Ipoh is like town that has stood still in time. Nothing ever changes, or so it seems to this former resident who returns to this city about twice every year.
The rows of shophouses are just as I remember them when I was just a little kid. Only the city seems a whole lot smaller now that I have been to much larger cities around the world. When I was a kid, the walk to town seemed to take forever. Now it feels like a short little drive away from anywhere !
In 1971 to 1973, my family lived in a small apartment on the third storey of No 19 Seenivasagam Road. The address was 19B, an end unit overlooking a huge coconut grove. I still remember small nimble Indian workers coming to climb the trees to cut down coconuts every now and then.
While the shophouses and the church on the main road leading here still remain unchanged, Seenivasagam Rd has transformed. The dead end road is now linked through to Hotel Excelsior, and the green "jungle" and coconut grove have been replaced with a concrete jungle.
No 19B is has been demolished and rebuilt. The Siew Wah hairdressing saloon downstairs is gone of course. The new apartment block, also 3 storeys high, looks similar. But the windows on the side now look into a a tall new building instead of coconut trees.
On the opposite side of the road, No 18 is still there. It's now a restaurant. Uncle Cheah Wai Poh and his family lived there for a few years before they moved to a new house in Ipoh Garden.
Sometime at the end of 1973, we moved to First Garden.
