Beauty of Life with Jo: Taiping

Monday, March 19, 2018

Taiping

Taiping @Bandar Warisan @ Heritage Town. A good 3 1/2 hours drive from Kuala Lumpur. But, we stopped at Papan first to explore that ghost town before venturing into human town!

Taiping was once a mining town in the late 1800s and was one of first cities that was established in Malaysia. Therefore, she houses many first buildings for the country. We didn't get to cover all. Some we passed them by and didn't get a chance to take a pic of it but we had good fun exploring the town.

This was the first restaurant I wanted to have my meal as I read there were so many good recipes there. It had to close when I parked my car!

So I chose Yut Sun, an equally famous Hainanese restaurant. Ordered stewed beef and chicken chop. Pretty tasty food.

Stewed beef

Hainanese Chicken Chop

Yut Sun, a halal Hainanese restaurant which has 100 years in history.

Found an interesting banana fritter shop but it has all kinds of veggie fritters as well.

A house in Aulong that has its own biscuit and snack factory by the side of the house. I couldn't believe my eyes when we arrived in front of the house. This is a factory? The gate was half opened. There was a simple sign that hung in the garage that says "Biscuits" in Chinese. A lady who was sweeping the garage saw us and immediately went to the side of the house. We followed. Holy Biscuits...there were many kinds of biscuits and snacks in the boxes and on the tables. We fell in love with the soft sesame seed covered candy that has peanut biscuits inside each candy. So far, we have never seen anything like that before and they were deeeeeeelicious.

Antong Coffee Mill, Malaysia's oldest coffee place. The minute we got out of our car, the first whiff of coffee smacked us real hard!!! It was SUPER DUPER FRAGRANT.

Local Malaysian coffee are roasted twice. After the first roast, the coffee is mixed with sugar and margarine to be roasted again until they turn hard. After cooling, the caramelized coffee are broken into small pieces and ground into coffee powder.

Coffee bean trees

Constructed in 1883, the Perak Museum is Malaysia's first museum. It has Victorian and Moorish designs. Sir Hugh Low was the man who commissioned this museum.

Right opposite the Perak Museum sits Malaysia's first prison. Better known as the Taiping Gaol. It was constructed in 1879 and it is still in use today.

I thought it was a museum, of course I didn't do enough of my homework. Talked to the prison warden who was a friendly chap. Asked to visit the prison and he said "No problem." Then he asked, "Who would you like to visit?" Errrrr ...visit? You mean there are prisoners inside? Really?

The beautiful Taiping Lake Gardens. It was the first public garden established while British's reign in Malaya. It was opened in 1880. 64 hectares of greenery and beauty.

Welcome to Kuala Sepetang. About 30 mins drive from Taiping. Formerly known as Port Weld. You have to drive past the Matang Mangrove to reach this coastal fishing village.

We chose the Port Weld Seafood restaurant to have our dinner and that was also quite an adventure itself. We reached the restaurant only to find fishermen working on the ground floor. The restaurant is situated upstairs, overlooking the village, which was really beautiful. All we needed to do was to choose our seafood, informed them how we wanted them cooked, and waited to be served.

A quick visit to the evening market. We saw quite a crowd so we decided to join in the fun.

Night safari at the Taiping Zoo. Did not like it one bit. We visited the zoo before during the day time and we loved it totally. Now, at night it was a different story. We could not hear our driver clearly. It was pitch black; couldn't see anything half the time. The lions roared at us; I expected one to jump over the fence and yell "Go away"!!! The kangaroos were having a boxing match. Tigers were in hiding. The giraffes were forever munching. The only clear picture I shot was a gentle elephant.

The Clock Tower, built in 1881.I shot this from our hotel room window. It is a Tourist centre today.

All Saints Church, Malaysia's first Anglican church in the Federated Malay States. It was established in 1883. Within the compound of the church lies the graveyards of British officers who had died while on duty, away from their homeland.

The stained glass survived World War II

New Anglican church today

Ling Nam Ku Miew is Malaysia's oldest Chinese temple. Built in 1883, it sits on a little hill over looking prison.

A rock pool at the foothills of Bukit Larut. A few families were already in the water when we arrived. I found the place too small for families to be comfortable there. Moreover the place has too much litter. People are not taking care of that place. Pity.

The War Cemetery of WWII

Lotus pool at the Lake gardens

The Wild Boar Temple: Om Sakthi Sri Jada Muneesvarar Alayam Temple. I read that this temple attracted wild boars who were protected by the deities in the temples. These wild boars bring good luck to those who touched them. I was not so keen about touching the wild boars but I was excited to see them. I was SO disappointed to see this place so empty. Looks like nobody runs this temple any more.

First Galleria

King Edward VII premier secondary school is one of the oldest English schools in the Federated Malay States. Founded in 1883, it was known as the Central school back then.