Off the beaten path: Taiping (BusinessWorld)

Published in the June 6 issue of BusinessWorld. Click here for the original story. 

Focus

Posted on 06:37 PM, June 06, 2013

By Jennee Grace U. Rubrico

Off the beaten path: Taiping

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The decrepit shop houses that line the sidewalk of the main road hardly encourage tourists to check out what the town has to offer. Many look abandoned and stand as remnants of an era passed, when trade must have bustled and the tin industry that helped fuel an industrial revolution in the west was at its peak.

Taiping Lake -- www.wikipedia.org

Without a mall, theater, beach or port, and without a lot of buzz going around, the town of Taiping in the state of Perak, Malaysia, is easy to ignore. About the only thing it is known for is its zoo, which draws 700,000 visitors a year, mostly students who go on excursions to see the animals.

But there is more to the town than meets the eye. Unquestionably off the beaten path, Taiping rewards the adventurous traveler with experiences that are infinitely more profound than mere merry-making and leisurely sightseeing.

“We are a small town [but] we have a beautiful background of heritage. We still have our old buildings, and we have our nature,” says Hanim Ramly, the head of Taiping’s Tourism, Education and Publicity Division.

Developed by the British to be the administrative center in Perak in the 1880s, Taiping does not hide its age. A walk around the city reveals architectural treasures and heritage buildings at every turn. The District Offices building in the heart of the town was built in 1897 and continues to stand in full colonial splendor.

Other restored structures that transport visitors back to the era of the Empire’s occupation include old schools and churches set up by the British during their stay in the town, centuries-old houses and the first garrison to be built in peninsular Malaysia, the Taiping Prison, which was built in 1879. Other telltale signs -- like a red phone booth reminiscent of the ones seen in old movies -- also serve as serendipitous finds for those who take the heritage stroll.

Two museums in the town are perhaps more remarkable for their age and history than for the collections they house. The Perak Museum, also in the heart of the town, is the first museum to open in peninsular Malaysia and is a study in colonial architecture with its whitewashed walls, intricate towers and decorated windows. Built in 1883, the structure houses a collection of 8,474 items, of which 5,074 are cultural, 523 are nature-related and 2,877 are archeological. Adding to its vintage feel are a World War II aircraft and an old steam train that are parked on the grounds.

A side trip to the district of Matang, meanwhile, brings one to the second museum: the Matang Historical Complex, also called the Ngah Ibrahim Fort. Built as a residence of tin miner Ngah Ibrahim in 1858, the house is made in the style of old Malay buildings, with wooden floors and heavy wooden staircases running from both sides of the main door. At the threshold, visitors are met by an elephant in the room -- a statue of it that depicts how Ngah Ibrahim’s father Long Jaafar made his fortune from tin mining. According to legend, the elephant, owned by Long Jaafar, went missing and when found days later, was discovered covered in mud that had tin ore embedded in it.

Over the years, the residence changed hands. It fell under the British, who used it as a court to try a Malay chief for the death of a British officer; and the Japanese, who turned it into a strategic operations center during World War II. It is now under the Perak government, which has turned it into a showcase of its own history as well as that of the man who originally owned it.

Also in Matang is the Matang Mangrove Forest. Boardwalks beside the river lead visitors from the administrative office to the deeper parts of the forest, and visitors are guaranteed to see some wildlife. Our party, led by Taiping residents Dina and Hidir, had barely gotten to the starting point when a seasnake poked a diamond-shaped head out of the water and started eyeing us. Less than five minutes later, while we were still on the platform, Hidir pointed out another snake, about three feet long, sleeping with its body wrapped around a tree root.

During the 15-minute walk which saw us going half the distance of the trail, our party saw crabs in the mud below the boards, a woodpecker pecking on a tree, different tree species, and fish. We could also hear monkeys calling, but before we could get to them we decided that it would be safer for us to head back.

Dina assured us that the trail was safe. We did meet several forest rangers roaming in pairs during the short trip we took around the mangroves, and a lot of log houses, which are rented out, are built on the river.

