A City of Our Own Part V: Ipoh

Posted by Syazwan Hakim on January 15, 2012

“My town is famous for its numerous tourist attractions and not to forget, various local delicacies. Yum.”

Syazwan, as an ‘Ipoh Mali’ boy, is excited to share about his little town. Syazwan is the front-end developer at Stampede.

I hail all the way from Ipoh, the capital city of Perak. The name came from a local tree called “pokok ipoh” of which their poisonous sap was used for local people hunting darts. Ipoh is also known as “San Seng” or “Pa-loh” in Cantonese was founded by Dato’ Panglima Kinta. The town was well known in Tanah Melayu (Malaysia) for the precious source of metal in late 1800 – this is for tin ore. The establishment of British tin mining companies at the turn of the 20th century created a golden economic age as large financial institutions such as The Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China Ltd set up shops in the town. The tin ore mining is the main reason for the arrival of vast number of Chinese people. Ipoh obtained the status as Perak capital ever since the World War II had been taking place. During that time, the Japanese people had established Ipoh as Administrative center of Perak with their Grand Colonial Building named as St. Michael’s which now had become St Michael’s Institution secondary school.

As for now, Ipoh is the 4th main city in Malaysia along with Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Johor Bahru at the top. Ipoh is famous for its numerous tourist attractions and not to forget, various local delicacies. Ipoh itself as a city is worthwhile to visit as the Old town of Ipoh is filled with various shop houses and buildings which date back to more than one hundred years ago. Isn’t that amazing?

Ipoh Field

Ipoh Railway Station

Located near the Ipoh field, it is not only a railway station – it also have its first class hotel accommodation on the upper floor, which gives the stranger a hint as to the wealth and importance of the town of Ipoh. An automobile guide of 1925 stated that “The railway hotel at Ipoh supplies the best accommodation to be found in Perak – nice airy rooms, up-to-date sanitary arrangements, the best of food”. Today the Ipoh Railway Station houses the Majestic Hotel – previously known as the Station Hotel Ipoh. To the locals, the neo-classical/Edwardian Baroque structure is the “Taj Mahal of Ipoh”. The landscaped garden in front of the Railway Station accentuates its sense of grandeur.

Darul Ridzuan Museum

Constructed 80 years ago by a tin miner. It has the most interesting collection of artifacts on tin mining in Malaysia. Visitors also can explore an underground shelter within its premises which was built by the owner as a hideout from air raids during World War II. The museum is open daily except for Hari Raya Puasa and Hari Raya Haji at 9.30 a.m. – 5.00 p.m with free admission fee.

MBI City Square

Known for its clock tower, the city square is the focal point of the Ipoh New Town. It usually used for the festival such as TV3′s Jom Heboh and anniversary gathering (Independence Day, New Year etc.). When not in festival mode, you can see a lot of stall at one of the streets here selling various local delicacies such as Char Kuey Teow, Mee Udang and Mee Kicap.

Kek Lok Tong Temple

In English it is dubbed as the “Cavern of Ultimate Bliss”. The temples was first opened to the public in late 70s. Just like other temples which placed various statue of Buddha and the impressive rocky formations, it also have what local people called as “a portal of a different world”. This is because the stunning panoramic park behind the cave which is completely separated from the outside world and only surrounded by numerous tall mountains. The only way to reach the park is through cave itself.

The Lost World of Tambun

The water theme park is the latest attraction of Ipoh located at Tambun. It is fully managed by The Sunway Group. There’s a lot of activities you can do here – among others are Adventure River, Jungle Wave Bay, Tube Raiders, Cliff Racer, Tambun Hot Springs and Explorebay. For animal lovers, you would not want to miss an opportunity to go to Tiger Valley, home of Siberian and Bengal Tigers. If you’re lucky, you can watch their staffs feeding the tigers. Don’t forget to drop by their petting zoo which is a home to a 4000 animals from 55 species.

Gerbang Malam

Gerbang Malam is a local flea market located at the middle of Ipoh. The market operates at 7PM until 3AM with the peak hour at 11PM – 1 AM daily. The streets along Gerbang Malam will be filled up with temporary night hawkers that sells food and general item in the cheapest prices possible. This is the main attraction for nightlife at Ipoh. Whenever there are big festivals,Gerbang Malam is the busiest place in Ipoh.

