Taiping: A place for retiree (pensioner): Cheap food

Taiping is a beautiful, peaceful town with an exquisite Lake Garden blessed with of flora and century-old rain trees, helped by plentiful rainfall. According to Wikipedia, Taiping with an average annual rainfall is about 4,000mm is also the wettest town in Peninsular Malaysia.

But there is more to Taiping than just its beautiful Lake Garden and copious rainfall. The food also cheaper,very delicious and the cost living low. It is not for nothing that Taiping has been nicknamed "The Pensioners' Paradise" or "Retirees' town". Now maybe it should also be nicknamed "Single Mom's Paradise" as it seems lots of women who lost their husband and found life hard to cope elsewhere have moved to Taiping.

Cheap and Delicious Food in Taiping

You can now add one more thing for which Taiping can be famous for, a stall in Jalan Kamunity Stesyen manned by Abu Bakar Md. Ali, a retired soldier. Abu Bakar sells his laksa, kuey teow soup, bee hun soup and mee kuah at only RM1. In the Klang Valley, you will have to pay anything from RM3 to RM4.50 or more, depending on where you choose to dine. Order satay and you will only be charged 15 sen per stick, a price you can never get anywhere else in Peninsular Malaysia.

Abu Bakar even have a dinner package comprising a medium-size fried bawal (pomfret), a plate of rice, a bowl of curry gravy with bits of lady fingers, a plate of ulam (salad), and sauces to go with the pomfret, at only RM4. In the Klang Valley, the fried bawal (pomfret) alone will probably cost you almost as much. Chicken rice is served at an amazingly low price of RM1.50 a plate!!!! Try to order a plate of chicken rice in the Klang Valley and see how much you get charged for it.

Want drinks to wash down the food? No problem. Order a glass of teh tarik or kopi tarik (boiling hot tea or coffee cooled by successively pouring from a container held high to another container held much lower) and it will set you back only 60 sen.

Interested in low budget meals and drinks? Hop over to Jalan Kamunity Stesyen, Taiping, and look for the sole Petronas petrol station and you will see Abu Bakar's low budget stall right next to it. It is opened everyday starting at 5pm and closes at 11.30pm.