern nation. Taiping was once a thriving mining town and used to be the capital of Perak. Its disused mining pools have been cleverly turned into the beautiful and famous Taiping Lake Gardens. Other attractions include the hill resort Bukit Larut (Maxwell Hill); Taiping Zoo, which was the first zoo in Malaysia. 

Taiping receives the most rainfall making it the wettest town in Peninsula Malaysia. The average annual rainfall is about 4,000mm in Taiping while the peninsula’s average is 2,000mm – 2,500mm. Taiping have the sea on it's west and hills on the east. These factors produces Relief Rain or 'Hujan Bukit' in Malay where the air gets cool when it raises up , condenses and becomes rain. The other side of Maxwell Hill such as Kuala Kangsar is drier due to it being in the Rain Shadow where cool air depleted it's moisture as it decends into warmer temperate. Malaysia should be smart enough to create water reservoirs to counter dry spells which happens every year.

How to get there: Taiping 302km north of Kuala Lumpur. It is about an hour’s drive from Ipoh via the north south highway. West Coast Expressway is also available from KL. Penang is just 1 hour drive up north. There are frequent bus services from all major towns in Peninsular Malaysia and even from Singapore. But if you prefer, you can get there by trains.

Suggestions and good comments welcome. I need volunteers to help enhance it. Am not an expert in html coding. Appreciate your help. Do put a link from your website to this site and send me some nice photos if you want to contribute to this site. Thanks again for coming and do recommend your friends to visit this site.

There are arguments about this list of firsts but Taiping is still regarded as a city rich in history. So, your days should be full of places to visit. Among the firsts are:

Singapore 1st President studied in King Edward 7 Secondary School, Taiping
Malaysia 1st Famous Fashion Designer is from Taiping. Tepuk tangan lah... sepak nanti... lol.
Open tin mining activity in the peninsula (1844)
Coronation Swimming pool — Kolam Renang Kemahkotaan (1870)
Taiping Airport (1929) - Amelia Earhart was here in 20th June 1937.
Artillery warehouse (1870)
Magistrate court (1874)
Balai penghulu (1875)
Port Weld (1877)
Police Force team (1879)
Resident’s house (1879)
Hill resort — Bukit Larut - Maxwell Hill (1884)
Rest house (1894)
Mosque — Masjid Tengku Menteri (1897)
Government offices (1879)
Telegraph and post office (1880)
Lake gardens — Taman Tasik Taiping (1881)
Hospital, private and government (1880)
Club — New Club (1881)
Railway station and warehouse (1881)
Market building — Taiping Market Square (1884)
Museum — Perak Museum (1883)
Prison — Penjara Taiping (1879)
Railway track — from Port Weld to Taiping (1885)
Turf club — Perak Turf Club (1886)
Anglican church — All Saints Church, Taiping (1886)
English School — King Edward VII School (1883)
Clock tower — Menara Jam Besar (1881). 1st Police and Fire station.
Esplanade — Padang Esplanade (1890)
Malay newspaper — Seri Perak (June 1893)
English newspaper — Perak Pioneer (July 4, 1894)
Tamil newspaper — Perak Verthamani (1894)
Armed Forces — Malayj States Guides (1896)
Ceylon association (1899)
First Night Safari Zoo in Malaysia
First city in Malaysia to be awarded most sustainable (2018)
Only age-friendly town in Southeast Asia by WHO (2019)

Oh, the sexy Extreme  racket is also a design from Taipingnites. Support la fren. Can add me to your facebook (below). Kawan-kawan mah.... lol

Be proud friend. Tepuk tangan hang kuat sikit la. I tak dengar la... lol.

By the way, if you need to buy, sell or rent properties in Malaysia (in KL, PJ or anywhere), do contact me at xtremexn@gmail.com. Best one stop property or real estate service. Let's help each other. Thanks.

4 comments:

  1. Thanks for dropping by our blog. If we are ever in Taiping for food hunting, would be our guide?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi, Is someone able to tell me some information about plantations in Taiping? I am particularly interested in any information or stories about plantations in the 1950s. My email is francois.brun@hotmail.com

    Thanks,
    Francois Brun.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dr. Toh Chin Chye (10 December 1921 – 3 February 2012) was from St. George's Institution, Taiping. He served as 1st Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore (1965-68), Minister for Science and Technology (1968–1975) and Minister for Health (1975–1981). He also served as the Chairman of the People's Action Party (PAP) from 1954 to 1981, and as the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Singapore from 1968 to 1975. After he left the Cabinet in 1981, he continued to serve as a Member of Parliament (MP) on the backbenches until he retired from politics in 1988.
    ANOTHER FIRST FOR TAIPING

    ReplyDelete
  4. See here for a more comprehensive view of Taiping tourism:
    https://www.penangfoodforthought.com/2018/06/taiping.html

    ReplyDelete

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