As for travelers visiting Ipoh, there are quite a few reputable accommodations such as the Syuen Hotel, the Heritage Hotel and the Casuarina Parkroyal Hotel. Do drop by, and I will show you around!

(P/s: A little trivia on Ipoh – did you know that actress Michelle Yeoh, the butt-kicking Bond girl also hails from Ipoh? Well, now you do.)

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A City of Our Own Part IV: Batu Pahat

Posted by See Guo Lin on April 26, 2011

“There are no other places that I love as much as my beloved hometown Batu Pahat – the perfect ratio of blend between serenity and modernisation that I cannot find in another place.”

Guo Lin shares about the town where he was born and grew up in. Guo Lin is a Web Developer and Analyst in Stampede.

Batu Pahat town, also known as Bandar Penggaram is the second largest city in Johor after Johor Bahru, and the 10th largest city in Malaysia (as of 2008). Johor is the southern-most state in Peninsular Malaysia, while Batu Pahat is located on the west cost of Johor. The development of Batu Pahat has surpassed Alor Setar and Kuala Terengganu, which have both achieve city status, although the government has no plan to upgrade the status of the town yet.

The name Batu Pahat can be translated as chiselled rock in English. Popular belief among the town people regarding the origin of the name is that it was taken from a chiselled rock well located at the mouth of Batu Pahat River, believed to be dug by Siamese troops after a failed attack on Malacca. Another name of the town, which is Bandar Penggaram, literally means the town of salt-makers. The name is less often used by the locals, except when differentiating the Batu Pahat town and the Batu Pahat district in a context.

The most significant and symbolic landmark of this small town is the fountain with a sculpture depicting a pair of floating hands chiselling a rock in the town square, Dataran Penggaram. Families come to the town square to have picnics and other family activities during evenings and weekend nights.

Batu Pahat contributes the most to textile production of Malaysia, with more than 300 textile and garment factories established here. Other than that, food processing, electronics, and furniture industries have also established prominent existence in the city.

Some of the refurbished pre-WWII shophouses in Batu Pahat. The wall sculpture are unique for each shophouse.

I was born in Batu Pahat town, was brought up and educated here during my childhood and adolescence. Then I left for Perak, a northern state in Peninsular Malaysia for university for about five years. After that, I went straight to Kuala Lumpur to work for about two years. During these seven years that I am not really living in Batu Pahat, the little town has grown a lot. Several shopping malls and hypermarkets have flourished within a few years with the third town centre established.

Having travelled and lived in different places in Malaysia all these years, there are no other places that I love as much as my beloved hometown Batu Pahat – the perfect ratio of blend between serenity and modernisation that I cannot find in another place.

Images courtesy of Achmal.

I enjoy the air and the climate in Batu Pahat. Whenever I step down from the long-distance coach, I feel relived again breathing the air with the scent of my hometown. I enjoy driving in the town centre of Batu Pahat. Everyone drives at a decent speed but not overly fast. The pace of life is just nice for me.

Although Batu Pahat is not a big city like Kuala Lumpur or Johor Bahru, I never have trouble getting something I need in Batu Pahat. Food and household supplies are definitely cheaper than those in big cities due to the standard of living. Electronics and IT products are more or less at the same price as those in the cities as well. Although we do not get big-scale concerts or exhibitions here, the other things are pretty much comparable to those in Kuala Lumpur or Johor Bahru. If there is a thing that I would complain about Batu Pahat is that whenever there is new high speed broadband and cellular network or technology, Batu Pahat usually only gets them after they have been rolled out for a few years in the big cities.

Nevertheless, Batu Pahat is still a great place to settle down to me. Urban development has destroyed much of the tranquillity in big cities. Even so, I can’t live without a good amount of urbanisation. My beloved hometown Batu Pahat has the ‘just nice’ amount of both to me, and I selfishly hope it stays at the size it is now so that the serenity can be retained.

