A Tale of Two Cities: Part 1 - Ipoh

Also known as the City that Tin Built or the City of Millionaires, that’s Ipoh, my hometown, although frankly speaking, I dunno any of the millionaires in Ipoh, don’t even know who they are. Ipoh used to be rich (it still is, maybe) because of the rich tin deposits lying beneath and around it. Now, that nobody knows what tin is needed for anymore, Ipoh has become somewhat like a retirement home. Not that I have any complaints, less traffic jam, less people queuing up for movie tickets, cheaper food, cheaper accommodation, hmm bliss…


Just outside the Ipoh High Court

Here’re some pictures of Ipoh, mainly for my foreign friends (not that I have many actually hehehe).

Ipoh is a very unique city, full of identity (not that I’m boasting just because I’m from Ipoh). It is unique because:
- It has its very own variety of hawker food, hardly found anywhere else in Malaysia, e.g. hor hee, chee cheong fun with mushroom sauce (or other types of sauce as one sees fit), chicken & bean sprout hor fun, hakka noodles, just to name a few. And it’s cheap and in manageable portions compared to the bloody expensive huge portions that you get in KL or further south…
- It is pretty clean (for a Malaysian town) and its flora is well-maintained (that’s why it’s also known as the Garden City, never knew a town with so many nicknames huh?)
- It is surrounded with beautiful limestone outcrops (and hence, cave temples) and hills (but how long it’s gonna be like that, depends on how fast the quarries and cement factories take to blow up all the remaining rocks). But then again, if we don’t blow up all those limestone, what industries would Ipoh have huh? Oh yeah, we can build more cave temples, or cave mosques, and why not a cave church?
- Most of its inhabitants do not know their own addresses (or street names to be more precise), …thanks again to our highly efficient and nationalistic City Council who have a knack for renaming street names mainly to rid Ipoh of its colonial past. Ipoh used to have really catchy street names, such as Hugh Low Street, Brewster Road, Anderson Road, Tiger Lane, …just to name a few. Now, it’s err… forgive me, I don’t really know now anymore.

What used to be called Brewster Road and is now called Jalan err... beats me man!

- It has embraced modernization with zeal (never mind those old buildings of yesteryears, they’re just in the way, …err why not whack down that colonial building and replace it with a cube of concrete and blue glass amidst all those grand old colonial buildings huh? To see this landmark, now named Public Bank, visit Ipoh old town).

View from the Ipoh Padang. Notice that square white concrete block of a building jutting above the old shop houses on the left, just next to the minaret? That's the back view of Public Bank

- It is dead quiet and peaceful at night, …compliments again to the City Council for kicking out with gusto, the many food stalls lining the streets of Ipoh. Now everybody can save some money on unhealthy supper, and sleep earlier at night.
- It's idea of cleaning up a popular tourist attraction like Kellie’s Castle (known for its haunted house looks), is to give it a bright new coat of paint, manicured garden, tourist booth, ...bravo, what a bright idea (why don’t we just convert it into an amusement park? and forget about all this haunted house concept)

I have a lot more examples but I better stop before I go overboard. If you wanna know more about the uniqueness of Ipoh’s or Perak’s town and tourism planning, please drop me a word, and I can definitely describe more.


Ipoh Railway Station

Paradise in a Hole

Inside Kek Lok Cave Temple, Ipoh

Just one of the many cave temples in my hometown, Ipoh. This one’s officially called Kek Lok Toong (‘toong’ means cave or hole in Chinese, don’t really know what ‘kek lok’ means (my Chinese ain’t really that good but I think it’s related to Paradise, ...or Nirvana, ...or Utopia, what the heck...), so if this is correct (mates, correct me if I’m wrong) it’ll mean Paradise Cave!


Kek Lok Toong Entrance


Garden at Kek Lok Toong


View of Kek Lok Toong Garden complete with eyesores like the cement factory (partially obscured by trees) and high tension pylon (which is actually quite nice, come to think of it, with its striking colours of red and white huh?)

Things to do in Singapore

Clark Quay Singapore, at night

THINGS TO DO IN SINGAPORE:
Can’t think of any huh? I don’t blame you, but here’re some suggestions: -
- Go on a diet, coz food’s bloody expensive, and not really that good anyway, might as well skip over to good ol' Malaysia for a meal
- Catch a ride on the MRT, bring a book or newspaper, and you can ride across the country as many times as you want, as long as you get out from the station that you bought your ticket for (and as long as you don’t need to go pee or poo-poo and since you’re not allowed to drink or eat in there, this should pose little problem). And besides, there’re lots of nice (meaning pretty) people to look at hehehe
- Window shop, unless you want to blow a hole in your savings
- Go for a jog, coz it’s free and there’re no muggers around, and you can really do a cross-country jog if you want, literally, jog across the whole of Singapore, within a day, if you're fit & strong
- Quit smoking (coz it’s bloody expensive, and besides, where the hell are you gonna smoke? How the hell would a foreigner know which is a smoking zone and which isn’t?)

