900th Post in Last Day of 2012

No matter good or bad, sweet or bitter, year 2012 is coming to the end. While expecting a better year of 2013, we realize many new development projects that symbolize economic boost are taking place in Ipoh. However, the old streets & heritage buildings are our most valuable treasures which would physically tell us the history. They shall be well preserved & maintained as pride of Ipoh. Coincidentally this is also the 900th post of "Images of Ipoh". When I remark the last day of 2012, this blog is achieving another milestone since its establishment in January 2009.

 

Kinta Heights is About to Appear Differently

Brown & beige color on Kinta Heights have been so familiar to us, as this combination has been its theme color for 3 decades. However, a drastic change is taking place to make Kinta Heights appears differently. I have no idea of what would it finally be but I guess there should be lighter colors to be painted.

 

Storm Approaching

Kinta City's roof top car park is always one of my favorite locations to enjoy the view of Ipoh & its surrounding mountains. The wide angle view at every direction without many obstacles (except this Jusco tower signboard) offers us the best opportunity to observe beautiful scenery such as sunset, approaching storm & etc. I don't even remember how many photos I have captured at this angle in different time & the number of post appear here. Probably this can be an exercise of reviewing this blog.

 

Festival Walk @ Ipoh Garden East

The grow at Ipoh Garden East seems to be continuously promising in recent years. Apart from more double storey shop lots being introduced, several projects of high rise condominium are kicked off. And this is a latest shopping arcade that opened to public recently, the Festival Walk. Although the architecture of the building had been changed, or downgraded, Festival Walk turns out to be potentially another hot spot that gathered with restaurant, boutique & lounge. Nevertheless, the main corridor at middle of the arcade is still seen empty & quiet even during this Christmas day. Anyway, I am optimistic about its future because the commercial value of this area is maintain at up trend.

 

Hotel Rising from Ipoh Parade

While there are construction of several hotels still on going, new competitors are seen to join the battle. One of them is the new 15-storey hotel rising from the current Ipoh Parade podium by a local developer, Weil Resources. It is constructed from the existing 5-storey block which was previously planned for a medical centre. By looking at the tower crane position, this hotel should be visible from far if driving on Brewster Road.

 

Hidden Treasure of Belfield Street

These old shophouses looked like having no commercial value and abandoned. Well, it may be right before this year but they are now house for the city's famous & unique restaurant, Burps & Giggles. Since my last post on this restaurant before its opening in August, this name has been one of the most popular terms among Ipoh citizen. What amazed me & out of my expectation is the owner keeps the shophouses exterior almost completely untouched (including the old signboard of previous occupant) and leave it appeared at its very original condition. Unfortunately after the restaurant running business for months, I have yet to pay a visit to this "legendary" restaurant which is first of its kind in Ipoh. But, again I am recommending this blog post and let Motormouth tells you more about Burps & Giggles.
 

Jose & Deli Eatery

This is breaking my own record in "Images of Ipoh" to have 10 photos in a single posts. Well, I just couldn't stop myself to add one after another photo to share the charming environment of Jose & Deli Eatery. It has just commenced business for about 3 weeks & I believe many still find no idea with this nice & cozy place. Probably some might aware of the recently fully renovated French Hotel at Cockman Street (Jalan Dato Onn Jaafar), which is right next to the previous Lido Cinema. And you will find Jose & Deli at 1st floor that is accessible from the main staircase from hotel lobby.

Jose & Deli is being chosen as today's buddy gathering venue after recommendation from friend. And it seems the choice was appropriate. Such a nice cafe is rarely found in Ipoh & it is grateful that we are now having a new name in our list of choice for dining & reunion. Natural light shines in from the glass window during daytime while interior light bulbs create the warm & romance atmosphere at night.

 

I could spend significant amount of time in here if to really observe the objects & decorations at every corner of the cafe. And yet there are quite some choices in the menu to indulge ourselves. This is definitely one of my favorite dining & visiting places. If you wish to explore & know more detail about Jose & Deli, this blog post is certainly a good one to read.

 



Last Shine of 21-12-2012

21-Dec-2012, is probably a most mentioned day in recent years. And this day has come. While some people is worrying about end of world, most of us choose to live like normal. Until the evening, no mega disaster, super volcano eruption nor asteroid impact has happened. Well, when I see this last shine of the day, I was thinking whether the sun would not rise anymore. However, if today is really the end of world, I wish it would be the end of an old & ugly world. Today shall be a turning point that human being realize their greed, selfish & violence has brought so much damage. We ought to share our love & care among each other, to the environment and animals. Even just a little spark of love, if everyone willing to share theirs, it will certainly make our future more beautiful & peaceful.

