Goodbye 2009

No matter good or bad, year 2009 is over and we have gone through 10 years in the new millennium. Sure everyone is looking forward for a better future, but we must remember the future is on our hand. It depends on how we shape it. I wish we will make some changes, even simple one, to return a cleaner & safer world to live.

Keep It Clean

I was waiting in front a traffic light of Cockman Street (Jalan Dato' Onn Jaafar) and glanced at the back alley of shop houses. It is not as bad as my expectation, but quite clean. At least no accumulated rubbish like other streets. It is best if the same condition can be maintained throughout the city & hopefully to gain back the title of "cleanest city in Malaysia" that was once honored to Ipoh in 1970's.

Looking for Room

There are many Ipoh youngsters choose to work away from hometown once completed study from college or university because there is little job opportunities in this city. The industrial & infrastructure development are behind other major cities in the country, such as Kuala Lumpur, Johor Baru, Penang, Melaka, Shah Alam & Seremban. Therefore, it is very common for a Ipoh boy or girl to look for renting a room at their first job in the stranger city. By a chance I find a website, Cari Bilik (means “find a room” in Malay), which is very helpful for those boys & girls, of course not only from Ipoh but from allover the country, even overseas, to look for a suitable & affordable room to stay. To my surprise the website contains as many as 20,000 posts of room for rent, covering all states and major cities in Malaysia, in which the posts concentrated at fast growing areas like Kuala Lumpur, Selangor & Penang. For each post, it has typically information of rent rate, facilities, preference of tenant & contact. Some are attached with photo. To search in this website is quite simple & straight forward as its room location is categorized by state & subsequently by town. The website is not only providing a platform for someone to search for room, but also to advert the room to let. A user, either an advertiser or a seeker, is required to complete a free registration for login to upload posting or retrieve contact. I find this is a good feature to protect the privacy of advertiser. Anyway, there are some owners already included the contact numbers in the post. Let’s try this website if one is looking for room for rent in Malaysia.

A Burning Sky

The sky looked like burning in the morning. I was stopping at road side when on the way to work to capture this beautiful scene.

Free Advertisement Board

We used to see people putting up the wedding event direction signs on the road sign boards or lamp posts. I would consider this is an improper practice but I cannot deny this is an effective & cheap way of showing the guest of event to the desired destination.

The Church in Lights

The Church of Our Lady of Lourdes at Silibin Road is beautifully decorated with light bulbs during Christmas & New Year. The church was so crowded on Christmas Eve and had made the surrounding a joyful environment.

Merry Christmas 2009!!

Merry Christmas! As usual the shopping complex is nicely decorated during this greeting season. The main court of Kinta City Shopping Center stood a big Christmas tree & a performing stage. Time is passing so fast where we are now at the year end. Everyone is welcoming the upcoming year of 2010 to be a better, healthier & greener year.

Decorations of Christmas

There are more decorations of Christmas in this year. I believe the worst time of the economy crisis is over & business is picking up again. Many start to gain much in wealth & prosperity. Anyway, we shall not forget the unfortunates around us as well as at the other corner of the world and to lend our hands whenever it is needed.

Malaysia Property Website

Working in my current job, I have chance to chat with visitors from overseas whom could be my customer or vendor. When out for meal or shopping, we usually talk about Malaysia properties because they are curious about how’s the value of houses over here. I got most of them find the properties in Malaysia are good, quite affordable & worthwhile. Recently I found this website, PropWall, which is a good interface for the local citizens as well as foreigners to seek their dream house in Malaysia. The website promotes high quality properties from landed houses to luxury condominiums, and also offices, shops & factories. It contains quite a large number of choices that located mostly in Kuala Lumpur, Klang Valley and Penang. Besides, clear and large photos are available for viewing, make it a fast & convenient way to assess the property. Furthermore, there are details about a particular community or development project such as the developer background, nearby communities, transportation, population, facilities and much more useful information. The feature I like most is the analysis column in which comments are posted about the property that gives a wider coverage of information. In case anyone is interested, I believe to find a right contact person is not a problem because a list of agents is available. I do hope there will be more properties in other cities throughout Malaysia, such as Johor Baru, Ipoh, Kuching, Melaka, etc. included in this website. To explore more about Malaysia Property, this is the right website of viewing.

Beginning of A Day

After a 3-day off since last Friday, today is the first day back to work & I should drive to Kuala Lumpur to handle some issues. The sun rise of this day is beautiful. Hoping that this would be a good day.

Away from City

It's too bore to stay in the city with big crowd everywhere because of the long weekend (Friday was a public holiday). In this cloudy day, why not escape from the congestion & go for fresh air. Driving along the countryside is so relax & refreshing.

The Wooden & Bamboo Sphinx

I was attending the campfire of my secondary school Boy Scout, the 72nd Kinta Troop. This is an event to celebrate its 41st Anniversary. It is a tradition for the boy & girl Scout to create some special gadjets during the anniversaries. This time a Sphinx that made from wood and bamboo has became the background of the main stage. Awesome!

http://72ndkintascouttroop.blogspot.com/

Sky in Silver & Blue

The sky looked like a silver screen during the sunset. It was taken when on the way home & stuck in a traffic jam. Well, sometimes slowing down isn't a bad idea. We may see unexpected nice view.

