Clack, clack, clacketty clack, ding!
What am I doing?
I’m typing!
I’m also in Taiping.
It’s time to leave Kuala Lumpur. I passed Taiping, with its historic station, on my train journey down from Penang a few years ago. Something about it captured my imagination and I decided I had to visit someday.
We had a quick breakfast of nasi lemak at Bungkus Kaw-Kaw at the Paradigm Mall basement, then caught a Grab to KL Sentral station, passing the KL Monorail. We made it with less than 20 minutes to spare, with passengers already boarding the red, yellow and silver CRRC Zhuzhou Type 93 ETS train to Butterworth.
In my window seat was a large older Indian man who manspread, hogged the armrest and jiggled his legs the entire journey, listening to his phone out loud. It was not the most comfortable journey.
I had caught the ETS once before on that journey down from Penang. We were seated in the car with the small buffet, which didn’t open until later in the journey. It serves hot meals, both local and western, along with drinks.
The passenger information displays at the ends of the carriages display the next station, the speed (the highest I saw was 141 km/h) and the cabin temperature (about 22-23 degrees Celsius) and apologies for a delay due to trackwork. The larger roof screens just have a waiting message, fortunately not the endless Malaysian patriotic songs.
Leaving KL Sentral we shortly pass through the ornate Mughal architectured old Kuala Lumpur station. Then we head north through the suburbs and out to the countryside.
The scenery is mostly what I would call “generic tropical cutting”. Bright green trackside bush, but not particularly scenic, with the tracks passing through cuttings or past palm plantations.
A mountain range appears to the east. The Genting Highlands? I can see an incongruous set of tall rectangular towers on the side of a foggy mountain in the distance. I suspect they are the Genting Highlands Resort.
South of Ipoh we reach more limestone karst territory and the accompanying cement operations. This is the most scenic section of the route.
Ipoh has retained its historic railway station and we look forward to visiting it tomorrow.
Forty minutes later we arrive at Taiping. A Grab car takes us to our hotel, the Novotel, in the city centre. The drive already makes me excited. The town has a grimy sense of history about it and there are hawker stalls and kopitiams everywhere.
The hotel may not be as fresh and as modern as some, but the panoramic windows across the city. We can’t wait to explore!
Heading down, we pass through the shopping centre beneath the hotel and out to the Larut Matang Hawker Centre. Many stalls are already closed, but we buy kuih, local kuey teoh and mee rebus.
Our objective is to leave room for other dishes!
We then walk back, passing through the Pusat Penjaja food court, the stalls under the white tents of the Siang Malam “temporary” food centre and past another couple of food centres. Many of these will only open properly after 7 pm.
Further on is the Taiping Lake Gardens. Once a tin mine, these were converted in the late 1800’s into a public recreation space.
The thick branches of huge rain trees hang across the lakeside path and across to the water, in which swan boats paddle, big colourful fish swim and turtles poke their heads above the water. We see one long animal swim elegantly across the top. An otter? A crocodile? No, a big monitor lizard!
Some people stroll, others hire bikes and cycle. We walk for a while, then cut back through the interior of the lake. A troop of monkeys climb overhead, argue. Herons sail across the air between lake and trees.
The dark rain clouds mostly hold off from their threats. Taiping is reputedly Malaysia’s wettest city.
Tired and sticky, we head back to the hotel for an afternoon nap. When I awaken I watch the sun set over the city, a huge tropical storm clouds beside it.
It is a perfect sight.
We head back down to the food centres towards the lake, eat grilled stingray, squid and yong tau foo. So good! Then we wander around the other spots, looking for different dishes to try, new things, not that we are too hungry.
Somehow we end up back in the shopping plaza buying Mac’n’cheese soft serve ice cream from Richeese. It really does taste like the processed cheese powder in commercial mac’n’cheese packets. I don’t mind it, but the others dislike the taste.
Many other food stalls are only open in the morning. Alex decides he wants to try the Marrybrown Malaysian fast food chain chicken. It’s okay, the best bit is the mantou buns, better than KFC’s version.
It’s only a short trip up the escalator into the hotel.
Tomorrow we need to wake up early enough to try some more local food before doing a day trip to Ipoh.