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A City of Our Own Part III: Kajang

Posted by Mujib Jazmin on January 28, 2011

“My father told me that his late uncle, not wearing any helmet, would ride his vintage Ducati bike very fast around the “roundabout” to impress his friends with his bike skills.”

Kajang town is where it all began. Mujib Jazmin is the Junior Web Designer at Stampede

We know every place tells a different story. Here I wish to share a bit of story about my beloved hometown. I was born in 1990 in a place known as the “Satay Town” of Malaysia which is Kajang. Kajang is in the eastern part of Selangor and located 21km from the capital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur. First settlement was established in 1709 by the natives. Well you can gain this information from the National Archive or more conveniently from Wikipedia.

What I‘m going to share with everyone is not about the present days of my hometown but more interestingly, about the old days of Kajang based on the first-hand account of my father. That‘s right, he was also born in Kajang in the late 60‘s. During his childhood, he was raised by his mother and late grandmother together with his brother, uncle and aunt in a house located in a village named Sungai Kantan.

According to my father, during his childhood, Kajang was a quiet town where not many things happened during the day other than people doing routines to support their families. Then, there was a “roundabout” road in the middle of the town, where Metro Kajang is now. My father told me that his late uncle, not wearing any helmet, would ride his vintage Ducati bike very fast around the “roundabout” to impress his friends with his bike skills. Nearby, was the famous “satay” seller in Kajang called Tasmin and the price for a stick of satay during that time was only 15 cents. The meat was skewed with veins of coconut palm frond instead of bamboo.

There were two big cinemas in Kajang town. One was built by the British before the Second World War, which was then turned into a school by the Japanese during their occupation of Malaya and made everyone sing the Japanese national anthem every morning. Thus it got named the National Cinema. Back then when movie tickets were really cheap, it was one of my father‘s favorite places to visit with his mates on Saturdays.

The other cinema was the Sun Cinema which was also located nearby the National Cinema. It was built after the independence of Malaya most probably in the mid 60‘s. Today both cinemas were no longer around. The National cinema was demolished to make way for Metro shopping complex while the Sun cinema has been converted to a Buddhist temple.

Despite the rapid development in Kajang, we can still see buildings that were built in the 1920‘s. It is because the Kajang Municipal council has decided not to demolish the old buildings to conserve the rich heritage of the town. Over time, this introduced congestions. Well you can imagine the combinations of old and modern buildings being “patched” up together in a small town, where the roads are mostly not systematic, the populations grow in rapid figures, causing massive traffic jams most of the time. Fortunately, now since they have built the Silk highway, the traffic jam has been reduced quite significantly.

In the outskirt of Kajang town back in those days, lays a few villages where the Malays, Chinese and Indians dwells. The Sungai Chua village was mostly populated by Chinese, Sungai Kantan and Sungai Ramal villages by the Malays and Kajang estate, Brummah estate by the Indians. They were all separated by the British according to their races. Now, most of the villages have been replaced by new housing estates and shopping complex. During my father‘s teenage years, he used to go fishing at old mining pools near Sungai Kantan. He said, you can choose any pools you like, and fish whatever fresh water fish that you like. Further up from the old mining pools there was a stream which the locals called “jeram” that my father and his friends used to swim together and enjoyed the tranquility of the surroundings.

That was yester years, a long time ago. Now they were gone forever. The hills and greeneries have been replaced by highways. The old mining pools have been filled with land and housing estates were built on top of it. Last time, during the day, you can feel the freshness of air around you. You can drink the fresh water from the “jeram” without even boiling it. You can easily catch all sort of fresh water fishes like the Tilapia and Lampam. Now no more. “Oh! How I missed that time so much” said my father.

As I said earlier, I was born in 1990, and there isn‘t much I can tell about modern-day Kajang than the information that is in the Internet. The Kajang which I am living now is no longer green or tranquil.  All that is left are the old buildings which are the main cause of the jams. Besides that everything has changed.

Well that‘s a bit about Kajang, now and before.  I do hope we cherish our green earth that we lived in for a better living tomorrow.

(gorgeous photography by Yummy Corner and Kajang Town, Selangor, Malaysia)

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