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Kampar celebrated its centennial year in grand fashion back in 1987. The name Kampar came from the word kam pou which in Cantonese means precious gold in reference to its large tin reserves.
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It is situated in the famous Kinta Valley, once the biggest producer of tin ore in the world. During the recession in the mid 80's, many tin-mining companies were forced to close, leaving many unemployed to the point where Kampar was feared to become a ghost town like some of its closest neighbouring townships. Business started to pick up again towards the end of the 80's. At present, Kampar is a fast growing township thanks to the Commerce and Industrial sector. Kampar's newest pride is the Tunku Abdul Rahman (TAR) College's Perak Branch at Bandar Baru, loosely translated as 'New Town'. |
The population here is a mix of Malays, Chinese, Indian and a host of other races, all enriching the cultural heritage of Kampar. Perhaps Kampar is now well known for its wide range of delicacies all within 10 minutes walk! Famous dishes include the clay-pot chicken rice, chicken curry in bread, asam laksa, fish-balls, satay, popiah and lots more. The most suitable site for newcomers to this town would be the glutton-square situated roughly at the edge of the town-center by the Keranji River. Most refer to this place as "Gold-Wing" while others refer to it as Rex in reference to the nearby Rex Theatre.
| Many would agree that Kampar is a town suitable for laying-back in the weekends after a long week of work. Kampar is just a 2 hour ride from Kuala Lumpur by the North-South Highway. Many KLites spend their weekends here. Its vast surroundings as well as abandoned mining-ponds are suitable for fishing makes it an ideal place for a well-deserved break. |  |
Festivals are celebrated in style here too. Although the town is crowded with people on almost every occassion, Chinese New Year is the event to look forward to here. Lots of activities take place during this time such as lion-dances, fire-crackers and cultural performances. However, one should think twice about visiting Kampar on a festive holiday due to the enormous number of people returning to visit loved ones here. The traffic jams caused by the number of vehicles here could easily irritate one with little patience. Sometimes, it takes almost an hour just to travel 1 km!
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There are several schools here, the ones well known are SMJK Pei Yuen, SM Methodist (ACS) Kampar, SM Sri Kampar and SM Kampar. Students here fairly know one another from different schools due to many acivities and gatherings organised by them. Brotherhood among Kamparians are so evident that unofficial-'Kampar Club's could be found in almost every higher-learning institution here in Malaysia. |
| How to get here : From KL, you will have to specify Kampar as
your destination or else the express bus will just bypass Kampar through
the NS-Highway. Bus tickets are around RM10. The ride takes about 3 hours.
It would be pleasant, but not advisable to travel by train for it is not very
frequent and it takes more than 4 hours. The ticket costs about the same as buses. From Ipoh, you can take the Kinta bus. The two-way ticket costs RM3.60 and it takes about an hour to get here. There are hourly express services by the same company. From Teluk Intan, there are Hup Soon buses doing the honours. From Tapah, Kamta buses charge RM1.10 and it's frequency is 20 minutes.
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Tin mining town strikes gold - an article written by The Star Publications on the 12th of January 2003, details Kampar's history and future. Click here.
Click here to view some recent news about Mr Chye Kooi Loong and his research on The Battle of Kampar during World War II.
Click here to view the latest news about Kampar.
If there is anything that you might want to add, suggest, comment, correct or ask,
please feel free to mail me and I'll do my best to answer.
To view info or maps of Kampar's surrounding area, please click here.
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