The natural endowments of Taiping are also visible in the town proper, where centuries-old trees that line its main roads droop towards the ponds and lakes of the Taiping Lake Gardens, a former mining ground that was converted by the British into a public garden. Close by, at 1,000 meters above sea level, Maxwell Hill hosts nature trails and boasts not only cool weather and flora but also the best view of the town below it.

Ms. Hanim, Taiping’s tourism head, acknowledges that while the town has a lot to offer, more needs to be done to get it to figure more prominently on the tourism map.

She notes that when tourists visit the town, they usually stay for only two or three hours. She also notes the lack of foreign tourists, saying that of the 700,000 visitors the town gets annually, only 0.8% come from overseas.

But promotions are under way, she said, and the town is working with the governments of neighboring cities to get more tourists.

There may yet come a time when more tourists would walk down Taiping’s paths, and the town would gain the recognition it deserves.

For the time being, though, the feeble shop houses that line its streets continue to guard its secrets, and only those who dare to see what lies beyond would discover the riches that this quiet, aged town hides.

Exploring Ipoh (BusinessWorld)

Published in the August 04, 2011 issue of BusinessWorld

TEXT and Photos BY JENNEE GRACE U. RUBRICO

 

It was midmorning and the sun was unforgiving when we sat ourselves down in a dim sum restaurant. As soon as we got to Ipoh, the capital city of Perak in Malaysia, Waran, a teacher in one of the schools in the city and my mom’s former student, whisked us to breakfast.

