Sun Rise In The Misty Morning

From a rainy morning yesterday to a misty morning today. The weather is slowly changing. The scene of sun rise is beautiful and the mountains are found to be mysterious when partially covered by clouds. Looking at the awesome scene, I always feel proud of the beautiful mountains around Ipoh.

A Rainy Monday Morning

Traffic in a rainy Monday morning is getting worse when most people choose to drive to work. A long queue is seen far away from the traffic light in front of Kinta Free Trade Zone.

Landmark at Kampar Road

This is a view from Gopeng Road's Impiana Hotel towards south. The scene is dominated by the condominium blocks of Damaipuri and The Store Supermarket which are the landmark buildings along Kampar Road. The residential hiding in the green trees, Chateau Garden, is one of the best living environments in Ipoh.

Finally It Is Gone

In 2-May-2009, I asked how long would this corner abandoned shophouse would stand. The last image I captured on it would be its side view in 11-March-2011 post. It seemed the badly damaged building had stood for 2 more years before being torn down by the city council recently. The Ipoh City Council shall be criticized as it plans to further demolish over 60 units of old building in town rather than putting additional effort to get the owners to refurbish or renovate it. I personally have a feeling that the Malaysian government is trying very hard to wipe out the historical buildings existed since the colonial era, perhaps an effort to deny the history of colonization.

The End of A Busy Day

Although this is a Friday, it's a busy day for me. Apart from the heavy work load, the warm & humid weather at the valley also tear off a lot of my energy. When everything start settled down, darkness already covered the city & lights are on under the sunset.

Palace Restaurant

Palace Restaurant in Excelsior Hotel has been one of the well known Chinese restaurants in town. Despite tough competition in catering industry nowadays, the restaurant has gone through more than 2 decades. Wedding dinner is probably the most popular function for this restaurant and having such a dinner in hotel in those old days was considered grand & luxury. But with aggressive improvement in other local Chinese restaurants, luxurious is no longer Palace's advantage but it is even falling behind now. However the survival a restaurant should very much relies on the quality of food & service.

Excessive Floor Space

There are many shop lots in Ipoh having only ground floor occupied but vacant above. This is not only found in housing estates but even the most popular commercial areas such Ipoh Garden East & Greentown. Despite low occupancy rate, there are still many more construction projects coming up with more floor space created to be excessive. The trend of properties is kind of not healthy nowadays.

Oil Painting in the Morning Sky

As I always believe nature is the greatest artist. It creates the most beautiful & amazing artwork at a particular time and we have to appreciate as it just last for few minutes before faded away. This morning I was attracted by the pattern in the sky that looked like an oil painting. Although I can't tell what this pattern is but the colorful appearance simply caught my heart.

Before It's Gone

This row of shop at Clarke Street (beside ex Ruby Cinema) is being isolated. It makes me worry that it will be tron down very soon. The right most unit was still intact when it was captured in my snap shot of hanging street light on 3-May-2011. But today its roof tiles & windows are gone. Look like it will go missing any time from now. I can see the 5 shops were designed as one block and the center unit was added with special decorative features. As I glance through the front doors & windows, some inner structures have been brought down and I believe it is not just renovation but a complete rebuild project. What a waste to have a historical piece in the city going disappear. Before it's gone, I can only capture its last moment as an image to be remembered in coming days.

Football Match at Ipoh Padang

Ipoh Padang is a popular place for big event in the city, such as New Year celebration, outdoor concert, road show and sport events like cricket & football. I was passing by Ipoh Padang yesterday and got to know there were football matches here. It continues this morning & I just stop by watching for a while. Looks like this is a competition. Ipoh Padang is big enough to fit 2 football court & there were 2 matches running at the same time.

It's PC Fair Again

Yes, it's PC Fair again! This IT show organized by The National ICT Association of Malaysia, PIKOM, is getting more popular now and there are 3 rounds in a year being carried in major cities nationwide. The fair landed in Ipoh Indera Mulia Indoor Stadium & this 3-day event started on Friday. Despite the congestion seen today, I believe the crowd still not reach its peak but it should hit in Sunday.

The Two Towers Are Level

When the service apartment block reached top level early this year, the hotel adjacent to it was still at beginning stage of construction. After five months of intensive work, the 19-storey hotel is now also reaching its top and at same level with the apartment block. Somehow due to the location, these two towers though with highest floor count, still do not dominate the city skyline.

The Red 1931

My last post about this shophouse was 19-July-2010. The 1931 built shophouse is now painted in red matching the tenant, Red Boutique. Despite the good will of giving the building a new coat, I believe it can be done better if different color is painted to outline the decorative pattern & sculpture on top.

Empty Eyesore Building

Almost everyone in Ipoh knows this eyesore building at Cockman Street. It's a product of early 1990's where economy was picking up and new buildings & supermarkets were mushrooming. Ocean Supermarket was a big name at that time and it landed at Ipoh in this building. An office block is built on top of the 5-storey supermarket. An 11-storey car park is attached and this should be the tallest multi storey car park in Ipoh. However, the building was not well accepted and has low occupancy rate since it's completion. It is architecturally poor and with its age reaching almost 20 years, it's now an eyesore to the city skyline.