National Monument @ Kuala Lumpur

I was in a hurry to get away from the tourists that I forgot to sign this work!

I have always wanted to sketch the National Monument but had always been intimidated by the figures, the sheer size of them and the various poses that make up this bronze structure which marked the nation's struggle towards Independence. Finally today, armed with a simple Kokuyo watercolour set and a Rotring sketch pen, I decided to grab the bull by its horns. This above is the result.

The drawing took me
 less than 15 min

The National Monument is located within the Lake Gardens area, just behind the monolothic Cenotaph. It is surrounded by a moat and fenced up. I decided to only keep to the monument because of the challenging conditions - getting the proportions of the figures right and deal with foreshortening. Instead of trying to draw what I knew, I decided to allow my experience in countour drawing to take over. And this drawing technique came to my rescue.

Colouring was much easier, with two layers of paint to depict the different tones and a combination of earth colours and blues aided in showing the greenish-brown disposition of the oxidised bronze statues. The flag was simply painted with stripes of red across the white paper. It would have been great if the day had been windy as I could capture the flag full blown.

He was preparing to shoot
when my photographer snapped
his picture first. He left.

Not making it any easier were the hordes of tourists who were there. Some just looked over my shoulder without commenting; others complimented. There was one Chinese tourist who decided he wanted a close look over my shoulders when my photographer decided to take a snap of him, and when he realised this, he decided to keep his camera and walk away.

Rail knowledge at Kluang railway station

Kluang Station, a view from Platform 2, showing the location marker
and a tamping machine on the tracks.

Sending my daughter to her friend's home in Kundang Ulu yesterday took me south to Johor and my wife and I visited Pagoh, Yong Peng, and finally ending up in Kluang. I had been to Kluang before many years ago but had never put up the night there. I remember, the only thing that attracted me to the town, was the famous railway canteen whose nasi lemak, coffee and toast were one of the best in the country.

This time we arrived on Thursday, and unfortunately for me, the canteen was closed. Since I could not do much there, with the station less crowded, I was able to sit and sketch from Platform 2 of this station. This is a major stop for the KTM trains heading to Singapore or the Northern regions.

Since the station building was crowded with cars parked haphazardly, I decided to paint the scenery across the tracks, of the location marker and the locomotive-like machine on its tracks. This is actually a Unimat-Compact universal tamping machine by Plasser-Theurer used to maintain railway tracks. It helps to raise the rails, compact the gravel beneath, and levels the rail off mechanically.

Finding coal in Kuala Sepetang

This was done in the kiln shed, which houses several other igloo-shaped kilns. This kiln has been
sealed at the end stage of charcoal baking. The pungent air within, although not captured on camera,
makes the eye teary. I had to quickly finish this under low-light conditions.

IN the days before cooking gas was available, charcoal and wood were the preferred fuels for cooking. There were two types of charcoal sold in sundry shops – soft charcoal, which is cheaper and usually made from any type of wood, and the hard charcoal, made from mangrove logs. The latter is denser and much more preferred as it produces fire that burns hotter and longer than the soft charcoals.

Located in Kuala Sepetang (or Port Weld as it was originally known) along the coast of Perak, some 17km from Taiping, the charcoal factory owned by Khay Hor Holdings is one of the few remaining ones in the Peninsula that produces the higher quality mangrove log charcoal.

I was fortunate enough to be allowed into the factory to sketch one of the igloo shaped kilns made of bricks. Unfortunately the charcoal was still being made and not ready to be removed, so I did not get to go into the kiln.

Khay Hor Holdings business development manager K.Y. Chuah informed me that the entire process of making charcoal takes about 30 days. Mangrove or bakau logs are stripped of their bark, cut into approximately 1.6m lengths, and arranged upright along the walls of the seven-metre high kiln.  A fire is lit and the entrance to the kiln, which is about the height of a man, is gradually sealed over a period of time.

Heat control through gradual sealing of the aperture is very important so that the charcoal is not reduced to ashes because of too high temperature. The heat had to be built up to produce a high quality charcoal that burns efficiently.

“There are two stages of fire which we create. The first stage is the ‘big fire’ and the second, we call ‘small fire’. From the ‘big fire’, we will partially seal the entrance to create a ‘small fire’.

