Topped Up, Worn Down

Please click the photo above to play the daily videoThe last morning of a trip has its own particular quiet. Nobody says it’s over, but everybody knows. After breakfast I went for a slow walk around the hotel. It wasn’t to see anything new. It was to look one more time at what I’d already seen, the way you look round a room before you switch the light off.

Anita stayed behind to pack, which she does far better than I do and with far less commentary. I came back to find the cases already closed and the job done.

Then the morning’s small miracle: Idlan was on time. Not nearly on time, and not on time by a generous reading of the clock. Actually ready, bag in hand, when we said we’d leave. I didn’t mention it, in case drawing attention to it broke the spell. Some things you just quietly enjoy.

We set off just after eleven. With an electric car, a long drive is really a series of short ones, joined together by charging stops. The first was Kuala Kangsar, where the plan was to have lunch while the car had its own. The town didn’t go along with that. Most of the restaurants were shut, and the ones that weren’t didn’t look keen on visitors. So the car charged and we stayed hungry, and lunch moved down the road to the R&R at Sungai Perak. It wasn’t the meal we’d pictured, but an R&R lunch has never claimed to be anything grander. It fed us, and that was all we asked of it.

Then came Tapah. A lorry had broken down somewhere ahead, and for nearly an hour the whole highway seemed to be thinking about it. We moved slowly, then stopped, then moved a little and stopped again. You can’t hurry a jam like that, and you can’t blame anyone in it. Everyone is just sitting in their own car, losing the same afternoon together. The radio ran out of things to say. So, for a while, did we.

By the time we reached KL it was almost Maghrib. The light was going soft, the streetlamps were coming on, and the city looked the way it always does when you come back: louder than you remember, and somehow still home.

There was one more charge to do before we were properly home, at the charger near the house. It felt like a small last chore, the car topping up while the rest of us ran on empty.

It was a tiring day, and not because of any one thing. It was the miles, the waiting and the stopping, piling up slowly. That’s how journeys home usually go. The trip itself gets the photos. The drive back gets an aching back and a quiet car.

Work tomorrow. The cases can wait until morning. Tonight the only plan is to stop moving.

Rough Night

I must have been sleeping too much while away in Kuala Kangsar. Last night, it was rough. My reflux played up, and I kept getting up in the middle of the night and couldn't go back to sleep. I finally got out of bed and started watching TV.

Luckily it didn't look like a busy day today, although I had to go into time for some business with the bank. Would do that straight after my clinic in Park City. Might catch lunch in town as well.

House Next Door

While leaving Masjid Ubudiah, I spotted this almost abandoned home right next door to the mosque. It seemed to still be in use, maybe as a makeshift studio at one point. Located in a prime lot, I suspect that the owner may have some idea with the place in the future.

I think they had some exhibits somewhere, and the place now formed something like a storeOld skool!There must have been a big entrance at the frontMost of the intricate walls of the house still stoodI wouldn't risk using those stairsRusty nailsSome parts of the house still appeared well keptI walked around the house and took some photos. Decided against going in as it would be trespassing.

Nice spot for photography actually. If only I could get permission to enter ...

Update on Saturday, May 17, 2014 at 3:41PM by Haris Abdul Rahman

A friend of mine, Kudo pointed out a piece he wrote about this house, called Baitul Anor. You can read it here.

Masjid Ubudiah

It had long been crowned the most beautiful mosque in Malaysia. It is close to a century old, designed and engineered by the British and cost quite literally an arm and a leg to be built. Well, close. It was 189000 Malayan Ringgit. Which was a lot of money back then.

As the story went, it was a nazar by the then Sultan Perak who contracted a mystery illness. He vowed to build the most beautiful mosque in the land while recovering in Port Dickson should he survive. And he did.

Unfortunately he passed away in 1916, a year before the splendid mosque was completed.

Over the years, it had been refurbished a few times - in 1993 and 2005. Still in great condition and opened to the public. It was well attended on Fridays.

The architect, one Arthur Hubback also designed the Ipoh and Kuala Lumpur Railway Station, both to the Moorish theme he was famous for.

I visited the mosque this morning, but decided against going in since I was short with time. The light was also not that great. Maybe I'll come back soon, earlier in the day, and with a more suitable lens.

Morning Walk

Yes! Right after breakfast, waiting for the children to get ready and packing done, I had some time to walk into town, with the camera on tow. The sun came out to play, although it was a bit high on the horizon, it was better than nothing.

It turned out that the whole town woke up late. The place started to buzz only after 10am, with the shops opened and the locals venturing out. It was still quiet enough for me to walk around without being bothered although I wished that the market was opened.

I started off in the middle of town, snapping away at the old shop lots and then the river front.

Then, I drove up Bukit Chandan, stopping at Masjid Ubudiyah before making one round at the Istana. I didn't stop this time as it was already late.

It was a nice walk, but I would've enjoyed it more if I was in a crowd, or better still, somebody who knew the history of the place. Kuala Kangsar was one of the oldest Malay settlement and is steep with history. In the future, I would definitely take my boys along and tell them a bit more about the place ...