Seemsoon Hotel Opened

After almost 2 years of construction & preparation, Seemsoon Hotel finally commence operation. This is another mid level hotel that will compete with Ritz Garden Hotel, Ipoh City Hotel & so on. The blog "From Emily To You" is sharing more details about Seemsoon Hotel & the owner's background. The following is the basic information.

Address: 2, Regat Dato’ Mahmud, 31650 Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia.
Tel: +605-2556888
Fax: +605-2433222
Email: seemsoonhotel@yahoo.com



New Observation on Pasir Puteh Road

While driving on Pasir Puteh Road from south towards city center, the architecture of buildings along the road changes from new to old. At the session closer to Pengkalan, I find shop lots in recent years' design. When reaching mid span of Pasir Puteh, where it crosses Sultan Azlan Shah Road, there are buildings in typical 90's architecture. Then I see 80's, 70's design while approaching city center. At this cross junction with Tokong Street, the feeling of 50's, 60's is seen on this shop. I just started to observe in this way recently. Probably my next move is to confirm the actual age of these shops along Pasir Puteh Road & plot a history map of it.

Seemsoon Hotel Is Coming Soon

On 01-April-2011, a post is shared about completion of basic structure for a budget hotel at upstream Pasir Puteh Road. One year later, the hotel still not open which make me wonder what has caused the delay while it seemed completed almost 12 months ago. Recently there are some metal structures added to the building. Some steel beams are attached to the side of the hotel & a huge shade is under construction at the roof top. And finally I find a banner in front of the hotel advertising the staff recruitment. I also get to know it is called Seemsoon Hotel. However, there is still no information about the official opening date.

Beautiful Mosque

This mosque in SPPPK Housing Estate has just been renovated & looked beautiful. It is called Al-Furqan Mosque. I find it so attractive especially under the nice blue sky with clear white clouds.

Old Commercial Complex

I believe many people in Ipoh, including myself, cannot name this building, right at the junction of Yang Kalsom Road, Chamberlain Road & Pasir Puteh Road. This junction used to be a roundabout and replaced with traffic light system many years ago. Only when I came to visit it I figure out it's called Kong Wah Building. There are not many occupants at upper floors. I think the high vacant rate is due to lack of car parking and the surrounding traffic system is not favor to visitor to enter this building.

New Skyline at Upper Pasir Puteh Road

The 7-storey hotel building changes the skyline of upper Pasir Puteh Road. Although its complete structure has been completed since few months ago, some detail works seem progressing slow. The hotel still not opened today and the front yard is still seen with working machines.

Cross Road Dilemma

There is a coffee shop at cross junction along Pasir Puteh Road closed down. Its signboard has been removed but the old painting beneath the signboard surfaced again. Commercial units at cross road used to be popular in the past as it can be accessed & viewed from different directions. However, I find out this is not really true nowadays. With increasing vehicle & heavier traffic, major cross roads are usually installed with traffic light system & parking is prohibited at its surrounding. Almost everyone in Ipoh going out by driving nowadays. As a result, people unwilling to visit shops at those major cross roads due to the inconvenience of car parking.

Hotel Rushing For Completion

The 7-storey hotel under construction is close to completion. I believe it will be opened in a month or half in order to catch up with the peak season during Chinese New Year (early Feb-2011). I find the progress is pretty slow. Since my last post about it in 09-Jan-2010, which had reached 6th floor at that time, the work has not completely done after almost a year later. Anyway, I like the color of the building, unlike many other new buildings that uses striking but unmatched colors. However, I still not sure of the hotel name. May be it will be unveiled soon.

Nine Emperors' Celebration

Tow Boh Keong Temple (斗母宫) at Tokong Road (near Kampar Road) is one of the biggest Chinese temple in Ipoh. Every year in the first nine days of Lunar calender 9th month, it will have grand celebration of the birthday of Nine Emperors (九皇爷诞). This is also a big event in some other temples in Ipoh and also other major towns in Malaysia, such as Penang. Tow Boh Keong is always the most popular among the temples and therefore it is also known as the Nine Emperors Temple. During these nine days, the temple is crowded day and night. Traffic at the surrounding area is definitely congested and there are many people selling joss stick.

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At the front yard, a tall post called "Sky Lamp" (天灯) with nine lamps installed is standing. As I know, this is the signal to Heaven that praying event is being carried out on earth. The lamps will be sent to ground from time to time for refilling and raised to top again. The banner is written "Blessing from Heaven" (天宫赐福).

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The front yard also houses a stage that performs traditional Cantonese opera which is rarely seen in Ipoh. It used to be quite common in many temples decades ago but nowadays we can only find it during some limited occasions. The seats are full and there are majority from the elder generation.
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Another unique thing of this event is the turtle bun. Most of it are colored in red and therefore people use to call it red turtle bun (红龟包). There are several sizes, from normal size of a bun to as big as these in this photo. Its top is always written with blessing words. I like it since I was young mainly because of its cute looking. Although it is just a plain bun but it is tasty especially when taken in hot.

Occupant Keep Changing

This 4-storey building is located at the junction between Pasir Puteh Road & Leong Boon Swee Road, which is right beside the traffic light. This is the the closest portion of Pasir Puteh to city center & it suppose a strategic commercial location. However, the occupants of this building had been changing several times. It was even once won the Ipoh City Council's award of building decoration several years ago. I am thinking it could be the heavy traffic that leads to no parking lot around this building that cause the difficulty in attracting customer.

More Budget Hotels

I am not sure how the demand of budget hotel in Ipoh is, but I find it is like growing mushroom after a rainy day. More and more are operating either at downtown or at the outskirts of the city. This is one in larger scale, which will be a 7-storey building with almost hundred rooms. The hotel is located at the middle of a triangle section in the city surrounded by Chamberlain Road, Pasir Puteh Road & Tokong Road, but only reachable by smaller access roads from these main roads. It seems that it will share the piece of cake with nearby competitors such as Ritz Garden Hotel, Lucky Hotel & Fairmont Hotel.

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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