21 September 2008

The Police Station, the Fire Station and the Clock Tower...

Salam and greeting.

The day was about to end on that peaceful evening. Everybody were retreating to their dwellings after a hard day of work. But out of a sudden, from afar can be heard people screaming of panic. In the darkness of the young night, there was thick smoke, started to invade the clear Taiping sky. And later, all hell break loose. People running around screaming saving their live and their loved one.

Well, this is our perception of the Great Taiping Fire that has destroyed almost half of the old Taiping town in the early 1880s.


But luckily then, not far from the scene of disaster was the existence of the police station cum fire station that manage to control and save Taiping town from this disastrous tragedy. And not known to many, this police station cum fire station was original located at the same building where the Taiping Clock Tower is now.















Originally being built from timber in 1881, it was at the center of the then Taiping town. It was later being reconstructed with concrete to include the clock tower section.



The tower still stand strong till today as it acts as the office for Taiping Information Centre. And the clock has been refurbished and still gave an alert sound every half hourly.

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