Kampar

We have visited Kampar twice and we want to share some of our personal experience, especially with the future students, who might wish to get more information about Kampar, before depart from their hometown. Students? Yes, with around 70k population in Kampar, a quarter of them are university students.

Kampar oldtown (photos contributed by Bryant).

As a small town in Perak, Kampar was famous in 1890's because of its tin reserve. Then, in 1940, Kampar was famous because of the Battle of Kampar, which marked the first Japanese defeats in World War II. Now, long after the tin had depleted, so as the war left far behind our memories, the town blooms again, by the establishment of Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR). The university brings young and lively immigrants.

Kampar KTM station, offering Intercity Commuter service (2 hours to KL). Exact ticket price? Check here for Intercity KTM.

Kampar is unofficially divided into two different sections. The oldtown consists of several rows of "historical" shoplots, police station, post office, hospital, mosque, church etc., with KTM railway station at the southern edge of the small town. The nightlife at oldtown hits nearly nil, but wakes up early, especially the market and the coffee houses. Kampar newtown, under vast development, reside mostly by university students, is opposite to the old counterpart with dazzling nightlife.

Photo taken early in the morning (around 8 am) in Kampar oldtown. The town is just beside green hills that offer peaceful mind.

Upper rows of black and whites were displayed in a coffee house opposite to the bus terminal, showing the mining scenes in Kampar in 1887. Coffee, tea, or Milo? You will get them all in the coffee house (lower left). Old folks are the majority, especially early in the morning, talk with dialect, which sounds cordial but unfamiliar to us.

Tesco (upper left), modern kopitiam (upper right), restaurant (lower left), and shop with western food at the newtown of Kampar. By the way, we tried Sin Yong Kee, reasonably priced and so the taste. For the rest of the eateries, we just stopped by and snatched the photo. So, please try at your own risk.

New apartments, with mostly university students (left and middle). Some of the staff and students might choose to stay in landed houses, rather than apartments. By car or bike, all the houses shown above are just a few minutes away from UTAR. Accomodation should not be a problem for university students as there are a lot of houses in the surrounding area. The rental? Floating with supplies and demands, within affordable range.

UTAR by the lake. The lake was formed by tin mining activities.

"The Liang-Ti Stone" at one of the entrances of UTAR.

Photos taken inside UTAR. It doesn't look like an university at all. It looks like.....

We can get all sorts of food in Kampar. Chicken rice, mixed rice, pork rice, fried rice, noodles, western, eastern, Malay style, Indian style, Chinese style, etc. So, food shall be the last thing to worry about.

Pork served with egg (left) and mixed rice (right). Photo taken at Sin Yong Kee.

How about hotel? There is one (if not mistaken, that is the only big one, for now)- Grand Kampar Hotel in newtown, not far away from UTAR (below). Posted as three stars hotel, the hotel looks ok on the outside. We haven't stay there before. So, please stay at your own risk. You can see what did other people had commented about the hotel at Tripadvisor.

Kampar, distance away from major cities, might be a good place to study. If you have this kind of opinion, you might be right. However, as we have not tried any of the courses yet, so, please enroll at your own risk :-p More sharing on the places in vicinity are available too. Please follow the links below.

[Ipoh Old Town] [Ipoh Food] [Ipoh Limestone Caves]
[Kellie's Castle] [Tin Dredge at Batu Gajah]
[Nice Food in Kampar] [A Short Stay in Kampar]
[All Our Destinations]