People's Park

People's Park is located right next to the west bank of Kinta River in Old Town. When driving down from New Town, it appears on the left after crossing Hugh Low bridge. It used to be an open space in front of Paloh Ku Miu (Paloh Old Temple) long time ago & was once a bazaar of used goods in the Sunday morning. The rest of the time it just served as a car park.

At few years back, the bazaar is relocated to New Town's Horley Street (it's now called Memory Lane). The city council & National Landscape Department then launched the beautification project & build this brand new park. However, the park is not so attarctive to Ipoh citizens & the maintenance is not properly done. Looking towards north-west from the park, Kinta Heights is in sight.

Traffic Lights with No Light

See no light, is it blackout? No, it's simply a no-light traffic lights. Luckily the light at the opposite side still functioning to guide drivers crossing the junction. The malfunction has been there for days. May be our government has spent too much on mega projects & is currently too costly for traffic lights repairing.

Watch Out Attacks from Top

Groups of pigeon are living around this part of Old Town. Extended structure like this would be a nice choice for taking a rest while the ground is too crowded with people. They are now right above pedestrian walkway. Whoever passing by have better watch out the droppings from these pigeons.

Non Stop Raining

The clear day turned to be rainy since 4pm and it continues through the evening till night. Atmosphere become cool & refreshing. It makes the Sunday a real lazy day & I believe many people were pinned at home, just like me.

State Secretariat Building

Douglas Road (Jalan Panglima Bukit Gandang Wahab) has the most government offices in Ipoh. Many years ago, before some departments moved out from here, this is the hub of Federal & State government administration in Ipoh since the British colonial age. This is Bangunan Perak Darul Ridzuan, the state secretariat building & the State Assembly Hall, which completed about 10 years ago. The most unique part is the giant purple roof top that sometimes reflects sunlight like a crystal.

Time Machine, Panglima Lane

It has been well known throughout the country that Panglima Lane is one of the most attractive civilian heritage properties in Ipoh. The lane is so narrow but the occupancy is better maintained compared to other streets in Old Town, and even New Town. People are still living in most of the shophouses & we can see daily living activities is going on. Many units are still maintained as residential at both downstairs & upstairs, unlike other shophouses in the city, ground floor is only for commercial. We will see the living history with our own eyes here & to experience the lifestyle that closest to the past in this city. Nevertheless, there are already few units disappeared, left only ruins. The state government is planning to spend MYR450,000 to maintain & beautify Panglima Lane making it a more attractive tourism spot. However, I hope there won't be over-decorating that creates a modern-&-heritage contradicting product which will totally spoil this time machine. In fact I am worrying because previous cases of heritage site restoration project has come to disaster where the building becomes a "Frankenstein".

Rainbow and The Cloud

Scattered rain in the evening had created a partial rainbow in the east. The particular part of the sky became so bright & attractive where the rainbow is seen to be growing from ground. On the west side, the scene is so different where the clouds were brightly shined in the sunset. These photos were taken at the same spot, same time, but it looked so different from the east to the west.

Flowery Tiles

This is an abandoned shop in Hugh Low Street. Tiles with such flowery pattern were popular for entrance decoration in the past. However, there are not many survive to this day. I can hardly find in Ipoh except one shop at the same street in Old Town district. When such a unique part of our historical architecture is coming to extinction, I think we shall do something to preserve the last of its kind instead of leaving it vaporized from our world.

Ipoh Padang in Sunny Afternoon

It's a sunny afternoon with beautiful blue sky. The buildings looked so striking from Ipoh Padang. Anyway, people would just avoid outdoor activities under the hot sun.

Do Something to Safe Them

Looking at the condition of these few shops in Treacher Street (Jalan Bijih Timah), I think they will not survive long. In fact the 2 shops on the right are unique because of its smaller size, as seen, it has only 2 windows compare to others that have 3 windows. It is because of lack of proper town planning during the initial age of town settlement & some shops, alleys are not built to standard size in order to maximize the land usage. Seeing these unique building in town in danger of disappearing, I wish someone could do something to safe it.

Business under the Hot Sun

No rain for days, weather turns warm & humid. The sun is burning all features on earth in the afternoon. However, to earn for living, weather cannot be the barrier for continuing business alongside the busy road in Old Town. This man selling tasty "apong balik" in front of Nam Heong white coffee shop is suffering from the heat but his business is quite promising especially during weekend & public holidays.

