Partially Revealed

The restoration work at SPH de Silva Building still ongoing but I find it progresses at quite a slow pace. As seen on 24-February, the side on Belfield Street was covered up & it's now revealed, although the work has not fully finished. Instead of plain white, the building is now dressing in pale blue as theme color. I am grateful to see the restoration is done neatly thus far & I believe the building will probably a masterpiece when it's completed.

A Different Kinta River

Perhaps you can figure out the difference of Kinta River as seen today. Could we normally see the river bed of Kinta River? I believe most Ipoh citizens remember the muddy river that looked like milk tea but not the one we can see in this picture. I am wondering what has been done that make clearer water in Kinta River and whether this is a permenant condition or just appear in short term.

City Still in Haze

I do not really record it, but this is probably the second week in Ipoh with warm weather & no heavy rain. Dirt & particles accumulated in the atmosphere is worsening & skyline of the city looked bad. Mountains at background is completely missing from sight & buildings at distance also seen to be blur. People are so desparating for heavy rain to clean the air & return a healthier environment in Ipoh.

Evening at Upstream Hugh Low Street

It's dinner time and I was hanging around Hillview coffee shop or some people known it as "Little Genting". While the warm day ends, the sky turned into orange then brown & getting darker every minute. There are many vehicles moving from upstream Hugh Low Street. Perhaps many of them were heading to Rainbow City hawker street or restaurants at Yau Tet Shin Road.

Here You See Kinta Riverfront At Night

The green signage of Kinta Riverfront Hotel is lighted up. Now you can see it at night from several locations especially in New Town. Indeed I find this is a typical practice of Ipoh hotels to have the signage installed as block letters standing on top of the roof (such as Excelsior Hotel, Heritage Hotel, Tower Regency Hotel, Syuen Hotel, Ipoh City Hotel), instead of fixing on the building wall (like seen on Impiana Hotel). My wild guess is that these hotel buildings fully utilize the allowable height for usable space & there is no sufficient empty surface for fixing hotel name.

Goodbye Majestic Theater

Today is a sad day for many Ipoh people. The news of demolishing Majestic Theater rapidly spread in the city through internet social network. While I saw a photo of crumbling side wall of the old cinema building, I decided to visit the site after work. Upon reaching Chamberlain Road, I am so disappointed to see more part of the building has been damaged. The tower at left is like a skeleton with skin & flesh torn away. The theater roof has collapsed and the hall is exposed  under the sun. I never knew I could be so emotion when capturing these photos, I felt tears in my eyes. Looking at the broken wall & bricks, all of us whom concern about heritage in the city would have a broken heart too. Majestic Theater was the first cinema built after World War II and now it's the first being purposely demolished to give way for new development (two other old cinemas were gone due to fire). Although it is gone, the sweet memory that Majestic Theater brought to few generations will last forever in our mind.

Falling Leaves

Effect of dry & warm weather that lasts for weeks is now seen from the condition of falling leaves. This is the scene in Ipoh that looked like a street in autumn. When it's windy, the leaves are falling like snow flakes. Grass along the roadside starts turning color from green to yellow. The environment around us is slowly converting into a brown color world.

Missing Mountains

In these hazy days, everything at far is hiding behind the grey air. High rise buildings at farther, like the Kinta Riverfront Hotel, looked a little blur, while the Kledang Range is completely missing from sight. Although I do not yet to have any difficulty in breathing but it just make me feel very uncomfortable by seeing such a bad condition of the atmosphere.

Like Burning Flame

In this hot & humid evening, the scene of this burning sky simply adds on the feel of warmness. Nevertheless, this is beautiful, charming & irresistible. I am grateful to be at the right place & right time to witness this awesome artwork by great nature despite its existence for only few minutes.

Hazy Valley

It has been warm days for more than 2 weeks. Atmosphere of Kinta Valley is so hazy & polluted. From Kledang Hill, view on Ipoh city is so blur until the Titiwangsa Range at background faded from sight. Anyway, high rise buildings in city center & AEON Station 18 at Pengkalan (second photo) are still recognizable. Everyone is complaining the hot weather recently & the hope of downpour to wash away heat & haze must be the common wish of Ipoh citizen, but weather forecast seems not that optimistic where the current situation will probably prolonged to August.

Football is The Hottest Thing Now

The season of “craze about football” is coming again! Euro 2012 has just kicked off in 8-June at Warsaw and the whole world is putting their eyes on this championship that held for almost a month. European football leagues are always Malaysian’s favorite and this highlight event is certainly making all football fans an excited yet tiring month. Ipoh Parade Shopping Centre is also not leaving behind from the hottest thing in town and making football balloons as decoration in the mall. So now football is almost everywhere in our life, even when we shop.

Reborn of Kinta Swimming Club

Kinta Swimming Club at Silibin Road is one of the oldest swimming clubs in Ipoh. Established in 1936, the club has gone through over 75 years, although it had been closed down for almost 18 years since 1990’s. As I remember, father used to bring my sister here because it is just about a kilometer from home. This was a well known landmark in Silibin area during those years. However, after ceasing operation for almost 2 decades, many Ipoh citizens, has forgotten or even do not aware of the existence of this club. Although I have not ever visited Kinta Swimming Club, but I am happy that it is reborn now.

Scene of the Past

The alley beside Kong Heng coffee shop is planted with some trees. Exterior of the building remained untouched. A very unique hotel is established within this building above Kong Heng coffee shop, so called Sekeping Kong Heng. It is purposely to maintain this old building at its original condition in order to allow the guess to experience real old living environment of Ipoh. The scene on this alley looked like unchanged since early 20^th century.



Pigeons on the Bank

When the day is going to end, pigeons that normally hanging around the fountain at Ipoh Padang are not seen during evening. It seems they have moved high up there on the RHB Bank building right opposite to the fountain.