THINGS NOT TO DO IN SINGAPORE:
- Drive (coz there’re a hundred and one ways of incurring a fine, it’s no parking here, and this stupid space is reserved only for seasoned parkers, and this is a no entry zone for this type of car on this time and on this day, and so on and so forth)
- Eat (see points under above heading)
- Shop (ditto above)
- Pee, Indian style (meaning out in the open, anywhere, anytime), coz it’ll get you into hot soup, don’t believe me, go try it
- Smoke wherever you want (see above)
- Cross the road wherever you want (jay-walking is an offence)
- Cut your nails in public areas (it’s considered littering, right? Ok, community service here you go)
- Act different (Singapore really isn’t very tolerant about wise guys)
- Chew gum (coz it’s banned anyhow, …see the paranoia of it all?)

I have a love-hate relationship with Singapore. On the one hand, I have sworn to enter Singapore only if it’s absolutely necessary (mainly because of the stifling restrictions, it’s like you’re a bloody student, and the prefects are out to book you on every tiny little offence, which you don’t even know exists, and because I have a tendency to blow a lot of my hard-earned cash in Singapore, for reasons beyond my recollection!?). On the other hand, I realized that on every trip I make back to Malaysia, I’d somehow end up in Singapore.

But I have to give kudos to Singapore for their terrific airlines (especially the gorgeous stewardess hehehe and the in-flight entertainment), and for my favourite transit point, Changi Airport (in my view, Changi is Changi; Singapore is Singapore, it’s a complete different world, plus they mark their smoking zones clearly).


Clark Quay Singapore, where old and new collides

Tagged

I’ve been tagged by my cousin sis, and since I have practically nothing to write about, here goes: -
AWESOME PEOPLE I WOULD WANT TO MEET:
1. I’m kinda an introvert, so I’d rather hang around with known friends and family, instead of meeting strangers, ...unless there’re pretty hehehe
2. Dr Mahathir
3. Halle Berry
4. Shakira
5. Jessica Alba, if I start on pretty girls, this’ll never end...

THINGS I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT:
1. Every part of me as it is now (they’re considered things, right?)
2. The ones I love and the ones who love me (alright, they’re people, but ...what the heck man, they’re important)
3. My passport
4. Money
5. My own time

I WISH I COULD:
1. Travel around the world without a care for schedules, resources and responsibilities
2. Produce my own movies
3. Produce my own comics / books
4. Create history
5. Have some kind of superpowers ala the X-Men (wishful thinking)

I WANT:
(Isn’t this the same as the above category?)
1. To travel around the world
2. To have enough time, resources and support to do the above
3. A loving family and home of my own (not now, ...in time)
4. To age gracefully, and die without being senile and without going through periods of pain and suffering
5. To retain whatever open-mindedness, hope & love of mankind, playfulness and creativity that I still have left now, until the day I die

SONGS THAT I THINK ARE AWESOME:
This really depends on the time and my mood (but I really like those who write their own songs). And since my interest encompasses so many types of music...
1. La Tortura
2. That canon by Pachelbel, I thinks it’s D major, right?
3. Anak
4. Kwong Fy Suy Yuet
5. Chiquititta
Etc etc etc

HOW I SEE MYSELF IN 10 YEARS:
1. Old (but hopefully, still as happy-go-lucky as ever)
2. Married with kids
3. Working in some God-forsaken place, where nobody wants to go to
4. Have some cash stashed away for the future, ...for me and my future family
5. Planning to quit the construction industry for something more relaxing, e.g. lecturing hehehe

RANDOM FACTS:
1. I believe all mainstream religions are good, it’s the narrow-minded bloody fanatics that exploit religion for their own interests.
2. I don’t like racists. I strive to be fair to all irrespective of race, religion, caste, class, etc
3. I believe in fate and destiny, a lot, - when you’re supposed to die; whom you’re supposed to marry; whether you’ll get a streak of bad luck or good luck; whether you’ll be sick or not; etc
4. I believe life should be taken with a pinch of salt, why take everything so seriously when everything (except God) is not permanent, including your life?
5. I believe that heaven has eyes (in Cantonese – theen yow ngan) meaning that good deeds will bring about blessings & rewards, and bad deeds will cause you to pay for your just desserts later on

MISCONCEPTIONS:
1. That I’m a workaholic, ...I’m not, I’m actually one helluva lazy employee, coz putting it frankly, I hate to work, if I can delegate, I’ll have no qualms about doing it
2. That I’m a playboy, ...I’m not, ...but I admit I like to have friends of the opposite sex, coz they’re sensitive and they put more importance in friendship, (besides being eye candy for yours truly hehehe). Doesn’t mean that you sleep with every girl that you chat with, right? (The last sentence still makes little sense to some of my more conservative acquaintances, especially in conservative India!)
3. That I love to party and drink, come on, at my age, partying needs a helluva longer time to recharge than before, most of the time I prefer a quieter environment
4. That I’m an extrovert, actually I think I’m quite the opposite, I like to have my own time, a lot, time just by myself to mull over things, and to while time away (my hobby)
5. That I’m commitment-phobic, ...err, this is partially true for the time being

WHO I WANT TO TAG:
Can’t think of any, all whom I wanna tag have been tagged, the rest are just non-writers hehehe.
Oh yeah, there’s my friend, Zara; and Miss Cube (if they still happen to read this blog).

