Mobile Audio System

Sometimes I cannot understand the purpose of a car when seeing this kind of incredible audio system is installed within a car by the owner. Isn’t it a risk of having such powerful audio in such a tiny space could damage the ear drum & preventing from hearing external traffic alarm? Furthermore, the lost will be greater if any road accident because not only damage on the car but also on the expensive audio system.

Castle's Neighborhood

For those passing by Ipoh on expressway, they may see this castle building, The Bougainvillea Club, rising from a mystery ground, as published in the posting of 28-May-2009. If view from far, it does really looked like located in forest. In fact, it is surrounded by residences neighborhood. Its original design does not appear this way; the 3 cone-shape roofs should be taller & sharper, and the wall is drawn with the stripes like Western Europe heritage building.

Lights of the City

Although Ipoh is not as happening as KL & other major cities, its night scene is still attractive to me. I was watching the lights of city on Ipoh Parade Shopping Mall car park during twilight. Despite no many neon lights & spot lights, watching the city skyline is still enjoyable.

The Railway Station in Sunset

Today is a public holiday of Perak State, the birthday of Sultan of Perak. On my way to dinner, I passed by the railway station & find this is beautiful scene. I believe I need not speak much, I hope everyone seeing this photo would enjoy just like I do.

MH Tower, New Hotel Soon

Really wondering Ipoh is in need of so many additional hotel rooms as we are seeing one after another hotel being established during the last 1 or 2 years. Despite many of them are budget hotels, I still doubt the city economic status would make these hotels survived. This is the construction site of MH Tower, a new hotel project by a local developer (not YNH as seen in the photo), which is strategically located right at the junction of North South Expressway’s Ipoh North exit. To my knowledge, this will be a 20-storey hotel and therefore a tower crane has just been setup this afternoon. Anyway, this location would probably bring the hotel good business & hopefully it will be a nice looking building to welcome all Ipoh visitors at its gateway.

Sunset view in Bercham

Sunny afternoon followed by rainy evening is the typical weather recently. Remaining scattered clouds are normally seen after rain. Upon arrival at my brother’s home for dinner, the sunset simply catches my attention and triggers me for snapping few shots of the colourful sky.

Living Next to the Giant Rock

When the city urbanization extended towards east, more and more houses are built close to limestone hills. Some development projects, such as Sunway City & The Haven Condominiums, even make use of the undeveloped hill surrounding as an advantage to promote the green & natural environment for quality living. Those projects are just not far from hear, the well known Bandar Baru Tambun (Tambun New Town).

Downpour in the Evening

This is something that no one can predict at three hours ago. It was such an extremely warm afternoon which makes everyone feels like being cooked in a giant oven. Complains about the terrible weather is frequently heard lately. However, the unexpected is happening in the evening; downpour sweeps over the city & even creates flood at some lower grounds. The rain is so welcomed despite the inconvenience caused by flood.

Buses before Planes

Ipoh is a city without an international airport to connect the world. We feel inconvenient when having an overseas trip because we must take a ride to the nearest international airport at KL or Penang. If there is no personal transport that could send us there, express bus service is a better choice compare to taxi. Therefore, many bus companies are established in Ipoh carrying passengers to the airports, especially KLIA & LCCT. We must spend an average 3 hours ride to the airport before able to check in for the flight. It is easily an extra 5 hours to be spent for someone in Ipoh to depart from home to take an overseas flight.

Durian Stall

Durian is a very popular tropical fruit in Malaysia. When the fruiting season comes, there are big & small durian stalls opened along roadside & markets. Some would taste it right on the spot & some would bring back home. There are packed durians now available that offers customer the most convenient way of tasting the great fruit without needing to deal with the horrible shell.

New Look for Old Flats

This flats at Silang Street is one of the oldest public flats owned by the local authorities. It’s probably more than 40 years old. The city council has just painted the building in a new colour recently, giving it a fresher & better look.

The Refraction Begins

Thicker clouds only formed when come to evening, but it seemed not going to bring the cooling rain tonight. Before having dinner, the sky starts getting darker. The colouring effect by sunlight refraction begins to turn the blue sky into orange, red until the darkness taking over.

