Well back in Taiping again, the first time I spent time here in Taiping was back in February between the 15th and 25th of this year.
So if you really wish to know more of Taiping read that blog also. The main reason I am here this time before I make my way to Singapore is simply to photograph the city and area as the first time I was without a camera, now I have a good quality camera to capture this city, buildings and area. Again the friend I have met here Hanim is such a wonderful, helpful and generous lady, she will not let me buy breakfast, lunch or entrance fees she takes care of it all, I am so grateful for her generosity, she does such a wonderful job in always promoting this city, as she should working for the Taiping Municipal Council and Tourism for Taiping.

Anyways she picked me up from Disiniland the farm I had been staying at for the past four months just outside of Batu Kurau and when we arrived here in Taiping we started our adventure once again at the Taiping Zoo, what I can see at this zoo it is one of the best zoo’s I have been to, the animals are very well cared for with enough room to roam around in their closures, so no over crowding at all and every part of the zoo area and landscaping is all very natural looking as it should be, with fresh waters and ponds, with long and short grasses, trees, shrubs and large rocks and tree limbs, everything looks like one is inside of a jungle or forest, all looking like a natural environment for all animals and I have been told they all are well fed and cared for, as the zoo officials follow strict rules and guidelines.

After the zoo we headed a 1/2 hr south of Taiping to a Royal Town of Perak, Malaysia called ‘Kuala Kangsar’ which I viewed The Royal Palace called Istana Iskandariah from outside only as family members of Sultan of Perak were living inside. I also saw the Ubudiah Mosque which looked very grandiose, and had a view of the Kangsar River. It is a small town of just under 40,000 and is the main town in the administrative district of Kuala Kangsar.

The next day we walked throughout the city on the Heritage Trail as I took many photos of the streets, buildings, Mosques, Temples, the Lake Gardens at which I was told about the Rain Trees being about 130 years old, and today they are being preserved at a cost with professional pruning and X-rays to view the inside condition of these trees to continue for healthy growing trees, but at a cost of 2 to 3 thousand ringgits per tree, looked at food stands it was a good walk and many photos had been taken, and talking to my guide Hanim I learned so much and enjoyed her company.

For my last day in Taiping Hanim’s son Ikram took me once again to the top of Bukit Larut in which I wanted to photograph and capture all of Taiping an overview shot of the whole city, but unfortunately it appeared heavy smoke in the area created a large cloud like that covered the city so not much to photograph as as far as capturing the entire city. This mountain climb to the viewing area is 10.2 km paying for a ride up and down takes a 1/2 hr to get to the top, many walk which takes on average about 3 1/2 hrs to climb the 1,036 m elevation. Once down the hill I had an opportunity to photograph a few more street scenes and buildings before coming back to the Hotel to do some blog writing, it has been lots of walking, busy and enjoyable the past three days here in Taiping, in the morning I take the ETS (fast train) to KL (Kuala Lumpur) then see if I can get a train right away to Singapore.

Tuesday August 1st 2017

I leave Taiping at 9am as I get last photos with Hanim and Ikram saying our goodbye’s to each other. The ETS (fast train) took about 3 1/2 hours to get to the final destination for me at KL Sentral, as it made about 18 stops along the way but hitting speeds up to 143 km/h. From here another train to BTS which is the central bus station to all locations, anyways I was on a bus to Singapore within 3 hours at a cost of 62 ringgits through a travel agency when I should have just bought at bus station for 50 ringgits saving that 12 ringgits for dinner and more. Bus leaving KL at 3:30pm and should arrive in Singapore around 9:30pm, about a 6 hr trip. Gives me time to do writing on the laptop I suppose.