On my walk back to the train station, I decided to cut across town via Birch Tower. The small alley is just opposite to Book Excess, and it will lead you to the above space. On weekends this place sometimes turned into a weekend craft market. I think it's quite a scenic spot, but again, it could do with some maintenance.
Walking up the slow of stairs will bring you to the Birch Tower, which is quite well maintained and is quite a beautiful site. Next to it is a Malay food court where you can get a drink or something to eat. There are no shelter around the tower, so it can get pretty hot in the noon sun! There are lovely piece of art at the top of the tower which is pretty lovely. I though this was one of the most well maintained tourist spot in Ipoh!
Right across the Birch Tower there is a beautiful mosque. It looks pretty impressive, but I didn't visit it. For some reason, I have not entered a single mosque in Malaysia before. I have however, entered many mosque and muslim places in India!
Going downhill from the tower and heading straight to the train station, I came across the city council building. It was a grand colonial building that matches the train station. But again, it needed a lot of maintenance. There were paints feeling off, molds, and broken windows. In 2023, the place was fenced up. I hope it was due to maintenance work, and they can soon reveal the old building back to it's original glory.
Perhaps the weather was better when I was headed home. I managed to get a nice shot of the train station with a bit of a blue skies behind it. I love that it has the state flag and country flag in front. I have better photos of this place in 2023 when the weather was just stunning! Guess those sharing would just have to wait its turn to appear in this blog....
I didn't notice it before, but apparently there are benches you can sit and admire the view from. It looks like a nice place to take in the scene. And I like it that it was so green too.
There is tourist walk you can do on your own call the Heritage Trail. Basically it brings you to all the noteworthy heritage buildings in Ipoh. Above was the sign for the train station with a brief history explanation of it. I tried to follow the trail on my first day, but just gave it up and went impromptu mode.
Exploring the train station, there is one section that looks super nostalgic call the Majestic Walk. Again, so much potential for this beautiful place, but it has been left to just rot away. The above photo shows it still being quite respectable. In 2023 when I was there again, there were pools of water due to the heavy rain in the previous evening.
I've read before that there is a train station hotel, but none existed here except for this sign. It would have been great if people would stay in this lovely building. Making it something like the E&O Hotel in Penang, or Raffle's Hotel in Singapore. This place has so much potential that it is kinda sad to see it go to waste like this.
There is even an old cafe inside the station. It looks pretty run down like everything else here.... It reminded me of a nice cafe I went to in Rome's Train Terminal. Ah.... the potential if only the right people took over...
I was early for my 4pm train. So I sat there people watching for almost 2 hours. I don't have issue waiting for trains, or plane, or any mode of transport when I am travelling. I find it rather relaxing just watching people. And Ipoh train station is a very interesting place to people watch. While there in 2023, I realised that families in Ipoh shows they care a lot and in public. Family members leaving on a train are often send off by whole families with hugs and kisses. Something you rarely see in big city airport. Makes me quite envious really.
It was a two hour train ride home, plus a ferry, and a bus ride home. I managed to reach home by 730pm!
I do love going to Ipoh. The food is great, and everything is quite compact. They have beautiful natural places outside of town too. I hope I can visit more of those in future. Now with the komuter train, I can visit it more often, if only the hotels were cheaper!
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