Taiping Lake Gardens are a rarity in Malaysia’s bustling and increasingly congested towns and cities - a large, open, green space with picturesque lake, surrounded by majestic, overhanging rain trees. The gardens certainly merit Taiping’s English translation of Great Peace. We enjoy the morning cool and the low mist that partly shrouds the nearby hill station of Bukit Larut. We thrill to the distant whoops of white-handed gibbons in the higher rainforest so far immune from the spreading monoculture of oil palm. These are sounds calculated to tingle the backbone and set the heart racing.
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| White-handed Gibbon |
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| Taiping Lake Gardens |
Hanim, our guide, explains that a proposal to build a cable car to the top of the Bukit, known in British times as Maxwell Hill, has been rejected, largely on economic grounds. She worries that such a development would compromise the hill’s special qualities. The only way up is still by four-wheel drive, with some of the Land Rovers in use dating back to the colonial period. The winding one lane road requires walkie-talkie liaison to avoid collisions with descending vehicles. En route we pass many locals walking a short stretch of the 13 kilometre, 1376m high hill as part of their morning constitutional.
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| Hanim, Stella and me at the foot of Bukit Larut |
The first British Resident of Perak, JWW Birch, had a bungalow built at the summit in 1884 to escape from the oppressive lowland heat and we are privileged to visit, as it is now used by the staff maintaining and protecting the adjacent telecommunications tower. To our amazement a technician tells us of a recent encounter with a tiger which appeared at the enclosure fence one afternoon when he was out collecting his washing. “What did you do?” we asked. “We stared at each other for a while until it lost interest and wandered off.” There could be as few as 250 tigers left in Peninsula Malaysia so such sightings are truly recounts for the grandchildren.
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| Hilltop residence of JWW Birch |
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| Malayan tiger at Taiping Zoo |
Back in the lowlands, Hanim takes us on visits to the hot springs as well as the traditional coffee factory but it is the charcoal kilns which intrigue most. The wood comes from nearby coastal mangroves which must be replanted in the exact numbers they are harvested. Taiping Zoo is also considered a leader in south-east Asian conservation policy through its breeding and education programmes. We are taken on one of the night safaris showcasing the many nocturnal animals hidden from sight during the day.
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| Charcoal kiln |
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| Planting mangroves |
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| Traditional coffee making |
We also visit the Kampung Dew river fireflies which sparkle after dark like synchronous fairy lights on the berembang trees. Hanim mentions the riverine clearing and water pollutants which threaten the long term survival of these trees on which the little beetles depend.
Taiping is one of Malaysia’s most multiracial cities with a history of harmonious interaction between Malays, Chinese and Indians. We pass the town centre where old Chinese men reputedly gamble on when the first raindrop of the day will fall and return to the Lake Gardens where exercise enthusiasts are starting to perform their daily jogs and callisthenics in the relative cool of the evening.
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| Multicultural Malaysia on show |
Time now for a roti canai, a piece of sticky dodol and a refreshing kopi ais.
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| Hari Raya feasting |
(This article appeared in the Guardian Weekly of 16.10.15)
