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.