the silent town - awaiting rejuvenation

This wide angle shot of the Rex cinema Ipoh, from the junction off Hugh Low was taken on the eve of the Deepavali, 07November at 6:00pm.

The quietness of the town struck me anew with awe each trip that I travel back to the town, er no, it's the city. It is something that I have not gotten used to and this picture seems to have captured the new mood of the city.. center, that is pretty lethargic and lifeless in the evening, and even dark at night.

For the Ipoh I knew - and where I had my education in the 1960/s to the 1970/s - was a bustling and vibrant town. On a holiday eve, the cinemas would be packed with moviegoers, and especially if a good show was in town. The roads would be congested and traffic heavy. The coffee shops would not be closed till past 9pm and the road side stalls starting business from 6pm would add buzz and gaiety to the nightlight till past mid-night.

This strewth of road that cuts thro the new town had 4 cinemas within the kilometer stretch- with Ruby at one end and Majestic at the other and Capitol and Rex in between - would be jam packed with cars, and the shows would be running back to back at from 6:30pm, 9pm and 11:30pm on the eve of the festive holidays and on weekends.

Alas, Ipoh town is becoming historic. Life has moved to the outskirts, and to the housing estates to the north. Many of the rows of shop houses are nearing a century old, and business had hollowed out. If only there would be an earnest attempt to rejuvenate and bring it back to life... it could rival Boise, Idaho, perhaps.

Well, with the rising price of metals, mining may make a comeback to the Silver Valley, and tin could rebuilt the town afresh.

a letter to school - 1963

With this letter dated 29Nov 1963, I was formally admitted to the Anglo-Chinese Primary School, National Type (English) Ipoh, to start my Standard One education in January 1964. To confirm admission the parents must be at the school office between 12th to 18th December to pay the school admission fees.

The letter spelt out the fees to be paid, $5.00 for consolidated fee, which included Games, Arts & Handicraft and Library, and $17.30 for books, writing and other materials.

It also spelt out the school attire, which was white shirt and shorts. Though slippers were clearly mentioned not allowed, and shoes were to be worn, the letter did not specify the type and color of the shoes to be worn, or the color of socks allowed.

The headmaster of the school was Mr. Low Chooi Beng. He was a slim, bespectacled man and serious looking master. I recalled that in one of the later years while still in primary school, I sent him a Chinese New Year greeting card with the prompting from dad.

Another letter from the school dated 6th Dec, 1963 informed the parents that the new school term will start from 13th Jan 1964. This is later than the start of the school term nowadays, which is usually at the beginning of the New Year on the first working day of the new calendar. The Standard One session starts from 7:30am and ends at 12:15pm.
As I did not attend kindergarten, the new school year was my first day to a school & mixing with other kids.

It was again emphasized in this letter that the school uniform is white shirt and shorts, and no slippers allowed. The school badge of cloth material was to be sewn on the left pocket of the shirt.

This would be the start of a 20 year odyssey of education, from a little boy of 6 years and 7months old, short of a day on the first day of school. The educational path was not particularly planned, especially on the first 13 years of education, but with only a single emphasis and aim– to study hard and to pass with good grades so as to be promoted & continued in the A class in the next educational year.




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the town that tin built

This picture of the Ipoh railway station was taken in Feburary 2004, at its finishing touches. As part of the double track northern sector railway expansion project, the station was renovated and given a fresh coat of paint. The Ipoh railway station was one of the grandest and the three biggest railway stations that the colonial master planned and build in the Federated Malaya States and the Straits Settlement. The other two being the Kuala Lumpur railway station and the Singapore railway station.

Located in the middle of the Kinta Valley, Ipoh was once described as the town that tin built. The rough and tough bustling heydays of the wild north where immigrants came to seek their fortune in the open cast tin mines are long gone. The tin industry brought with it restaurants, sing-song girls, bars, massage palours and in the seventies of the last century chic barber shops notoriously famous for the extra services provided by the female barber. There were also the pretty and innocent lass selling herbal drink from the roadside stall. And, the fine gal with the film star look selling g-cheong fun (a version of rice noodles).

What has Lee Ang's Crouching Tiger and Bond film got to do with Ipoh, you may ask. Well, Ipoh is well known for producing pretty maidens, and the lead actress is a fine product of Ipoh. However an absurd tale that folks in other town have about Ipoh beauties was that because Ipoh was a mistress town, therefore naturally she has more beauties than any other towns in the country. They said mistresses were more often than not prettier than the customary wives, and pretty mum begets pretty daughters. Was it not envy that wove that falsehood.?

Vistors to Ipoh used to praise her as the cleanest town in the country. It was a planned town with its shop houses laid out in grid and a good drainage system helps to keep it clean. She is also blessed with good water from the surrounding limestone mountains. It has it that without the water, Ipoh would not be endowed with the silken hofun (another version of rice noodles) and crunchy bean sprout. The Ipoh hofun found here in the Singpore is a poor imitation of the real thing.

A while back an article in the ST contrasted its fortune with the booming Kerteh town, which was a fishing village located in the coast of the oil rich state off the eastern peninsula. Fortune wax and wane, and it is no different with towns and cities. Ipoh is quiet, and laid back, showing its age. The city center in the old and new town has hollowed out as the center of business activities shifted northwards to the North-South Highway.

Ipoh railway station will always have a place in the heart of the folks that hailed from this fine town. There were many a farewell enacted here over the century, where their immigrant forefathers would take the train from here to Singapore to catch the boat back to China. This was the station where the country boy would alight en route back to his kampong during his college days in KL.


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