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Shining on Cloud

In the morning, I was driving to work on Kuala Kangsar Road. Before the sunshine hitting the ground, it shines on the cloud. We can always find bright clouds even in the west when sun rising in the east.

Traditional Convenient Store

There used to be many of this kind of convenient store everywhere in the city, especially in residential areas. It was very popular at the years of 1970's to 1980's. Later, when supermarket, hypermarket start landed here, and the popularity of personal transport, going farther to the modern shopping malls become very common. These stores are now getting lesser. I miss the time I used to find cheap stuff here when I was a child.

Working Under the Sun

There are two workers putting on the bricks for a pedestrian walkway in front of the Methodist Girl School, one of the well-known secondary school in Ipoh. It's a hot and burning atmosphere under the afternoon sun. In order to earn for living, many have to suffer physical stress like this.

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Time to Take a Rest

After a day of hard work, it's time to take a rest. The birds are lining up on a electric cable in front of the factory. Just like us, it's time to put down the work pressure and go home for a relaxing evening.

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Hot Afternoon, Rainy Evening

A scene at part of Chamberlain Street (Jalan C.M. Yusuf). It seems that weather will start changing. It was continuous rainy days for weeks where downpour begins in the afternoon. However, the rain comes late in the past few days. The afternoon become hot & skin-burning, while it only rains in the evening.

OCBC Bank Under The Nice Blue Sky

It's a sunny afternoon in Old Town. Partial of the sky shows white clouds and blue sky. It makes the heritage building of OCBC Bank looked even more attractive. However, another portion of the sky is, in fact, start seeing dark clouds growing. Soon it will become a rainy afternoon.

Eu Yan Sang at Leech Street

Eu Yan Sang is a famous brand for Chinese traditional medicine. It is founded in 1879 by Eu Kong, who migrated from Southern China to Malaya. He settled down in Gopeng town, which was a boosting tin mining town. He helped the tin miners recovering from their physical suffering & health damages. Later, Eu Tong Sen, his eldest son, was expending the business to Kampar, Ipoh, Singapore and as far as Hong Kong. This Eu Yan Sang building in Leech Street still marked with his name and the year of completion, 1907. A hundred year later, many of the neighbouring structures have been rebuilt but this building remain unchanged, just like what was captured in the below photo (first shop on right hand).

New Food Court Open Soon

Ipoh is famous of its food. Despite the tremendous numbers of eating shops (normally called coffee shop) and restaurants around the city, food court is also growing. The advantage of a food court is we can choose from many varieties of food that we like, from Chinese to Malay, Indian, from oriental to western. This food court, GP, is about to open in First Garden soon and is one of the few branches in the city. It will be operating in a well-built structure featured with some small retail shops, just like the well known Woolley Food City & Tasek Square.

Blank Board

The flyover of Kuala Kangsar Road across Anderson Road is a busy interchange in the city. Somehow, I am wondering the advertisement board on the structure is not that popular. There was an advertisement of a well-known camera but stagnant for quite some time. And since the camera removed from there, the board is left blank. Isn't it a waste as so many cars pass by this location everyday.

Railway Station Garden Arcs

The existing landscape of the garden in front of Ipoh Railway Station has not changed for more than 10 years. These arcs are very popular structure for photo taking by visitors & tourists. Bougainvillea flower, flower of the city, are planted everywhere in the garden.

Old OCBC Bank Building

This is the previous OCBC bank building which is now vacant. It was one of the landmark of old time Ipoh. The building is located at the first row of shop houses along Old Town Hugh Low Street. I have seen it appears in many photos taken before & after World War II. The photo below is one of it, where the building with the unique architecture can be clearly identified at the right of this street.

Praying at Tow Boh Keong Temple

The celebration for God of 9 Emperors (九皇爷) birthday is on for the 7th day. I came to Tow Boh Keong Temple (斗母宫 Dou Mu Gong) pray for good luck. The crowd although is not as many as I imagine but I still feel the difficulty to move around the temple. This is the Light of Heaven (天灯), to my understanding, which is a signal to the heaven that praying event is held on the earth.

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The Lucky Lights

There are decorating lights installed on the external pillars of this shop. Each of it has its own shading protecting it from sun & rain, whereby the air conditioning compressor unit is not so lucky. This is a shop selling useful & nice looking bottles & cans, located at the meeting point of Hugh Low Street & Leech Street.

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Film Shooting at New Town

Ipoh is considered quite a popular place for film shooting, epecially those telling the 1940-1970's stories. May be because of its old building and limited skyscrapers, it's relatively easier for the film maker to recreate the atmosphere of the old time. This event was took place next to the site of demolished Yau Tet Shin Market. Many are quite interested to stay for watching how the filming is being carried out. I just got to know from someone that this is a crew from Singapore.

