Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Taiping Lake Gardens

The Lake Gardens at Taiping are beautiful, and I highly recommend that you visit if you are ever in Malaysia. In Taiping it rains a lot (i.e. every afternoon) and is very humid, which I imagine could be a little tiring if you're not used to humidity. Coming from Japan in the summer, however, it felt pretty comfortable. At least it was cooler than it was here.

In any case, it is because of the rain and humidity that the gardens are so lush and beautiful, and that makes it worth it.






Does anybody know what these flowers are?




And is this a palm nut?




And what are these, with the gloriously red stems?


With the probability of rain at any given time being so ridiculously high, the garden planners have sensibly provided shelters at conveniently spaced intervals.


The gardens are a lovely place to wander around, or to paddle in the lake...


... or to sit quietly, thinking about life.




As evening falls, however, things can get a little spooky...

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have no idea what those flowers are, but I loved the photos. One day, perhaps......

Anonymous said...

Those white flowers kinda look like spider lilies, but I can't be sure. The ones with the red stems are quite popular in house gardens as decorative plants. Hmm, not much help.

kenju said...

I would say that the white flowers appear to be a type of orchid, but I am not sure. I will see what I can find out.

Lovely photos!

Anonymous said...

No idea what the flowers are, but never mind lah, hor?

Important meh?

Did it confuse you much?

Sachi said...

I'm Japanese and studying English.
I often (almost everyday)visit your blog and enjoy reading your articles,especially picture stories(I love your photos!!).

I guess the plant with red stems is kind of palm.
http://www.geocities.co.jp/NatureLand/3053/My/myshoujo.html

Perhaps, the white flower is spider lily,I think.
http://www.geocities.co.jp/NatureLand/3053/My/mysplily.html

I'm not sure of the pink one,but seems to be pulmeria or bouvadia.
http://www4.plala.or.jp/capaover/sozai/S0197.html
http://aoki2.si.gunma-u.ac.jp/BotanicalGarden/HTMLs/Plumeria.html

Artistic Soul said...

Wow!! What amazing pictures!! Looks like you had a fabulous trip!

Badaunt said...

Geoff: Malaysia is a country WELL WORTH VISITING, I can promise you. Wonderful people, friendly, great food, and beautiful scenery. Taiping is my new favourite place there, despite the daily rain. (At least the rain arrives in the afternoons, not all day.)

Lynnylchan: I think you're right. The name certainly suits it!

Kenju: I think they're spiderlillies, now that that has been pointed out to me. They're beautiful, whatever they are. It would be hard to take a bad picture of them.

Wulu: Lah I'm fine with, but hor? Meh? I'll have to read some more of Malaysian Flavours and unconfuse myself! (I picked it up at the airport and am enjoying it immensely.)

Suiren: Thank you! It's really hard to tell from the pictures about the pink one, but I think it's more likely the bouvadia than the plumeria, because of the number of petals. Also, I saw a lot of plumeria (and I think I have pictures of them, too), and... well, maybe they ARE the same, just a different colour and with fewer petals? The leaves are similar.

Actually, I don't know!

Badaunt said...

A friend has just informed me that the pink flower is an Ixora. (Also, here.)

Anonymous said...

Loved the whole Malaysia trip blog---every time I read your blog I want my own more and more--yours is a bloggers' blog! Love it so much!

Anonymous said...

The palm tree with red stem is a sealing wax palm. =) The spider lily, ixora and sealing wax palms are common plants on singapore roads too.

Angeline Rose Larimer said...

What an incredible place to be a photographer (or cat...or monkey!)

Fantastic. Just loved the shots. Wish I knew more about the plant life. Guess I'll just have to go there.