Old Town at Night

The northern section of Old Town has many banks, legal firms & offices, especially along Belfield Street & Station Road. During day time, the area is quite congested in traffic & crowded with people at restaurants & banks. Anyway, the scene is completely different at night, where shops are closed, corridors are quiet & traffic is smooth. The vacant three-storey De Silva Building and its neighbouring offices along Station Road are kind of too dark & quiet for pedestrian.

Belfield Street is not much different from Station Road except more cars are speeding through the four-lane street. I can hardly find a shop operating at this section except some Indian shops at southern part of Belfield Street (Little India) are still open for business. Somehow I believe it is not so safe to keep the shop operating at this time.

The Little Grasshopper

A little grasshopper staying on my car. I make very slow movement to approach it and catch this image. But it is very sensitive, before I can capture a closer shot, it has jumped away.

Han Chin Pet Soo since 1929

Han Chin Pet Soo or Villa of Han Chin which located at northern Treacher Street (Jalan Bijeh Timah) is a clubhouse for tin miners in the past. It was founded by a China-born Hakka tin miner, Leong Fee in 1929. Though it is just a three-storey single-shoplot sized building, it's well known by the locals as "The Villa" or "Pit Sui" in Cantonese. The nostalgic floor & wall tiles is a unique prewar architecture & it marks the city's glorious past of tin minning industry. Opposite to it is the famous Concubine Lane (Panglima Lane).

Comfortable Weather

This is a day with comfortable weather. It was a rainy night yesterday & become cloudy since morning. Warm sun shine is making the plants looked in a better green. The atmosphere is fresh that the monutains at far are seen clearly.

A Morning in Greentown Federal Building

I am having a seminar in the Greentown Federal Government Complex. At one of the blocks, I look out from highest floor towards city center & see Tower Regency Hotel. If not mistaken, the nearer low rise structure is part of the nursing institute behind Ipoh General Hospital.

Busy Hours for Breakfast

Normally 8am to 9am is the busy hour for breakfast in Old Town Leech Street white coffee shops. Not only difficult to find your seat in the shops but also to find parking lots nearby. After that situation will be better & the hawkers will be more relax to take a rest & chit chatting.

Indian Muslim Mosque

The Indian Muslim Mosque is located next to the St. Michael Institution. The mosque was founded by Sheikh Adam in 1908. It is well maintained & is a remarkable heritage building in town. As read in some articles mentioning that the arches are designed in Chitya India or Moghul style, which is similar to the Diwan-i-Khas of Red Fort in Dehli.

View of Titiwangsa Mountain Range

In this sunny afternoon, the Titiwangsa Mountain Range can be seen clearly. The farthest mountain in sight could be at the other side of the Perak-Pahang state boundry, which mean that mountain might be part of Pahang state. To many Ipoh people, Pahang state seems far away from the city but in fact the state boundry is just about 35km from the city if a straight line is drawn towards east.

Going to Work in Friday Morning

To many of us, Friday is the last working day of a week (unfortunately, not to me anymore). The long waited weekend is approaching. Going to work may be less stressful while many have planned to enjoy their life, either a restful weekend at home or an exciting outing program.

Same Fate as Old Town

Not only in Old Town, nowadays many shops are being emptied in New Town as well. Probably the maintenance cost is getting higher for aged building like this and many owner would rather move to new buildings at newly developed areas. Have we really found out the reason of people migrating away from downtown? What would it be in next ten to twenty years if the migration continues? May be one day our great politician will suggest to tear down the entire downtown and rebuild with unimaginable high cost without proper survey.

Cool Start of the Day

It was raining since last night & still drizzling in the morning. The atmosphere is still misty when sun rises from the Titiwangsa Mountain Range. The beauty of this scene is speechless, yet it makes me feel the power & beauty of nature.

Sculpture on the Temple Pillar

Paloh Ku Miu (Paloh Old Temple) is one of the oldest Chinese temple in town. The hundred-year old temple houses many sculptures that brought in from China a century ago. Most of it are vivid & amazing legendary characters in Chinese history or myth. My guess on these few characters on the left pillar at main entrance could be the Tang Dynasty monk Xuan Zhuang & his three students that appear in the legend of "Xi You Ji" (Journey to the West).

Also Since 1931

At each end of this row of shop, I see the decoration on roof are made in pair which mark the completion date as 1931. This row located close to the east end (up stream of the current traffic flow) of Hugh Low Street. To me, this marks the shops are considered as a single block and fortunately none of it is replaced with modern building at this moment. However, many are already close for business nowadays. Even some are operating, the building is just barely maintained.

New Coat on The Shops

The painting work by city council as published earlier has come to Hugh Low Street. The previous OUB building which is vacant now also converted into the designated color from its original white surface (compare to picture uploaded in 25-October-2009). Although it looked good but I feel like the unique building is now fall in same color as neighbouring shops is lossing its uniqueness. Well, pros & cons, but somehow this is not a bad move. I hope more owners will realize the benefit of maintaining their old properties which is getting less & less nowadays.