Day 14 - Taiping

We had a late start today (4th August 2020), and because we were in a Chinese city we thought we should start with some dim sum. My phone had difficulty working out where we were, and the lack of street names didn’t help, but we eventually we found the dim sum restaurant and it was closed. Actually much of Taiping seemed to be closed. We spotted a small cafe, and yearning for some air-conditioning, we headed inside. The young staff at Fengcha seemed a bit bemussed to have customers. We ordered frozen pineapple teas and brown sugar pancakes (the only food available), but only after paying did they say it would take 20 mins. But those pancakes were well worth waiting for! You knew that everything on that plate was unhealthy, but it tasted so good!

Next we walked to the Tourist Information Centre to get a copy of the Taiping Heritage Trail map. I had read of places to visit from the malaysia-traveller.com website, so had already planned our walking tour, but it’s good to see what the local tourist office has to offer.

This glorious building is the Taiping Tourist Information Centre, and it was ‘Closed for renovation’. Just in case anyone from the tourist board reads this, why not make the map available on-line? Especially when you want to promote domestic tourism in 2020, but have closed your office? When we visited Ipoh a few years ago, I downloaded a very informative Ipoh Heritage Trail map before arriving in the city, and it proved very useful. The more I travel around Malaysia, the more I wonder about the country’s Department of Tourism and their perceived role. At least there were information boards in front of prominant historical buildings, but we were not inclined to stay out in the sun to read these; thank goodness for phone cameras.

We were staying in the Novotel hotel, which was very convenient for exploring the city. The first dramatic building we walked past was this, the Taiping central market which was built sometime around 1884 and is Malaysia’s oldest market, as well as the largest free-standing non-religious wood-and-cast iron structure in the country; at least that’s what I read in New Straits Times (April 28, 2019).

This market building is so old that it has to be propped up by huge steel girders. Apparently there were plans to give this building a face lift, and it does look slightly more colourful than the image in the newspaper report of 2019. Normally I love wondering around wet markets, but we peeked inside to the dark gloomy, and very smelly, interior and decided to stay on the outside.

Today in Taiping it was very very hot, although I don’t think you can tell this from my photos. Old style Chinese shophouses typically provide a covered pathway which protects pedestrians from the extremes of Malaysia’s weather. Sadly today, most of these walkways are obstructed so you have to walk in the road, which presents even more hazards. The roads are quite wide and many crossroads should have traffic lights, but do not. We found walking around the city quite stressful because of the lack of pavements and the need to walk on the main roads.

Taiping has many heritage buildings, principally the British colonial style white buildings, and the Chinese clan association buildings. This colonial-style building is the District Offices located on Dataran Warisan Taiping.

Taiping made its fortune from tin mining, until the centre for that trade moved up to Ipoh and Taiping was forgotten.

We walked towards the Padang Esplanade, and open piece of grassland typically used for sports and parades by the British. This one dates from 1890. There were many interesting buildings around the Padang, so we started first walking uphill into the shade of the trees (to the right of this photo immediately below) towards Rumah Pembantu Residen (Assistant Resident's House).

The current building is on the same location used by the Assistant Residents of Perak since 1884. Famous names associated with this building are Captain T.C.S. Speedy and Sir Edward Maxwell. The house has undergone many changes over time, so I do not know how much of this is in the original form. However its location is perfect on Bukit Jelutong, with views across the city and with lush hills behind.

On one corner of the Padang is The New Club, founded in 1885 by members of the Taiping community who could not gain acceptance into the Perak Club. There was a lot of snobbish behaviour by colonial officials, and one could only mix with the ‘right’ people or you would be ostracised and all promotion prospects lost. Sounds familiar?

This is the Officer’s Mess, built in 1906. The information panel implies that this building is still used by the 9th Battalion Ranger Regiment, but I’m beginning to wonder about the accuracy of the information panels.

Nearby is All Saints Church (Geraja All Saints), consecrated in 1887 by the Bishop of Singapore and Sarawak. This was the first English Church in the Federated Malay States.

After a brief rest back in the hotel (one should always avoided walking outside in early afternoon), we headed out in the other direction to explore the city. This is the Peking Hotel, built in 1929 was used mostly by the Taiping Rubber Dealers Association. As with most grand buildings in Malaysia, it too was occupied by the Japanese Kempeitai during the Japanese occupation. In 1965 it was converted to a hotel.