A Congested Day

This is a congested day, or probably a busy weekend in Ipoh because many Chinese are back in hometown for the annual worship of ancestor, Qing Ming festival (清明节), which fall on 4th April. However, many would choose to visit the grave during weekend, right before the school holidays end this Sunday. Ipoh downtown is flooded by cars in the afternoon and parking lot become most desirable thing that people are looking for. However, soon it will be back to normal in the evening while the congestion will then transfer to the interstate expressway.
 

Wall Art of Ipoh

The street art of wall painting that brought in by a Lithuanian artist, Ernest Zacharevic has become popular in Penang, it also emerges in Ipoh since few months ago. Paintings on the wall created by local artist appear at back lane of Hugh Low Street and Hume Street, the block nearby Kinta River. The paintings are mainly illustrating local culture and history, such as folk dances, tin mining, traditional games and so on.

 

So happen that there is an art exhibition held by art studio at the back lane and had attracted quite a number of visitors. Apart from the wall painting, the studio also present many student art works and it certainly keeps the visitors' camera busy for capturing the masterpiece. It did not stop the people from attending this exhibition despite the warm weather in this afternoon.

 

I believe this street art will continue to proliferate to other streets in the city. I am also hoping there will be more talented artist from either local or overseas could embellish the city by putting up more beautiful paintings which would be an add-on tourist spot and could enhance the cultural development of Ipoh.

 



Old and New

New hotels are mushrooming in Ipoh where most people don't understand how could the city's economy could feed such a surge in guest room capacity. While big & small new hotels are competing intensely, there are some old hotels survived until this day. Perhaps with some appropriate restoration to upgrade the old hotel's facility and hygiene, it could stand out to be more attractive especially for tourist who like to experience the true local lifestyle.
 

People Lived Here

Before we moved into housing estates, most people in Ipoh town lived in shop houses. The rear part of the upper floor is usually kitchen. We still can see the chimney on these shop houses, where coal or wood was used for cooking in those old days. Anyway, most shop houses are now only utilized for commercial but not residential and leaving empty flowerpots on the balcony.

 

Lonely Green Field

During those old days, playing at the green field was the happiest time for kids. There are grass fields in most housing estates and it's usually groups of children having their fun time at the field in the evening. Most were playing football, badminton, kite-flying and so on. However, with the regressive social security and popularization of video games, trace of children on the grass field has vanished. Whoops of delight is no longer heard from the lonely field nowadays. 
 

Some New Finding in Weil Hotel

We are driving or walking around this construction site of Weil Hotel. However, only recently I found something unusual, which probably many do not realize it. What we see in building's construction, especially high rise building, reinforced concrete with steel skeleton within is the most common method to form building structure. Whereas solid steel beam structure is not so popularly applied in this country. And this is now seen in Weil Hotel where instead of steel bars, but steam beams are pointing upwards when the building growing vertically.
 

The Night Begins in Medan Ipoh

When the day is getting darker, people start filling up the seats at Medan Ipoh's hawker street, and also cafes and restaurants nearby. Some would later move to pub or bistro for few glasses of drink. It is undoubtedly Medan Ipoh is now a better place for night life than Ipoh downtown because shopping centre, hypermarket, restaurant, pub and hotel are so concentrated in this area while parking is more convenience here.
 

MH Hotels is Expanding

MH Hotels which owned by an Ipoh-based property developer, Kinta Saujana, is expanding their territory. From the first iconic tower at Tasek Road, to the opening of hotel & residences in Kuala Lumpur and Sungai Siput, the upcoming one will be The Suites in Ipoh SoHo, Hugh Low Street. This is another local property developer that diverts the focus from residences to commercial after Kinta Properties, Keris Properties, Morubina, etc.

 



Resting Under The Shade

Yes, I still cannot escape from talking about the warm weather because it is really bothering my life for the past few days. Whenever walking at outdoor, I am sure wanting to find shaded walkway to avoid expose directly under the sun. As I see this bird resting on the tree for quite some time, I believe it also feels the heat and rather stuck at this shaded spot than wandering around.
 

An Exhausted Day

It's the sunset of a warm day. For people whom are working outdoor, they must have been exhausted under the burning sun. Even during sun set, I can still feel the choking heat and high humidity. I can truly imagine how torturing for those construction workers.

 

Relaxed Moment in the Morninig

Having breakfast before work in a traditional coffee shop, though just a short while, is always a relaxed moment. Sometimes it comes with breezy atmosphere and scenic sun rise making it a beautiful start of your day.

Gone Without Signal

There was no major damage on these 2 shop houses at Hugh Low Street and therefore never expect a demolition plan had been worked out to replace it with a 5-storey building. It is only noticeable after the shop houses completely torn down. I don’t even remember what were the shops doing before it gone. Since the property’s value in downtown increased, many old buildings meet their end and give way to greater & newer one. If the awareness of preserving heritage building not being well publicized, Ipoh will no longer appears as one of the historical towns in Malaysia.
 

Anticipating Symphony Suites

The structural construction of Symphony Suites has completed for some time and interior work is carrying on. However, the progress seems tardy as I find from my observation, condition at its lobby doesn’t change much after passing by several times over the past few months. Even the exterior painting touch up seems halted, leaving some surfaces in uneven color appearance. The project may be in trouble with financial or technical, but hopefully it will be resolved soon and we will be expecting its grand opening in near future.