Taiping Lake Gardens

On the way back to Kuala Lumpur from Penang after attending the wedding, we stopped at Taiping Lake Gardens.

"Taiping is easily accessible from the PLUS North-South Expressway. From Penang (90 km away) Kamunting is the nearest exit, whilst Changkat Jering is the most convenient exit from the motorway if you are traveling north from Ipoh (70 km)"

 Taiping has been declared a heritage town.

 Right in the middle of town you can sight giant raintrees which are as old as time

 According to Wikipedia :Taiping Lake Gardens is the first public garden established during the British rule in Malaysia. The garden is located near Bukit Larut, and is equidistant to the town centre

 wow!!!! Look at the tree branches!! Nowhere else can you see a row of majestic trees like these!

the branches seem to stretch from one side of the road to the other side to get to the water in the Lake!! so awesome, right?

Can you imagine, the trees have been around since 1880!

 "The abandoned tin mine ground was donated by Chung Thye Phin as a recreation park for public use. In 1884 the gardens were planted "

 So, we must take selfies!!!

 "The 64 hectares (160 acres) site was the first public garden in Malaya, and was cherished for its beauty; it has been well-maintained since its opening"

.......and I must say, they are so well maintained!

" One receives in that glorious half hour an experience of light in foliage that is quite unobtainable in England”.  (an Englishman wrote in his journal, and I can agree, well maybe not the England bit, because I have only been there once)

So, the next time you are in the vicinity, do drop by Taiping Lake Gardens to admire the trees. who knows, one day, some itchy hand might want to chop them all off. 

Road to Penang Wedding : Wedding at Last!!!

Finally, we attended the wedding in Penang, that we came all the way for!!

Kean Hee and Yee Chean (my ex colleague)

After Butterworth, we took the slow ferry over to Penang Island and checked into U Hotel!

U Hotel is very new, and is not your run-of-the-mill hotel with swanky lightings and huge centrepiece of giant vase of flowers but the decor was avant garde as in  the pic above: a hodge podge of mismatched furniture on a raised wooden platform.

Opposite the hotel there was a hair salon called Cleopatra and I walked over to have my hair done.

This strange painting outside the wall of the hotel is a Poke stop....can you make anysense out of the painting? I can't!

My hair being done...the hairdressers all spoke Hokkien of course and told me not to shower but to "kan sway" meaning dry clean myself, and I have not used that word since my childhood days!! She said they are very good at "kan sway"!!!

My hair after!....Actually I just got them to shampoo and"hot thong"  it, the Nepalese shampoo girl also gave me a head and shoulder massage (so hard I ached in muscles that I never knew I had)

I am now all dressed after my "dry Cleaning" actually I showered of course!

My outfit for the night..I wore red because my colleague says in Penang people are more conservative and do not approve of black and asked me to choose red.

My dear colleague the young bride, as young as my eldest daughter, maybe one or 2 years older!

with my colleague and her husband, (she is the one who said I had to wear red) and the bride's very young looking mother, and her father.

Doesn't her gown look grand?

The march in...she had changed to a red gown.

The two "Loo" s...my colleague and me (with our husbands) are the ones who could make it to her wedding.

Restoran Sea Palace in Penang (John said he also had his reception here)

BYE!!!! Lovely Wedding!!