Han Chin Pet Soo is open! Book now at www.ipohworld.org/reservation
Han Chin Pet Soo is open! Book now at www.ipohworld.org/reservation

June 2012

Heritage Tourism Horror

By |2012-06-09T12:56:50+08:00June 9th, 2012|Categories: ipoh, Restoration, tourism|Tags: , , , , |

In 1999 the Perak State Government published a very nice heritage trail map of Ipoh. It was produced by our good friends from Penang, Lubis and Salma. One of the buildings featured was in Kampong Jawa and clearly the Government thought it had some heritage value as they included it in the map. It was abandoned then, but still looked good:

Today it is still published on the Internet by Perak Tourism (http://www.peraktourism.com/places/place_view.cfm?id=8A1F8B4D-5BA0-412C-8444ABE654D29B1A) as one of the “Places to Go” but now it looks like this:

 

I have to ask the following questions:

What on earth are they doing bringing people here? Do they really think this is heritage tourism?

And secondly,

If they thought originally that it had heritage value, why didn’t they do something about protecting it?

I look forward to your answers/comments.

March 2011

Words Fail Me.

By |2011-03-31T09:28:26+08:00March 31st, 2011|Categories: About Us, Memories, Restoration, What is it?|Tags: , , , |

We received the following email and pictures this morning and thought that we should share it with all you heritage supporters out there. No doubt you will be as lost for words as I am – or will you?

HI all! This is one of my favourite kampung houses just outside of Terong, Perak, on the way to Lumut. It is right on the road side & I have taken pics of it over the years and was totally shattered to find it has been turned into a swiftlet house with speakers blasting like crazy. The swiftlet house pics were taken on Friday. Perak is being over run by swiftlet farms. Pantai Remis Sungei Kerang, all a mess! This particular change looks like a joke right? Total disrespect of such a beautiful example of Malay heritage!

 

Care to share your thoughts with our correspondent?

September 2010

Mystery Solved!

By |2010-09-17T09:16:26+08:00September 17th, 2010|Categories: Memories, Natural Heritage, People, Restoration|Tags: , , , |

We refer to a previous posting about a traditional Malay-type house in Gopeng (here).

Our good friend Charlie brought to our attention the following NST article, as an update on this Gopeng mystery (see pictures below).

Azim Abdul Aziz, an architect, had decided to restore his grandfather’s 80-year-old house. Since the main road was being widened, the house had to be moved – hence, it was taken apart tile by tile, plank by plank, and moved deeper into the family’s durian orchard.

Azim’s grandfather was a rubber tapper, who built this traditional Malay house; “a post and lintel timber structure with a thatched gable roof….a roof of clay tiles imported from India”. It was rather tedious, but the hard work paid off (see here for pictures of the house’s interior).

Work began in September 2002 and about 2 years later, the house was given a new coat of yellow (like the original). The only change perhaps was the adding of the lanai (a platform, overlooking the orchard), which was built at the back of the house. Azim and his family “intends to use the lanai for outdoor dining and seating” – since it ‘opens’ the area and provides a scenic view of the orchard and a stream.

So, restoration MAY take up a lot of time and money, but the end result is worth it! To Azim and his team – 3 cheers for you, for a job well done!

May 2010

The Houses of Sungai Rokam

By |2010-05-05T01:35:56+08:00May 5th, 2010|Categories: Identify Photographs, ipoh, Memories|Tags: , , , |

Somewhere in the late 1960s, this was part of a low-cost housing scheme in Sungai Rokam (off Gopeng Road), in Ipoh. These houses were constructed mainly of timber, following the traditional Malay-styled home. There were about 410 units of such houses which covered over 100 acres of land. The houses were raised on timber columns, resting on concrete bases, and had tie beams which also served as floor joints.

Are they still around today? Or have they been replaced by modern brick houses / flats?

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