Valentines Day & Day 2 of Trip to Ipoh, 14/2/2009

TO continue from the last post, once the clock struck 12 midnight and the 13th becomes the 14th, it was Valentines Day and it was also Daphne's birthday. So what we did was surprised her by singing Happy Birthday to her unexpectedly while she was having her group meeting. No cake because we couldn't find the time to get her one in Ipoh. Besides, we were not familiar to where in Ipoh to get a Birthday cake. Oh well, at least she was happy and surprised.

Just look at the smile....

Then another surprise. A bunch of teddies for her "Valentines" gift.


Our gift to our dearest friend Daphne.....

However, the sad part was I forgotten that 14th Feb is her birthday. Sorry Daphne!!!! Please forgive me... Too busy till forget about everyone's birthday. Oh ya, that is why I got you the two Jagung. HAHA.... It was just something very random.

After seeing so many people buying the sweet steamed corn from this makeshift stall right next to the hotel.


Yum yum....

Well, we all went to bed at around 2 (However, some decided to gossip till 6 A.M.) just to prepare ourselves for the busy day ahead. Lots of researching and analyzing to do on day 2. I woke up rather early because of the freakishly cold room. But I was just on time to get some shots of the sun-rise though Mr. Sun was too shy and was hiding behind the clouds.

Ipoh's town Hall during sun-rise.


The veranda was quiet and peaceful. I just sat there and waited for the day to start.

After breakfast at 8 A.M., 10 groups departed to their own zones which was chosen the evening before. Our objective, to get as many information we can lay our hands on for the zone we got. My team's zone was zone 3 and it is located in some of the oldest parts of Ipoh. Well, nothing much to talk about here. Lots of walking and sun-bathing, record and analyze and all the usual stuff we do on a study trip.

Arches in a park.


Some tin "artists" which can still be found in the alleys of Ipoh.


Some of the abandoned shophouses in Ipoh. Better not tear it down. Old is the new New (if you get what I mean).


Oh yes, should I mention that zone 3 has the tallest building in Ipoh? A 20 storey flat located near the river.


And by the river, and under the shades of the trees, is the area where old men come and chill during the hot sunny afternoons.


And of course, every town has to have a cemetary. People live, people die each day... This is a Malay cemetary located next to a mosque in our zone.



Hmmmm... Maybe the people can't read???


Some old shops making noodles.


And some neo-classical buildings you can see around Ipoh.

Though quiet, the small town of Ipoh was once a buzzling city during the tin-mining times. You can still see the remnants of history engraved in the architecture of the buildings in IPoh. Its just wonderful to get to visit such a place.

By 330 P.M., my group rushed back to the hotel to prepare our presentation to introduce the rest to our site. So back at the hotel,

Sherman was busy snapping pictures of the place.

*no other pictures because I was busy with presentation*

When the presentation ended and everyone was briefed, we went to a place called Happy Valley Cafe for dinner. Bad choice..... I will not recommend you to go to this cafe ever.. It took them an hour to bring out my plate of Happy Valley Nasi Lemak Special and guess what, there was nothing special about it all all. Besides that it costed me RM8 just for a plate of crappy Nasi Lemak.

Putting all rantings aside, we were sitted on table 12, 13 & 14 so it was fun for us, on Valentines Day to snap a photo.....

1314... which in Chinese means, forever and ever.... How sweet....

Well, while I was waiting for the food to come, I had fun with my new learnt skill of photography which is playing with the Apature and try to draw shapes.

Trying to draw hearts but I seem to fail..

Well, dinner that night sucked. Daphne, Li Qun and Kiet Yeang had to find elsewhere to eat after waiting for 1 and a half hours just to find out that they ran out of rice. How Ironic was that. So take my advice.. I do not encourage you to go to this cafe. Service sucks man... If they have had told us a bit earlier, we would not have needed to waste our time there.

After dinner, went around the town taking night shots. And it turned out better than expected.

HSBC BANK..


Birch Memorial Tower.


A lorry drove past when I was snapping the picture, creating such a unique effect to the picture.


Oh yea, who said Ipoh was had no life? At night, the streets turns into a race track for the youngsters.

Day 2 ended up with us meeting with or tutors at 11 and after that we decided to walk around the town after midnight.... Final post will be up later... But for now, I need sleep badly. Tomorrow, a New Day and to begin the making of our Studio 3 of 2009 site model which dues next Tuesday... Oh the horror. ZZZzzzZZZzzz......

Part 3, to be continued.....