Decorated Hugh Low Street

The Hugh Low Street at night becomes more attractive with this lighting decoration. I always feel that blue light creates the dreaming-like effect.

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You Need Financial Help?

This is so commonly seen nowadays in Malaysia where stickers promoting money lender pasted everywhere in the city. I have no idea whether these are legal agencies but I hate to see the stickers are contaminating our infrastructures & buildings. I also wonder how our government never takes appropriate actions to stop this kind of activities.

Safe Our Planet

I was driving on Silibin Road. When approaching the junction to First Garden, I see this high voltage cable & the power substation which I have seen for over 30 years. However, something different comes to my mind this time; we were participating Earth Hour last night, but how many of us really persist in energy saving to reduce natural resources consumption to safe our planet? Last night we turn off the lights on ourselves, will one day mother nature turn it off for us?

Earth Hour 2009

Today we are participating the Earth Hour program. We are encouraged to switch off lights by today 8:30pm for one hour. I was just finishing my dinner at brother’s home by 8:30pm and mom turned off the lights. On my way home I found some are participating but I will say the response is not so good. Anyway I am proving to you with this photo that I did keep my home dark until 9:30pm :-)

The Yellow Flame

Now is the season that you will see yellow flowers on the Yellow Flame tree which is commonly planted in the city. This one stood opposite to the Shell petrol station near Wing Oon Garden reminded me that there are few of it planted in row in my secondary school (and we used to climb on it during our Boy Scout activities). When come to the flowering season, the little flowers fall on ground colored the road in yellow under the shade of these great trees.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

"Somewhere over the rainbow

Way up high,

There's a land that I heard of

Once in a lullaby.

Somewhere over the rainbow

Skies are blue,

And the dreams that you dare to dream

Really do come true…………"

This evening when I saw this rainbow in the sky, it reminds me of this song……very warm and relax…… It was a very heavy rain late afternoon. When I was on my way to dinner & crossing the bridge on Pari River, the water raised to the level that I never seen before. The water surface almost reached the bridge. The downpour stopped after more than an hour. The beautiful rainbow formed a full-arc colorful bridge decorating the sky in the evening.

Driving Back to Ipoh

I am on my way back from Penang to Ipoh. Construction work is on going at the slope heading to the tunnel. This is one of the dangerous spot on the North-South Highway. Be more careful when you pass by this area especially during raining season.

Catching Sunrise

I am not often doing this but this morning I stop at a spot that faces an open space while on my way to work. Even though I will be a bit rush to work but it is worth to spend few minutes for the amazing scene. The sun is hidden behind mountain waiting for the right moment to shine directly on the ground. I was there to catch it…

Renovated Railway Station

This is the outer corridor of Ipoh Railway Station. The building has been renovated inline with the railway upgrading to a twin track system. It looked much better now compare to its condition before renovation, which really look like a post war building due to the poor maintenance. Hopefully this will not happen again.

Peaceful Sunday

Sunday afternoon, the traffic in Old Town becomes so smooth & peaceful. I like to stop by at a shop, sit under the fan & have a cup of coffee. Although it’s a little warm but that’s the amazing atmosphere that make me relax & lazy, let’s enjoy Sunday :-)

FMS Bar & Restaurant

The FMS Bar & Restaurant is a famous heritage of Ipoh. It is named after the formation of Federation of Malaya States (F.M.S.) and used to be a favorite dining place during the British colonial time. The building was still in operation few years ago, where the downstairs is a western food restaurant & upstairs is a Chinese restaurant. The interior is decorated with a very unique early 20th century design. I only realized 2 months ago that the restaurant is closed & now it is even in a danger situation, in which it needs additional support to survive. Again, I am really sad to see another heritage building in the city is under such a poor condition.

Feel the Heat

I was just coming back from Penang after completing my work there. It was partially cloudy where the clouds although filtering the ray but also capture the heat. It is definitely not a nice weather to travel long distance.

Shelter on Hilltop

Perak Cave Temple at Kuala Kangsar Road is a famous tourist spot of Ipoh. The Chinese temple is built within a limestone cave. A steep & narrow path was built to reach the hilltop and there are some shelters on it. Unfortunately, a tragic incident of stone fall happened in January 2009, which causes one dead, has lead to the prohibition of climbing to hilltop through this path. Now we can only watch the shelters from ground and the date of reopen is undetermined.

Sunny

It’s a sunny day & I was passing by Old Town in the afternoon. Feel good with the blue sky but it’s a bit too hot to drive out. Old town is still congested as normal & I couldn’t find a car parking lot to stop for lunch.