 

The Damage Has Started

Just less than a month ago, I predicted the devastating fate of this block of Hume Street shophouse and the damage seems started for few days, where the upper floor of first three units has already gone. These shophouses indeed stored my childhood memory about daddy bringing grandpa & I to the barber shop (the second unit) for hair cutting. I still remember there was always a monophonic radio playing old songs at the adjacent shop. Those days are now far behind in my life journey and after the building demolition, this part of the history becomes completely non visualized.

 

Another Heritage Building is About to Leave Us?

Whenever I see this, my bad feeling would immediately emerged. These shophouses at southern end of Leech Street are facing the entrance of Kinta Heights. Being located at one of the oldest part in Old Town, I am pretty sure hey have been here for more than a century. Without much effort, I believe the owner or local authorities will apply the Malaysian typical solution on structural weak heritage building, demolishing. I am not sure how many more times I can see it, what I can do is getting it stored in my collection of images of Ipoh.

 



Hotel or Bunker?

As you may remember there was a block of old shophouse at Chung On Siew Street disappearing from horizon in August 2010 giving way to construct a modern hotel. However, the 7-storey hotel building, although still way from completion but the basic structure that able to roughly project its final appearance disappoints me. Until this moment, I can't find anything on this building attractive to me except feel like looking at a bunker. Well, let's see if any surprise when the hotel completed.

 

Breathless Moment at the Railway Station

This is just a normal day for me to drive to the city for dinner. However, I am so lucky to be at the right time & the right place to capture this awesome moment in front of the magnificent Ipoh Railway Station. This photo, which is so far one of my favorites, is the speechless expression of a breathless moment. I hope you like it too.

 

From Borneo Motors to House Music Club

This old building at Brewster Road has just found its new owner which will make it another hot spot of night life, so called House Music Club. Changing from the previous well known OverTime bistro, the building is heavily renovated inside out. Its appearance become so much different now and is about to commence operation very soon, before the end of 2012. Anyway, I just found an old photo that bring us back to the very original image of this building. Let's check this link, and find the Chevrolet logo. This is it as seen from another side. The article tells us this building was owned by Borneo Motors, a famous car dealer. Over the years, occupants keep on changing which come with structural adds & removes on the building.

Central Market Is Transforming

While we still wondering how's the fate of the New Town old market blocks, the adjacent Central Market is undergoing progressive change since the last post in November, 25. The vacant floor which previously occupied by Super Kinta Departmental Store is going to be Urban Transformation Centre (UTC), which funded by the Federal Government. I am totally not interested to know what would the new centre offer but just wish to enter the building to recall my memory about Super Kinta.



 

New Town Old Market

I don't know exactly how old is this market in New Town, but it must be more than 100 years. I make such a guess because its surrounding bigger buildings were constructed in the era of 1930's, such as Lam Looking Bazaar & Foong Seong Building (as seen in the background of this photo). There are only 2 blocks remain until present day while I have seen an old photo of this market showing more blocks, which might have been replaced by the current Central Market (Pasar Besar Ipoh) building. In several years ago, I heard about news of tearing down these last blocks of the old market. Somehow it did not turn true. However I am pretty sure this will eventually happen, as this is a golden location in Ipoh city center & our local authorities does not really concern about heritage building preservation.

 

Another Beautiful Day Begins

The first sunlight shining through the tree leaves & brighten the stratus cloud making this Thursday morning a cheerful start of the day. The sunny morning is a contrast to the evening thunder storm during the year end monsoon.
 

Dreamlike Kinta River

To mention Kinta River has never been this beautiful at night is probably a best statement to describe its current condition. The colorful artificial trees that installed alongside river bank have magically turned Kinta River into a dreamlike world when lighted up at night.

Restore or Damage?

While we are complimenting the resurrection of a block of old shop house at Lau Ek Ching Street, a newest development at the opposite block doesn't seem to be a good idea. A steel structure is added to the front yard of these old buildings in an inharmonious way. The front part of upper floor is being torn down to join the steel structure & the way of construction being carried out makes me worry of how much more damage will these buildings suffered.

 

Greentown Mosque

Greentown Mosque is one of the grand scale mosques in Ipoh, which located right beside the General Hospital. Its has a great beautiful dome that is quite different from other mosques in Ipoh. If looking carefully on this mosque, one may find something is missing, the minaret. The mosque was originally had a minaret but it was removed during construction because problem its foundation had caused the minaret leaning.
 

Amazing Moment at The Clock Tower

I was driving in Old Town & pass by Birch Memorial Clock Tower in the cloudy evening. This is an amazing moment which make the clock tower appears very differently under the dark & thick clouds that looked like alien invasion from outer space (well, I think I have watched too many this kind of movies). Thunder storm had began at northern part of the city & it would rain very soon at downtown.