Revisiting the old-world charm of Taiping

MENTION Taiping to your friends and they will probably say, `It rains a lot there', or `Hasn't it got some lakes?'. We discovered there was much more to the town than that. Taiping offers a rich sample of Malaysia's architectural and natural heritage due to its well-preserved tra...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inMalaysian business p. 60
Main Author Halliday, Janet
Format Magazine Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Kuala Lumpur The New Straits Times Press (M) Berhad 16.06.1999
Subjects
Gardens & gardening
Hotels & motels
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Summary:MENTION Taiping to your friends and they will probably say, `It rains a lot there', or `Hasn't it got some lakes?'. We discovered there was much more to the town than that. Taiping offers a rich sample of Malaysia's architectural and natural heritage due to its well-preserved traditional buildings and its proximity to Kuala Kangsar and Bukit Larut. Two architectural must-sees in Taiping are the Peace Hotel and nearby Peking Hotel. The former, on Jln Panggung Wayang, is embellished with glorious art-nouveau tiles depicting peacocks, oak leaves and acorns, flowers, foliage and birds of paradise. The stairway, often hidden, is worth finding because all its risers are adorned with these colourful tiles. Plasterwork lion heads roar from the ground-floor pillars, the louvred upstairs windows have blue and green glass and the whole structure is topped by an ornate pediment. The terracotta-and-white Peking Hotel has a lovely protruding porch, with wooden fretwork as delicate as lace around the eaves and above some of the upstairs windows. It shares some of the features of the Peace Hotel - peacock tiles and plasterwork - but the overall effect is more restrained and elegant.
ISSN:0126-5504