Taiping Lake Gardens is so synonymous to Taiping that it is probably the most visited tourist attraction in Taiping. Besides being a tourist attraction, it also provides a green lung to Taiping residents for their daily jogs and exercises.
Established as the first public garden during the British rule in Malaysia (then Malaya), the Taiping Lake Gardens was originally a tin mining site which was later abandoned. Since its heyday and up until today, this 64 hectare land has been proudly declared as the most beautiful and well maintained garden in Malaysia.
Malaysia’s oldest (some claimed Asia Pacific’s first) golf course was also co-located here, but was closed in 1995 due to the hazard it poses to the Lake Garden users. Thus, a large golf ball had since been erected as a memorial to the first golf course in the nation.
As I am back home in Taiping, I decided to accompany my parents for their morning walk at the Lake Gardens. Things hasn’t change much, but I did realised that the clock on the clock tower is now replaced with only a faceplate. (Maybe the clock should be restored??)
Walking around the jogging tracks, I have also found (at least for me) a brand new attraction in Taiping Lake Gardens, and I am sure bird watchers would love it too.
See the white spots on the trees? If you think that its a flowering tree, look closer.
I am still looking for the species/name of the bird, but from the look of it, its probably a type of migrating bird that lives on mangrove trees. And the attraction, at dawn, the birds will flock together, flying towards the East.
OK, maybe the pictures taken weren’t clear enough. I will try to capture a video of it next time.
And at the end of the 3.5km track, one could then join the group exercise …
… or have a go at the pebbled reflexology path …
… or even chase (or easily get chased) by the resident monkeys!!