I want to know, have you ever seen the rain, coming down on a sunny day? Love that tune.
Well, if you live in Taiping, you probably would, quite often too. and no, I have never been to Taiping. Apparently, it has the greatest volume of rainfall in Malaysia, averaging from 2 to 3 weeks of rain every month, which gives it the enchanting name: rain town.
Now, a bit of historical background. Bear with me.
One of the first town developed due to the discovery of tin. Formerly known as Larut, hence the name Bukit Larut. At that time, the town was controlled by two opposing Chinese societies ie: Gee Hin and Hai San. Needless to say, these two societies did not get along well, just like the family rival between the Corleone and Tattaglia in The Godfather. Whaaatttt! You've never seen that movie? Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro... err ... nevermind.
Anyway, Larut was conflict ridden, until the British arrived and ended it with the Pangkor Treaty in 1874.
Hard to believe that this sleepy town used to be the capital administrative of Perak isn't it?. Not just that, it was also the capital of the Federated Malay States of Perak, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan and Pahang. However, the federal capital was later changed to Kuala Lumpur due to its strategic location between Penang and Singapore. Logical... but sad.
And when the tin supply started dwindling in 1937, the administrative capital of Perak was later moved to Ipoh. Again, logical but still sad.
So, being among the first mining towns in Malaysia, Taiping also has a lot of other firsts. To date, there are 33 listed firsts out of which, 7 has been gazzetted as heritage. Those are:
1. All Saint's Church 1883
2. Museum 1886
3. Prison 1879
4. Public Office 1881
5. Public Library 1882
6. Ngah Ibrahim's Fort 1870s
7. King Edward VII school 1882
26 more sites will hopefully be gazzetted as heritage in the near future. I will not list them down, but you can read about them
here and here
This is the Antong Cafe, the oldest coffee mill in Malaysia - more than 100 years old , and the biggest functioning coffee mill in the world that actually roasts their own coffee there, using the traditional charcoal roasting process.I can smell the heavenly aroma of coffee bean in err...my imagination.
This is definately my first stop, if i ever get to Taiping,
photos courtesy of Mr Ghassan Maan
Because I'm such a sucker for clock towers, here;s an extra large photo of the first clock tower in Malaysia.
Affectionately known as the 'old Clock Tower'.
The clock tower was originally built as the town police station, and if you look closely, you can see the structure of the police station behind it..
 |
| photos courtesy of Mr Ghassan Maan |
The entrance of the clock tower is planked by an antique trishaw and a very old school phone booth... superman would love that...LOL Oh...and ignore the individual in the photo ok, focus on the structure, please.
Looks like Taiping is all set to woo tourists... so, what are you waiting for... visit Taiping now.
Have a nice day.
References:
http://www.ipohecho.com.my/v4/article/2015/09/01/heritage-taiping
https://cultureguru.my/en/2016/11/30/taiping-story-rain-town-heard-rain-betting/
https://www.thestar.com.my/news/community/2013/03/07/the-many-firsts-of-taiping/
http://taipingheritagecult.blogspot.com/2008/07/firsts-in-taiping.html
http://raintowntaiping.blogspot.com/2011/05/33-first-in-taiping.html
https://peraktoday.com.my/2016/04/taiping-33-first-perlu-diwartakan-sebagai-warisan-negara/