Evening in Town

When day starts turning dark, the civilian on the street become lesser. Only cars are roaring and moving fast on the road. This area used to be crowded at night with people shopping at the complex and watching movies in the 3 nearby traditional cinemas, which are all converted to other purposes now.

Flipping Butterfly

It is recently very common seeing cars in the city installed with a solar energized decorating toy. It normally appears as 2 pieces of grass in a vase. When sunshine shining the toy, the grass will start flipping. Anyway, I find a different pattern in Old Town this afternoon. The grass become a butterfly & the base is a ladybird. I think I will find one for myself.

Commemorate the Brave Men

This is a memorial at the garden in front of Ipoh Railway Station. Many may not know if not approaching to it, that this is actually to commemorate those who were from the State of Perak lost their lives during World War I (1914-1918).

Praying at Lunar Nineth Month

The 9th month in Chinese Lunar calender is approaching. The Chinese is celebrating the birthday for God of 9 Emperors. There are few temples in the city organizing big praying events that last for 9 days. It will start from the first day of the month, which is this coming Sunday. We start to see flags put up by the temples at its nearby area.

A Sunny Morning

Right before I get into my car and driving to work, I took this down. A fresh and sunny morning in Ipoh. Anyway, you can never predict a downpour in the afternoon. It's close to the 9th month of Chinese Lunar calender. So, raining season is approaching.

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Back to Silibin

Silibin Road (Jalan Silibin) appears in my life since I was born. Although I spent few years away from Ipoh for further study, and moving to new house in Klebang few years ago, at last I am back driving daily on Silibin Road to work. Well, I may thaught I have progressed far but seem like I am moving back to the same point.

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Busy Hugh Low Street

As usual, Hugh Low Street was having heavy traffic this afternoon. There are 4 cross junctions with traffic light along the street while 3 of it at New Town are always congested during rush hour in the afternoon. It used to have police officers to temporary control the traffic flow at these locations.

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Competative Business

Within a distance of less than a kilometer, there are three furniture show rooms open along the Kuala Kangsar Road. I can imagine there are many more in the city that I know and I do not know. Just wondering the market of furniture is so competative but yet there are more and more new show rooms available around the city.

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Reuse Paper in Wrong Way

Sometimes when we are running short of resources, many alternative has to be explored. Anyway, to replace the missing petrol inlet cover with trash paper may not be a good idea.

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Communicating with the Moon

A latest move of human being to explore the Moon, NASA has just crashed a space ship on the Moon surface to investigate the existence of water. Will I be able to witness the day that human being colonize the Moon? Since we put our first foot print 40 years ago, exploring the Moon was getting cool for some time, but it is now back on stage again.

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Return of the Camera

The update of this blog was ceased for a month because the camera broke down. Finally it's back on function today after repair. The sunset captured through backyard of shop houses at New Town. .

Another Warm Day

I still talk about the same thing today, it's hot hot hot!! It's a off day of my factory today, so I send my car for repair at Bercham and stay in brother home nearby. I almost sweating the whole afternoon in the warm weather. When back to the workshop for my car, it's 7pm in the evening but the day is still bright. The condominium building still reflecting strong sunlight.

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Growing Clouds

Sometimes I do hope the clouds would grow bigger and bigger, then bring a downpour to remove the accumulated heat. Anyway, my wish didn't turn true today.....

Clear Sky Bright Moon

Weather just changed drastically, from raining everyday, become warm days, almost without any signal. In the cloudless sky, although this is not a fullmoon night, the moon looked so bright.

Sunset at Greentown

This is viewed from the Greentown Business Center. I was stopped by at roadside answering a phone call and caught the beautiful sunset.

Since 1921

I was driving along Market Street, Old Town and find this attractive shop house that I did not really observe in the past. It looked quite unique compare to other neighboring shops. I believe this is reconstructed in year 1921. Anyway, I think the owner has changed and now two different occupants are utilizing the building. It seems like only half of the original building is maintained in better way.

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52nd Independence Day of Malaysia

Today is the 52nd year that Malaysian celebrating the independent of the nation. There is no parade for this year celebration due to the Muslim fasting month. Anyway, the flag pole at Ipoh Padang is, as usual, changing the Perak state flag to Malaysia national flag, Jalur Gemilang, to mark the special day for this nation. Happy birthday to Malaysia, hoping for a progressive development in all sectors and prosperity for all the citizens.

Thirty Five, 35

I found this new shelter at the Bougainvillea Park in front of Ipoh City Council. I am watching the blue sky through the beautifully decorated roof while heading to the restaurant of Secret Recipe at Syuen Hotel for my birthday lunch. Yup, it’s my 35th birthday!!

During dinner, a simple but charming dinner with my family, of course, plus a small cake. And, supper with the special one at night.

Sunset at Panglima Kinta Mosque

A peaceful nightfall at Panglima Kinta Mosque, Hume Street. Although this should be a exciting weekend night, I can only hear from the birds over here.

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