By the way, how do you friggin put links in your blog huh? Too lazy to explore la hehehe.

The Search for Paracetamol

The search for Paracetamol ended up in this hut

Most of my friends and family know this story already.
Briefly: -
Paracetamol (name changed to protect his identity) is my Malaysian ex-colleague who worked in Haulawng for about a month.
Paracetamol is his nickname given by some of the North and East Indians because his original South Indian name is confusing for them (and you thought Indians are Indians).
Paracetamol is a reformed alcoholic, when he first joined, ...it took him about a week in Haulawng to regain his past habit.
Alcohol consumption is BANNED in bloody Mizoram, believe it or not, the only Christian administered place where alcohol is banned, in the world, I think. Anyway, most of the locals drink, and alcohol is kinda easy to get.
Paracetamol got a warning from us (alrite, from me) not to drink in full knowledge of the staff coz it’ll be hard for us to show a good example.
Paracetamol can live without food or water, but NOT without alcohol.
One fine day (actually the day immediately following the warning), Paracetamol decided to disappear from the main camp at Haulawng, he shifted himself (minus his belongings and minus an approval by his boss, meaning me) to a village about 30 km away from the main camp, at a location near where some of our road construction was going on (and near a village famous for production of local liquor).
Paracetamol decided to ignore the repeated request by his colleagues to report back to the main camp.
On the 3rd day after he disappeared, we sent a contingent (led by yours truly) to intercept him. We found his motorbike parked at the side of the road in the middle of no-where. After some time we found out from a local, that our 50 year old friend, Paracetamol trekked into the bamboo jungle with a 50 year old woman (God only knows for what reasons).
The contingent followed suit, and spent about 2 hot and exhausting hours mucking around inside the bamboo jungle and a vacant bamboo hut, but to no avail.
We had to withdraw the contingent as the leader (me) and his assistant (both in their 30s) could not cope up with the antics of the 50 year-old Paracetamol and had to return to the camp to recover from over-exertion.
Paracetamol was finally intercepted near Haulawng, all dirty, disheveled and unshaven, 6 days after he ‘disappeared’ from the main camp and sent back to more a civilized place where he could get help (and of course his essential substance, alcohol).
The End

A member of the search party, Assistant Works Manager Madhav, mucking around the bamboo hut

Other members of the search party, Nela (my local driver) and I

Chieftain of Mizoram

Chieftain of Mizoram
Fashion by Mizo weavers
Makeup by Anu and Anny
Model - Pu Gary
Dog - Rani
(Note: the head gear is actually a bag, another bright idea by Anu and Anny)

Gremlin Dog of Haulawng

Rani, our mogwai-like dog, and Anu

See, that's our cute newest inhabitant of our Haulawng house.

Mizoram Update Mid 2006

'Trophy' of a bat ...mistakenly badmintoned by our maids

Nothing much happened since the last entry, we’ve notched up a few more percentages in the project, (unfortunately that's all we've managed to notch up, thanks to the incessant rain from May, and the multiple landslides it's caused). I’ve extended my contract with my present company for 2 more years (yeah, you heard correctly, I’m gonna be stuck in this jungle of a place for 2 more bloody years). I’ve aged another friggin year, my creativity’s slowly going down the drain, thanks primarily to the real world and to growing up, with the commitments and responsibilities and rat-race. I’m still single (how the heck can I settle down when I spend most of the time trapped in the pits of the world i.e. Mizoram), I’m kinda getting more and more comfortable with staying in Mizoram actually. I’ve maintained my 32” waist since staying in Haulawng. I’ve got another lovely doggy in Mizoram and made a few more friends. People are still falling sick and dying from malaria, so much so that we've nicknamed one of our cars, The Ambulance. The telephone connection in Haulawng is still as good as ever (have been trying to call Haulawng for a week now, and the lines’ still down, what’s new?). The cable TV still functions (surprised?) most of the time, except when it rains (and it’s been raining almost every friggin day), I’m currently in Gurgaon (wasting time mostly, and delaying my going back to the jungles of Haulawng, since there’s no friggin cable TV in there where I can catch the World Cup matches hehehe). I’ve still not gone on a friggin holiday trip abroad this year, shite! And the company has finally decided to send a few more Malaysians into the jungle. And since there’s nothing new to write about except for boring work, and work, and work, I’m taking the easy way out again and post some pictures of our fun and exciting life in Haulawng, again.


A trek around 'environmentally-friendly' Mizoram in March with my colleague Tony, notice all the trees and wildlife (......how they're burnt beyond a cinder by our environmentally-friendly Mizo farmers)