St. Michaels Institution (SMI)...gets a new roof.

St Michaels Institution , Ipoh...an institution of the deLaSalle brotherhood began changing their roof in March of this year.....
...starting at the west wing....the roof is 80 years old and had been leaking.......
..let the sun shine thru....

...this shot was taken in April......
... from the west ..standing on the bund of the Kinta River....

..taken in late May ( this week) ...work in progress....
..the west wing is completed.....looks real neat....
the bigger picture....looking good....


( there will be an update in due course)

cheers.......

Morning Art........

A bright sunny morning and household chores.....when you've had a good nights rest art and color can be found all around.

Kota Bharu...the river port for Gopeng Town.

This is Kota Bharu , a one street railway town that was at one time the seat of the Kinta administration.In 1879 the main access to Kinta was by river transport and Kota Bharu located on the Kinta River was considered an ideal spot by the then Kinta Magistrate HMC Leech.

This is a view of the town from atop the double tracking railway overhead bridge. Looking east beyond the town are disused mining ponds and beyond the ponds is the Kinta River.
For a brief period it served as the river port for the tin produced from Gopeng. A cart road had been cleared and tin from Gopeng was transferred to the Kinta River using bullock cart instead of elephants.
Due to the high incidence of malaria, Kota Bharu was abandoned and in 1884 the administration center for Kinta shifted to Batu Gajah.Subsequently it was made a train stop and the station continued to serve the orang asli mining community and the 3000 acre rubber estate of Chang On Siew.

The main road .
These are double storey shops. The design is slightly different. The upper floor does not extend over the five foot way.
Looking north.The new double tracking railway station is completed.
Looking south.A flat expanse of valley.
As i drove east towards the Kinta River and Batu Gajah i saw this lake. Very nice view.
Across the other bank was a duck farm.
The duck farm.
A closer view of the duck farm. The road here is sandy all the way passing through disused mining ponds.

It was very pleasant driving through here.

cheers.

The Sinhalese Bar , the only one in the country......in Ipoh.

The Sinhalese Bar , the one and only one in the country.It is situated at the junction of Jalan Bijeh Timah(Treacher Street) and Jalan Pasar(Market Street).......

the Kinta River is just a block away....

The front facade...swinging doors ( shades of the cowboy saloon!)...tiles on the lower wall.. english and chinese wordings..the bougainvilla tree provides a cooling shade against the morning sun.....

...the huge license outside the premises......The bar was started by 'Mr Perera' before the war and served 'whisky , brandy and typical Sinhalese food..'..the bar is now run by the son....

..the interior of the bar..pink wall, green tiles and a green floor....its a cool,clean and neat establishment...

...a nice dividing screen separating the hall from the bar counter.....

...the bar.. on the side wall are newspaper cuttings of the bar's charitabe contributions ....the owner is a Bhuddist and each year after the Wesak celebrations would make a contribution towards a charitable organisation.

a lot of the customers that come in here like to admire this screen......the photos attached on the screen depict chinese scenes

...the belt on the wall...was sent from Australia to a regular customer of the bar, a Punjabi teacher..he had a waist size around 50 inches or more (imagine the size of that belt?)....the belt was sent to the Sinhalese bar...

unfortunately by the time the belt had arrived the customer had passed away...and the belt has remained at the bar since then.

cheers!

Dogs on Diet.....

I saw this dog last week after i left the FMS Bar. Its name is Rocky and he was round, chubby and ...well fat. I jokingly enquired if Rocky suffered from hypertension or had a heart problem.The owner laughed and said that Rocky was now on a diet. He was much bigger earlier.
Their other dog JD was also on a diet because it had the same "weight' problem earlier. By the way ..JD stands for (get this) .. Jack Daniel..and JD doesn't like his photo being taken. I got this one shot only because he growled at me when i tried to take a second shot..what a dog.
Both these dogs are on duty at the Hock Kean Association basement behind the FMS...if you want to say hello.
cheers.

The FMS Bar , Ipoh's Heritage Watering Hole.....

This is the FMS Bar located at the junction of Jln Sutan Yussof (Belfied Street) and Jln Sultan Idris Shah (Brewster Road). It was a hundred years old last year.

 Its next to the Ipoh Padang and further on is the Ipoh Club.Note the year indicated on the gable on the top.It was a popular hangout for the planters and miners those days....

It hasn't changed much...bamboo chicks and all.....

..push thru those swing doors to go in.....

...the hall area...

.

..and the L shaped bar...many a tale has gone thru here....

the many post cards and greetings sent by its satisfied patrons from all over the world...

the next 3 shots are scenes from the old patrons that came back for its 100 years old birthday bash last year....

the license ..displayed outside the bar...the original proprietor was 'Ah Toon'...

...now it is run by Ah Toons nephew Pang Chee Ein...though most customers know him better by the name of 'Nephew'. Nephew is cheerful and friendly and could tell you stories of the who's who that walked thru these swinging doors. Seems that ex British PM John Major too had been thru here at one time...

The bar has been designated as a Heritage Building ....

and listed on the heritage map....like most other establishments along the Kinta River....

cheers!!