Ipohworld's World

This postcard shows the Victoria Bridge, which is the oldest railway bridge in Malaysia. The bridge was officially opened on the 21st of March 1900 by Sultan Idris Murshidul’adzam Shah of Perak and FMS High Commissioner Sir Frank Swettenham.

Jubilee Park was once Ipoh’s foremost entertainment centre. Built by the Danish architect BM Iversen, some of the attractions within this 4-acre park were the Grand Theatre, the Chinese Concert Hall and the Jubilee Cabaret. Interestingly, it was originally called the ‘Ipoh Amusement Park’, but later the owners (the Shaw Brothers of course!) renamed it ‘Jubilee Park’ in 1935 - in honour of King George V’s Silver Jubilee.

Sadly, the Jubilee Park of today is but a shell of its former self. I do wonder what has become of it…

A wander around Kampung Kuchai in the heart of Ipoh certainly gives the photographer something to concentrate on. We have featured the area before with the old house, the Beetle and the MG Magnette, but nothing as artistic as this (literally) heap of junk.

Here we have a real piece of artistry! How the owner managed to get all of that stuff piled on the roof of the van to actually stay there, I just don’t know.

Obviously proud of his work the artist has left his name and telephone number and entitled the work “Ah Fatt’s Car”. Perhaps he is waiting for one of the London galleries to call him to an art exhibition. After all this is far more interesting and colourful than much of the so-called art they display.

….when ‘Alvarez Kelly’ was being shown in Ruby Theatre. (Yes, on the far right is the cinema hall which was part of the Lau Ek Ching building, along Anderson Road.)

William Holden played a ’suave Mexican cattleman’ named Alvarez Kelly who unwillingly found himself caught in a Civil War. Well, to those of you who saw the movie - you know what happened next!

Facing the camera is the Federal Hotel and Restaurant. From what Google told us, the hotel is STILL there! Somewhere behind this hotel is another cinema - Cathay. Incidentally, Cathay was showing ‘One of Our Spies is Missing’ - a movie from the famed ‘The Man from U.N.C.L.E’ series.

I wonder how many Solo and Kuryakin fans saw the movie!!

The Home Guard was part of a defence strategy during the Malayan Emergency. Their role was a ’static local defence’, and ‘manning of checkpoints’ to cut of supplies to CTs, particularly in the area of the New Villages. The Home Guard were said to release the police and military for counter-terrorist ops.

Here we have two women from the Kinta Valley Home Guard, taken on the 2nd of March 1953 (the one on the right is holding a Bren gun). These were trained at a camp in Ipoh and were specifically for guarding the tin mines in Perak. They were all Chinese and founded by Towkay Lau Pak Kuan, as President of the Perak Chinese Tin Mining Association, with permission from General Templar, the British High Commissioner. Formed in 1952, some 4000 members were recruited, trained and armed by the government. In 1954 it is recorded that 323 different mines were defended by this “Chinese Home Guard”. They were operational until the end of the Emergency.

 (If I were a CT, I’d know better than to get in their way!)

I’ve heard of the “Hell’s Angels” and other such motorcycle enthusiasts in America, but this one was quite a surprise - The Perak Lambretta Club!

We don’t know WHERE these ‘fans’ lined up for a pose but we think the date was 1960. To what we know, the club was founded by (naturally) a motorcycle enthusiast William Pillay (the adopted son of Sybil and Dr A C Kathigasu). Incidentally, William was also a member of the Automobile Association of Malaya.

If anyone out there knows more about this photograph or about the club, do leave us a comment.
If any of you were a biker, do entertain us with tales from your ‘wild-days’…..

Over the past few days there have been several comments about our last post that featured the FMS Bar and so while in Old Town searching for the MG logo (previous post) I took the opportunity to take the above photo to demonstrate what is being done to the pillars. As you can see they are being put back to original.

Coincidentally there is an article in todays New Straits Times that seems to confirm the rumour that the building will be returned fully to its original status, i.e. a hotel as well as restaurant and bar. See http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/articles/22fma/Article/index_html

Our earlier post about the old MG in Kampung Kuchai (put up specially for antiquelad) led to Raz alerting us to this MG logo set in the 5 foot way in Old Town. Early this morning I set off to locate it and thanks to Daniel’s advice in an earlier comment I found it at No. 8 Hugh Low Street.

It is in front of this shop which we understand is a gunsmiths shop that 2 generations ago used to sell MG motor spares. Of course as it was before 8am on Saturday, I could not enquire further but will follow up on a working day.

But there is another interesting logo as shown above. There are two of these set into the supporting pillars each side of the shop and of course they stand for Guan Hoe. With the electric cable sheathing passing in front of them these logos are most probably original and installed when the shop was first built. Clearly I need to get back to find out more.

This picture was taken by Jon L Tan at the 2004 inaugural Ipoh Bougainvillea Parade. He kindly gave us permission to use it. He wrote the following about the picture:

“This little cub generated a lot of excitement. Kids and adults alike were immediately excited by the appearance of this special guest star… Poor tiger had to walk on the hot tar road and collapsed with exhaustion mid way through the parade…”

Now can you imagine that a government organised parade in civilised Ipoh would allow such a thing to happen. Well they did, appalling as it may be and for which, if they were still in government, they should be punished as should the owner, the handler and anyone else who had a hand in this cruel act. Cruelty to animals, particularly wild animals facing extinction, must never be practiced or condoned, no matter how much the public might enjoy seeing them.

So in this year, the year of the Tiger, please do everything you can to protect all animals, particularly the endangered ones like the Malayan Tiger and report any cruelty, poaching or selling of wild animal parts to the police. Tigers and the other animals that live in our ever diminishing rainforests are just as much heritage as buildings, mountains, food and culture. They should all be protected so that our children’s children will be able to enjoy them.

Incidentally this parade was said to be the first of an annual occasion. Did another one ever take place or was it just another broken promise.

Yes, just a few metres from the Beetle lies this grand old vehicle. If you don’t recognise it then have a look at this:

It is of course an MG and it is in that graveyard for old vehicles, right in the centre of Ipoh, called Kg Kuchai. This is is one of the last undeveloped areas of Ipoh and was featured in the City’s Structural Plan but was left alone during the one of the General Elections in the late 80’s or early 90’s. Politics presumably ruled as Kg Kuchai is home to many motor repair shops, coach builders, carpenters, welders and home to one of the City’s last remaining traditional Lorry Transport Companies.

Start at the house by the river (previous blog) and follow the path towards the town. You can’t miss finding this and lots of other interesting wrecks. However we have no idea of the owners of these things and can take no responsibility if your visit is wasted or has problems of any sort. Watch out for the many dogs!