Ipoh, Waran said, is known for its food, being the birthplace of Malaysia’s Old Town White Coffee and one of the country’s food meccas. We had tried to beg off from eating so soon after arriving, as we had been served pastry and drinks during the two-hour train ride that took me and my parents to the city from Kuala Lumpur; our host, however, would not hear of it.
“You can still make space for this,” Waran said, as five kinds of dim sum were served along with glutinous rice, dumplings, tea and white coffee. “This is light.”
I took a piece of prawn dim sum with doubts about finishing what was before us. A bite changed my mind. It was so tasty, with the flavors coming alive as soon as they touched the tongue. The others were just as flavorful.
Even the char siew pao (pork dumpling), which I didn’t think I had space for, was gobbled up. The softness of the bun coupled with the strong flavors of the meat was almost perfection. And while I did have a hard time finishing my portion of the delightfully salty glutinous rice, it was by no means a commentary on its taste. I was simply stuffed.
“It’s impossible to die of starvation in Ipoh,” Waran said. “You can die of overeating, but it’s with a full stomach.”
Ipoh owes its development to a mining boom during the 19th century, when tin was its main product. It has since positioned itself as a cosmopolitan city that is less crowded than the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur.
“Ipoh has everything,” Waran, a native of the city, said when we were back in his well-maintained nine-year-old Proton sedan. It certainly has wide roads, and a lot of one-way streets. The rows of shop houses we passed were reminiscent of the old section of Singapore.
“A river divides the city,” Waran said as we drove over a bridge. “On one side of the Sungai Kinta is the Old Town and on the other is the New Town.”
British influence is embodied by the colonial buildings in the Old Town, bits of which may be familiar; many were used as locations for the Jodie Foster-Chow Yun Fat movie Anna and the King.
At the Ipoh railway station, neoclassical architecture combines with Moorish domes and turrets. Nearby, St. Michael’s Institution, a government-run school that is part of the La Salle community, has stood for 99 years. The heritage building, simpler in design than the rail station, has strong clean lines, gables and arched verandas that open to the school grounds’ lush vegetation. The long hallways feel like ghosts haunt the place.
“Next year, we celebrate our centennial year,” says Waran, who is both an alumnus and a teacher in the school. “The building has not undergone major renovation work. This is the same staircase it had when it was first opened.”
The school was a Kempeitai headquarters during the Japanese occupation. On a marble slab, the names of La Salle brothers who fell victim to the war are listed. Beside a door, a plate marks a room used for interrogating Kempeitai prisoners. Here, Malaysian heroine Sybil Kathigesu “suffered the atrocities of wartime interrogation.”
The former torture room, Waran said, was now being used as a classroom.
Away from the city-center, a mystical Ipoh beckons. Wat Mekprasit (Mek Prasit Buddhist Temple) stands to welcome both the faithful and the curious. Statues of the Buddha -- including one that shows him cutting his hair with a sword meet visitors at the tiny parking lot of the temple, said to be one of the oldest in Ipoh. Two seven-headed snakes frame the way to the place of worship, which is best known for housing a gigantic reclining Buddha. A mural tells his story.
At the main prayer hall, where the giant Buddha lies and a monk was watching TV, a golden Buddha in lotus position sits on a layered altar. Surrounding the hall are graven monks, also in lotus position and with hands crossed in prayer, their faces reflecting the blissful expression of the reclining Gautama.
The silence of the temple was calming, and the cool cement under our bare feet gave some respite from the noonday heat.
After resting at Gunung Lang Taman Rekreasi (Lang Recreational Park), where one could go boating, feed the fish or simply rest tired feet while enjoying a view of canopied islands and a placid lake, we got to visit more unconventional places of worship: temples with limestone walls in the bowels of the earth.
Fronted by a white and red façade that is covered with inscriptions, Perak Tong (Perak Cave) houses a 12-meter high image of a sitting Buddha that greets visitors at the entrance. The Chinese temple houses more than 40 statues of the deity, each one different from the other.
In one corner, a priest was leading some people in worship. They were kneeling before one of the statues and chanting.
Calligraphy and Chinese paintings adorn the cave walls. On a slab of limestone, a pretty Chinese girl in traditional garb looks down on visitors while on another, praying monks kneel before a meditating Buddha. Painted on one of the inner caverns is a traditional Chinese landscape, drawn in black and white. On other walls, Chinese poems are illustrated with flowers and other paintings. The artwork in the cave could rival a museum’s gallery of oriental art.
Facing the cave is a garden with a statue of a lady gazing at the temple. “That is a goddess that is said to be protecting the temple,” said Waran.
Another cave temple, Sam Poh Tong, stands beside Perak Tong. Built in 1912, the Buddhist temple sports a more intricate façade than its neighbor’s, but the centerpiece is the Chinese garden of bonsai trees and the pond that hosts turtles and koi. The garden features stone pillars and a grotto of a goddess. With the limestone mountain as its backdrop, it is breathtaking. In 1993, it was named the best landscaped garden in Malaysia.
A walk through the cave -- which is decorated with images of Buddha carved on marble -- brought us to the tortoise pond behind the premises. There must have been a hundred sleeping in the gated pools under the afternoon sun. Waran said feeding the tortoises was allowed, but we contented ourselves with watching them adjust to the heat.
Across from the tortoise pond is a traditional Chinese building. The gates were locked, and no one seemed to be stirring inside. The white building with a red roof rises five storeys high. Like many ancient Chinese buildings, the awnings host animal sculptures on their edges. The only western mark we could see from outside the compound was a fountain that had a sculpture of a naked boy.
Our last cave was Kek Look Tong, which sits on a 12-acre site in Guning Rapat. It was the simplest among the three cave temples, containing 13 statues of Buddhist and Taoist deities and none of the murals of Perak Tong. But it surpasses Perak Tong and Sam Poh Tong in two aspects: first, the stalactite and stalagmite formations of the cave have remained intact.
Its second edge is not as easily seen -- one would have to walk all the way to the rear mouth of the cave to see a stunningly beautiful garden.
Shangri-la, my dad said.
Waran calls the place Garden of Eden.
The Web site of Kek Look Tong says that the award-winning landscape garden features a jogging path that circles two man-made lakes and hosts one of the longest reflexology footpaths in Ipoh. Bordered by mountains on three sides, the garden is a safe haven for endemic flora and fauna as well as migratory birds.
“The lakes are populated with carp, turtles and cichlids, while monkeys, lizards, and even the occasional mountain goat are sighted within, roaming the grounds,” it adds.
As we admired the view, a breeze blew from the garden and through the cave, enveloping us in a coolness that not only refreshed, but also comforted.
“No wonder the first man lived in caves,” Waran commented.
Thoughts of Ipoh filled my head on the trip back to KL that night. The city is many things: a food haven, a spiritual sanctuary, and an architectural treasure.
Ipoh is a city with charms that know no bounds.