Sunset after Rain

This scene is captured at my favorite location for sunset viewing, Tasek Square Food Court. I have published another sunset photo on 13th February 2009, which taken at the same spot, but this time a little bit different. The properties developer has planted some trees on the boundary of the construction site while the model house is close to completion. I believe it will be opened for visit soon. Heavy rain just stops late afternoon. It’s a cool and comfortable atmosphere for many who leave their work & dine out.

Gopeng Noodle

This is a sign that attracted me several times. It is promoting Gopeng Noodle (Gopeng is a town at about 20km from Ipoh), but this sign is placed at backyard of a shop in Menglembu town. Why? It’s because there are some car parking lots at the small alley & when the front street is congested during daytime, many will choose to drive this way. Well, I am one of them. Finally I give a try on the noodle this afternoon, not bad…

My Favorite White Coffee Shop - Sin Yoon Loong

Sin Yoon Loong 新源隆 coffee shop is my favorite place for breakfast & lunch. This is a typical traditional Chinese coffee shop in Malaysia. Being one of the origins of the well-known Ipoh white coffee, its taste is hardly found elsewhere. Three more neighboring shops are also selling good white coffee making this area (southern Leech Street, or Jalan Bandar Timah, in Old Town) a famous spot for white coffee. The best thing is we can enjoy different foods from nearby shops without restriction (except drinks). If you visit Ipoh without having a cup of white coffee here, that’s not a complete trip :-)

Restoration

The rear portion of Ipoh Town Hall building was used by the tourism information center. After it moved to new building many years ago, this portion has been abandoned with no occupant even though the front portion (Town Hall) still well-maintained. Recently restoration work is being carried out for the abandon part. Although I have no idea who is the new owner, but I am happy to see this where the beautiful heritage building will gain its new life soon.

Beautiful Morning

This is beautiful. I must stop to capture this scene when half way driving to work. The Titiwangsa Mountain Range is always a nice background for the limestone hills to form a beautiful scene.

Another Raining Night

Driving in the rain on a busy road has to be more careful. Traffic around Kinta City Shopping Center (Jusco) is always congested. Slow moving vehicles tend to keep a closer distance between each other. If any sudden stop, one may bang on others and this happen frequently in rainy nights.

Ipoh Tree

I was paying bills at General Post Office & passing by the Railway Station Square while leaving. The only Ipoh tree in town located at the center of the square looked like drying off. The city is named after Ipoh tree because it was a commonly found species during the early years. Somehow Ipoh tree is removed from the city due to the poisonous of its latex, and this only one planted in the garden is to commemorate the origin of the city.

Red Clouds in the Morning

When I move out from home to work, the amazing scene in the east attracted me. I quickly drive to a nearest location where a wide view is available & ready to take photo. However, just within a minute, the amazing shining red clouds start to turn pale. What I captured is a little bit late but still nice.

Raining All Day Long

The weather starts getting cooler when I taken my lunch and on the way going home in the afternoon. It's a bit unusual that cloudy day begins earlier (normally the day turns cloudy after 3pm). Soon after an hour rain starts to fall & it drags almost all day long. Coincidently, today is a public holiday, so it is just a nice weather for us who stay at home enjoying a cool & lazy day :)

Foldable Chair

This kind of foldable chair is not easily found nowadays. It is a very common object used by the street hawkers throughout Malaysia, and of course Ipoh as well, since 1970’s. However, it almost comes to extinction as plastic chair is replacing its position to serve the public. These few chairs are still in use at Rainbow City Hawker Street. May be we won’t be able to see it anymore in the near future.

Sales Season

It's sales season again. Will this help to boost the economy by encouraging more spending? Well, to survive is not easy now. Expenses has to be tightly controlled for the worse to hit, which no one knows when it will happen to us.

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First Old Town Cafe in Ipoh

White coffee is originated from Ipoh in a tradition coffee shop at Old Town. This tasty local milk coffee is upgraded to fast food style cafe by the newer generation owner but started in Kuala Lumpur. Only some time later it is introduced in Ipoh. This is the first of its type located in Ipoh Garden Plaza. Now there are more than 5 branches in the city.

Clear Evening

It had been many days not seen a clear sunset due to rain fall almost every evening for the past one week.

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Cloud on Hill

It is often to see white clouds surrounding the hills after raining over the night. This is seen while departing to Kuala Lumpur for a working trip.