Taiping ~ Perak , Peninsula Malaysia : journeymalaysia.com

Taiping - Perak

Isabella Bird and Taiping

straits plaque

Isabella Bird stayed in Taiping at the Residents House. An excerpt from her book paints a classical landscape of Taiping in 1870s, 'From this point we drove along an excellent road toward the mountains, over whose cool summits cloud mists now and then drifted; and near noon entered this important Chinese town, with a street about a mile long, with large bazaars and shops making a fine appearance, being much decorated in Chinese style; halls of meeting for the different tribes, gambling houses, workshops, the Treasury (a substantial dark wood building), large detached barracks for the Sikh police, a hospital, a powder magazine, a parade ground, a Government store-house, a large, new jail, neat bungalows for the minor English officials, and on the top of a steep, isolated terraced hill, the British Residency. This hill is really too steep for a vehicle to ascend, but the plucky pony and the Kling driver together pulled the gharrie up the zigzags in a series of spasms, and I was glad to get out of the sunshine into a cool, airy house, where there was a hope of breakfast, or rather tiffin.' For an e-text of Isabella Bird's 'Golden Chersonese and The Way Thither' at http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/

Taiping's Old Architecture

old warehouses back in the 1990's

British Residency ~ Isabella Bird's Taiping has come a long way since her sojourn in 1800's. Gone is Sir Hugh Low's residency or the British Residency. What's left are the columns that held the timber house. This is as she described the house to be,' 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. This room and its veranda are like the fore cabin of a great Clyde steamer. It has a red screen standing partly across it, the back part being used for eating, and the front for sitting and occupation. My bedroom and sitting-room, and the room in which Sultan Abdullah's boys sleep are on one side, and Mr. Maxwell's room and office on the other. Underneath are bath-rooms, and guard-rooms for the Sikh sentries. There are no ornaments or superfluities.' And added,' The steep little hill on which the Residency stands is planted with miserable coffee, with scanty yellow foliage. 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.

peace hotel ~ dodgy hotel but beautiful architecture with a popular restaurant selling hawker food on the ground floor

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, on all the weediness and forlornness of a superficially exhausted mining region, and beyond upon an expanse of jungle, the limit of which is beyond the limit of vision, miles of tree tops as level as the ocean, over which the cloud shadows sail in purple all day long. In the early morning the parade ground is gay with "thin red" lines of soldiers, and all day long with a glass I can see the occupations and bustle of Taipeng. Taipeng is a thriving, increasing place, of over six thousand inhabitants, solely Chinese, with the exception of a small Kling population, which keeps small shops, lends money, drives gharries and bullock-carts, and washes clothes. This place was the focus of the disturbances in 1873, and the Chinese seem still to need to be held in check, for they are not allowed to go out at night without passes and lanterns. They are miners, except those who keep the innumerable shops which supply the miners, and some of them are rich. Taipeng is tolerably empty during the day, but at dusk, when the miners return , the streets and gambling dens are crowded, and the usual Babel of Chinese tongues begins. There are scarcely any Malays in the town.' Taiping Prison Isabella Bird's mention of a large, new jail was probably the Taiping prison which was opened in 1879 and was the first purpose-built prison in Malaya . It remains in operation today. The Lake Gardens She mentioned that the view from the residency of '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, on all the weediness and forlornness of a superficially exhausted mining region' which was in 1884, landscaped into the lake gardens which now stands lined with beautiful angsana trees or raintrees introduced by the British landscapers, originating from India. The lake garden now spans over 64hectares and hosts a recreational park, a Japanese garden, a pagoda bridge, a defunct golf course and a zoo.

Taiping Zoo ~ The first zoo in Malaya , Taiping zoo has introduced night zoo in recent years. For more log into: www.zootaiping.gov.my Visiting hours: 8.30am to 6.30pm , open everyday including Sundays & public holidays. Entrance fee - RM 4.00 adults, RM 2.00 children, RM 1.00 camera, RM 5.00 video camera, RM 2.00 Zoo Mini Train (Adult), RM 1.00 Zoo Mini Train (children)

Administrative Buildings ~ In 1880, a massive fire burnt the entire town safe for a few lone structures. This gave the British an opportunity to set up better town planning. The roads were widened and Chinese shophouses were laid out in a grid. The British officer's detached dwellings, military cantonment and jail was laid at one end and the Indian Settlement were placed at the opposite end, Kota . Brick buildings were constructed. Frank Swettenham who took up the position as Acting Resident from 1884 till 1886 was instrumental in developing the town's architecture where many of the buildings remain today such as the market, the rebuilding of the gaol, the post and the telegraph office, the assistant resident's house, the audit and treasury offices and the police station. Of course with the gaol being nearby, convicts were used to labour these ambitious projects which also included landscaping namely for the lake gardens.

old motel, typical of the wooden shophouses built during the 1930's ~ 1950's

Police Station, Kota Road (Old Clock Tower of Taiping) ~ In 1881, a police station was built strategically within view of the Chinese theatre, the market and other popularly visited places. It was initially built of timber but was rebuilt 9 years later and fortified with gun slits were added so that in any emergency, that could come in handy.

Today it has been converted into the Taiping Visitor Information Centre. This is where visitors can pick up the very informative heritage trail map to guide on the walks round the town.

Taiping's future

Taiping and Kamunting has changed as has Malaysia in the past decade. Unfortunately, not all for the better. The unmonitored expansion to the town will undoubtedly effect its position as a heritage town. There is so much to conserve in this old town and not much attention has been given to it. Defacing old shop house fa ç ades with gaudy, neon signboards, cheap renovation materials, tearing down old to be replaced by garish non-descript buildings - that's what is done best in Malaysia . What's also worrying is that when façades are intact, the beauty of the interior are gutted to be replaced by grotesque cheap paneling and shoddy interior refurbishment.

Malaysia has so much beauty but in the past 20years, this race for recognition and development has weighlaid crucial points. in that we have a past, we have a history and all that has happened in our country, to our people - it still is history and we cannot erase that nor should we forget. It is not your history and my history.it's ours and lest we forget, we have less future as a nation. We have moved on 50years and will we see another 50 blessed years. We should as citizens, not leave Malaysia a wasteland for our future generations.devoid of history, architecture, nature, literature, art. In short, devoid of an identity. That's what we will become..if we don't take steps to retard the situation at hand. How much is enough?

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Accommodation at Taiping