Seri Kinta Building & Kinta River

Time passes so fast. I didn't realized that Seri Kinta Building has been standing here beside the Kinta River for almost a quarter century. I can recall its completion should be around the years of early to mid 1980's. In the memory of many Ipoh citizens, Seri Kinta Building is the Immigration Department & Star Cinema, which both of these are not in this building anymore. Crowd is not seen here since then. Nevertheless, a new mini cinema complex has just opened recently in the building & it may change the situation a little.

Remaining Structure of the Bridge

In the Hugh Low Bridge reconstruction project, this is the portion of old structure that remains at the moment. The cross & circle pattern is a special feature of old Hugh Low Bridge. Since the crossing river portion is demolished, the cross & circle pattern which is made in metal already disappeared. Anyway, I hope this remaining bricks will be preserved.

Good Weather for World Cup Watching

After experiencing several rainy evenings, today the weather turn up to be clear during sunset. Blue sky and silvery clouds enables open air seating for many restaurants & eating shops. And the most important is there will be larger crowd gather in these places for the FIFA world cup matches tonight.

Progressing Hotel Construction

The construction of Medan Bistari Hotel or MH Tower is progressing. Since the tower crane setup on 18 April, it has grown to 3rd level today. The project progress seems quite promising, unlike many other hotel, shopping mall projects in the past that published to be big but ended up no sign of commencing construction or simply being abandoned.

Skyline of City Center

A glance at the New Town city center. Three high rise buildings on the right almost appeared in same height, which follow the earlier height restriction by Department of Civil Aviation. Anyway, Tower Regency Hotel at left, which is slightly taller & currently the highest concrete building in town, is built at a loosen restriction. Nevertheless, the Cockman Street communication tower seems like not bounded by this height control policy.

Feeding Pigeon

May be I am wrong, but I found there are more pigeons in Old Town compare few years ago. Some restaurants even feed them by balance food from the business. Anyway, in front of this Indian food shop, the pigeons seem like really enjoy the Indian rice.

More Old Shops Are Killed

I am sad to see this scene where two old shops in Old Town Leech Street are demolished. I was thinking there would be only restoration when saw some works being carried out last week in these buildings. But what happen now in front of my eyes is stunning. Again I foresee there will be more & more old buildings coming to their tragic fate, killed by their owner. The last photos I captured on one of these shops were last year & are shown below, which is the one at right.

Hugh Low Bridge Under Construction

Since its closure at last year August, the under construction Hugh Low Street new bridge has been more than half completed. It will be reopen probably by end of this year.

The Sky Changing Face Fast

If glance at the sky at one direction and tell the weather to be, it may be a mistake. Beautiful blue sky was seen at north & one may assume this is going to be a sunny day. But when switch the view to opposite direction, dark clouds seemed to be invading & the prediction of weather ought to be different.

From the Station Overhaed Bridge

The Hindu Temple, 15-storey Sungai Pari Towers flat & a 5-storey apartment are seen from the overhaed bridge in railway station. The skyline of this section does not change much except the new apartment that completed few years ago.

Kinta River Towards South

On the top floor of Kinta Heights, the view on the city is amazing. I think schools may consider having out-of-school activities to learn the hometown by bringing the student on to high rise building & show the location of remarkable buildings that usually seen on ground. The experience is totally different, just like this particular view on the Kinta River flowing towards south. One may not realize when seeing on ground that the river is indeed straightened during the colonial age.

Calming Sunset

Along Kuala Kangsar Road, I was driving to my dinner. The sunset seen from Klebang farm calms the disturbing mind after a busy working day.

Taking Bath

Pigeons are taking bath in the accumlulated water at roadside although there are crowds moving around the busy coffee shops nearby.

New Face of Little India

The Ipoh City Council is facelifting the shophouses of Little India in Old Town. Few blocks along Lahat Road & Belfield Street (Jalan Sultan Yusuff), as shown in the signboard, are selected for painting into different theme colours. The first two blocks have been painted in light blue & light green, which I find is nice & impressive. The old shops in these new colours are now become more attractive. I hope the council has planned to extend this activity to make more downtown old shophouses in Ipoh beautiful & attractive, indeed to promote the awareness of preserving heritage buildings.

No Rain Evening

It often rains in the evening recently. Even not, it will be cloudy. Clouds are commonly seen forming above the mountain ranges. This giant cloud looked quite nice when reflecting the sunlight.