New Car Launch

Mazda has just launched a new model aiming to claim a portion of the share in local middle range automobile market. There will be tougher competition among car manufacturers but more choices for the consumer and I am one of them. Well, that’s enhancement in modern life, but putting more and more cars on the road, we should really start worry of how far our planet can withstand the burden we load onto it.

View from Kledang Hill

I have not been coming to Kledang Hill, the most popular hill jogging spot in Ipoh, for so many years. I am here this evening to have a look, not for exercise. I did not go far up but just stopped at a higher spot from normal ground which is good enough to take a view over the valley. It was raining before I reach here, and there is still raining somewhere at the southern part of Ipoh. This is a view towards southeast. The nearest seen ex tin mine lake & houses is Menglembu residential area while the mystic limestone hill formed a beautiful background

Pigeon & Small Tree

The shop lot behind Standard Charted Bank in Old Town has been demolished for long time. This vacant piece of land was chosen by a French film maker somewhere in 1990 for a movie narrating story in Vietnam during the colonial period. However, I can’t remember what the movie was. The site was chosen as hotel where a temporary wooden structure was built to match the surrounding Standard Charted Bank & Mercantile Bank (currently Elken) building. It was brought down right after the film shooting. This place is still vacant without any new building arising. The cracks & holes between bricks are growing small tree & even become pigeon nest.

Defending the Crown of Tallest

Every time when passing by any spots where Kinta Heights is in sight, I would surely have a glance on it. Probably it is always been the tallest building in my & many of Ipoh citizen mind, though it is not in actual height. Nevertheless, its number of storey, 20 storeys, is not yet surpassed by any other building in downtown (except the PTTC Building which is far at the city boundary). So, for almost 30 years, we still treat it as the tallest building in Ipoh.

Today Ended Warm Again

After few continuous raining days last week, the atmosphere turns warm again. Although not as bad as weeks before but we started to feel the heat & high humidity again, even in the morning.

Lau Ek Ching Street Again

I have posted a photo of Lau Ek Ching Street some time ago. Today I would share another one. I always find that old shops over here are suitable to be converted into restaurant, boutique, saloon, studio, lounge, healthcare center, etc., making it a trendy & happening spot day & night. Some of the shop houses are having front yard, which is rarely found at other part in downtown. And this can be utilized as open air café or decorated to attract customer. Lau Ek Ching Street is not a busy street that can be potentially convert into a vehicle-free pedestrian street so people can enjoy shopping & eating by walking around. Anyway, the original architecture of these shops is nice & unique that I hope it will be preserved rather than resurfaced become flat cement wall or glasses.

Value of Existence

Ipoh is neither a tourism city nor a regional commercial hub. I am not sure what is the core industry that maintains Ipoh economic growth, but I believe number of visitor to this city is far below KL, Penang, Malacca & JB. Therefore demand for hotel room should be low. There are several new hotels, both star rated & budget hotels, joining the market recently. Existing hotels would share a smaller piece of cake now, especially the old one like this Hollywood Hotel. It probably setup since 40-50 years ago. We can clearly see from the outlook that it has not been upgraded for some time with the condition which is not so presentable, but yet it is operating. Nevertheless, it definitely carries the value that justifies its existence in the tougher market competition nowadays.

A Useful Twig

I was waiting at the traffic light in front of Tasek Industrial Estate this morning. When looking around, I find something that I missed out during my everyday travel to work. I am not sure who was doing the wiring job but I believe he was not properly equipped. It seems like the work was not planned nicely where the worker found after fixing the wire, it laid on a U-turn signboard. Therefore a twig is used to lift the wire from the signboard, which I think it would be a permanent solution. Is it creative or irresponsible?

More Colours for the City

A new fun pub, so called “Faster”, is opened at Osborne Street. This is a quiet area at night except few restaurants, pubs & massage centers are operating. I would not spot this new fun pub if not the attractive billboard that plays some graphics with its lights. This kind of board is not popular in Ipoh, but only available in some amusement centers. If there are more to be installed at different kind of shops, it will make Ipoh a more colourful city.

Factory On Fire

On my way to lunch, I saw thick black smoke rising from ground, which should be the Menglembu industry estate. My first guess would be a factory is on fire, and at quite serious level. This is definitely not a joke of April fool. I did not divert my destination to the scene of incident, but just capture this photo at miles away. Later I heard people talking in the restaurant about frequent fire cases in town. Looks like this is not the only incident occur recently.