Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Taiping

I was born and brought up in this town. Taiping is a town located in the northern state of Perak, Malaysia, it's about a three-hour drive from Kuala Lumpur or an hour drive from Penang.

Taiping started as a tin mining town in the middle of the 19th century. It quickly flourished through the first half of the 20th century as the British colonial administration centre for the state of Perak and tin mining hub. The name "Tai Ping" means eternal peace in Chinese.

Today this peaceful and beautiful town enjoys a relaxed and casual atmosphere with much of its previous political roles gone. Taiping has lots of sights to offer tourists such as the Lake Gardens(photo on the right), a hill resort(Bukit Larut/Maxwell Hill), old churches, mosques, temples and colonial administrative buildings. This town is also a perfect place to sample local food as well as seafood fresh from the neighbouring fishing villages. Off the beaten track, Taiping receives few tourists.

2 comments:

  1. I was stationed in Taiping during my time in the British Army 1960-61 and it is everything you say.even after almost46 years it still holds a special place in my heart.

    ReplyDelete
  2. John,

    Thanks for your comment. I had planned to post another one on Taiping next week.

    Ken.

    ReplyDelete