INTRODUCTION
The name Taiping is made up of two Chinese characters (tai - 'great') and 平 (ping - 'peace'). The discovery of tin deposits in the area in the 19th century attracted settlers from China, who were organised into two feuding groups around the Cantonese Ghee Hin society and the Hakka Hai San society. British intervention in the early 1870's put an end to the feuding and the town, which used to be known as Klian Pauh, acquired its present name. The British made Taiping the administrative centre for the state of Perak in 1875. The town served this function until 1937 when the state capital was moved to Ipoh.
The town sits on a coastal plain at the foothills of the Bintang Range. This topography is responsible for the copious rainfall for which the town is known.
DIRECTIONS TO TAIPING
By air
Penang International Airport is about one and a half hour's drive from Taiping. A couple of daily flights to Kuala Lumpur depart from Ipoh Airport, about an hour's drive from Taiping.
By road
Taiping is easily accessible from the PLUS North-South motorway. From Penang (90 km) Kamunting is the nearest exit, whilst Changkat Jering is the most convenient exit from the motorway if you are travelling north from Ipoh (70 km).
Taiping is well connected to the rest of Peninsular Malaysia by express buses, which arrive at and depart from the long distance bus station at Kamunting (6 km from the town centre). Buses also travel direct from Taiping to Singapore and Hat Yai.
By rail
Keretapi Tanah Melayu (formerly known as Malayan Railway) operates a number of daily services along the main north-south line which stops at Taiping station. One service, the Ekspres Langkawi, connects Taiping with Hat Yai.
GETTING AROUND TAIPING
The compact town center is easily explored on foot. For trips further afield (e.g. to Maxwell Hill, the long-distance bus station at Kamunting, the Matang Mangrove Reserve), taxis are available for hire. Stage buses fan out in all directions serving the suburbs and the rural hinterland.
THINGS TO DO
See
- Taiping Lake Gardens. Public gardens created out of abandoned surface tin mines. A series of interconnected ponds surrounded by flower beds, lawns, flowering shrubs and trees and playgrounds. Famous for a stretch of road lined by century-old rain trees (Samanea saman) whose branches arch down to the water's edge.
- Taiping Zoo. The first Zoo to be established in Malaysia. Packed at weekends with day-trippers from out of town.
- Maxwell Hill (Bukit Larut) is a quiet hill station with an altitude of about 1000 m. Access is along a narrow single-track paved road on a fleet of dilapidated four-wheel drives run by the municipality. Accommodation is available in a couple of resthouses and a small number of bungalows.
Do
A stroll through the town can be a pleasant experience. You are mostly protected from the elements by the arcades on both sides of the road, a typical architectural feature in most Southeast Asian towns. Some of the older buildings have retained their stucco façades with picturesque wooden shutters. Sticking out incongruously amongst these traditional two-storey brick and plaster buildings are more modern buildings, some of them rising four or five storeys. The bluish-green hills of the Bintang Range, their summits often shrouded in cloud, are visible everywhere from the town when you look west. As you stroll in that direction, the urban landscape quickly gives way to the refreshing view of the Lake Gardens, with the hills still dominating the background.
ACCOMMODATION
Accommodation is available in a number of hotels, including:
Hotel Meridian
Panorama Hotel
Hotel Seri Malaysia
Legend Hotel
Prices range between RM70 and RM150.
Cheaper alternatives are available in traditional Chinese-run hotels in the town centre.