A group UTAR students who were visiting
asked to see my sketches. 

“During the first stage, the ‘big fire’ will be allowed to run for approximately ten days. The temperature is raised until it reaches 85-degree Celcius,” added Chuah.

“Subsequently, this ‘big fire’ is converted to ‘small fire’ and this is kept going approximately for 14 days. The temperature would now be between 230- and 250-degree Celcius, after which the fire is extinguished by sealing all the apertures of the kiln.

“Once the fire is extinguished, it takes about a week for the charcoal to cool down before they can be removed from the kiln,” he added. The job is done manually.

 

During the process of firing, steam is released from the mangrove trunks escapes from the kiln through a vent on the roof. This steam condenses into a smoke-smelling dark brown liquid which is believed to have antibacterial properties and is sought after for medicinal application. In the past, kiln workers collect this black liquid to treat skin diseases and remove odour from shoes and old socks.

Today, this charcoal maker has taken a step further to refine the extraction of this liquid by a filtration process, with the end product marketed as mangrove vinegar. According to Chuah, the vinegar can be used to freshen up stale air in a room, as mosquito repellent, and even used to treat certain infections of the skin.

“Because it has strong anti-bacterial properties, you can use it to remove the odour from your shoes. Just spray it into the shoes and leave them overnight to make your shoes smell like brand new.

Mangrove vinegar bottled as
a spray to be used as
insect repellent.

“Since this is an organic product, you can also spray it on your pets, like dogs and cats, to repel ticks and fleas,” he added.

Apart from the mangrove vinegar, his company has also produces charcoal soaps for bathing and cleansing purposes. “This black soap is most effective in removing blackheads and cleaning the skin,” he said.

Mangrove charcoal blocks too are sold at the factory grounds for use as an air purifier as well as décor for the home.  

Papan in peaceful slumber

One of the old houses that remind visitors of Papan's rich past.

Located about 17km from Ipoh off the Ipoh Lumut highway, about three kilometres from Pusing, Papan used to be a bustling town in the late 1800s. It is believed that the Chinese had named it “ka-pan”, which means wooden plank. Word has it that in the past, the “cengal” hardwood that were harvested from the neighbouring jungles had to be brought to the town to be sawn into planks. Incidentally, its new name, Papan, also meant plank in Malay.

However, Papan did not owe its fame to timber but rather tin, according to an elder who saw me painting this old house at the entrance to the town. He said Papan prospered during the glory years of tin mining and when the industry collapsed, the town’s relevance was reduced to only a soon-to-be-forgotten mention in the history books.

During the Japanese Occupation, when Ipoh was bombed, people from the town sought refuge in Papan and its population grew. It was also during this period that Papan earned its “black area” reputation for insurgent activities against the Japanese, and later for communist activities during the Emergency. In 1984, Papan was again thrown into the limelight when its residents staged protests against the storage of radioactive waste in the hills not far from the town.

On the right is the temple, behind which is the cemetary.

Today, Papan is a sleepy hollow that only comes to life only during the Qing Ming Festival or Tomb Sweeping Day when families who used to live there come to the cemetery just outside town to pay their respects to their dearly departed. Many of the old buildings that lined the main street have been abandoned and are slowly inhabited by wild vegetation. There is very little visible economic activity here as most of the younger generation have moved to nearer towns in search of better prospects.

Many descendant families of the early settlers here have also moved to the new Kampung Papan Baru, located a kilometre just outside the old town where there are better facilities. If there was any sign of activity, it would be in the mornings and the area near the community hall or Balai Raya Papan, and at the two old coffeeshops along the main road. Locals meet here to have a cuppa, a meal or just to catch up.

The most modern structure must be the SJKC Papan Chinese primary school which has only 80 pupils comprising 45 boys and 35 girls. This school sits by the main road next to house No. 74, a prominent landmark which once housed the clinic of Sybil Kathigasu, the Malayan-Eurasian nurse who worked with her doctor husband to support the resistance during the Japanese Occupation. Sybil received the George Medal for Gallantry, instituted by King George VI in 1940. The GM was presented to those performing acts of bravery meriting recognition by the United Kingdom and Sybil is said to be the only Malayan woman to have awarded the medal. There is a Jalan Sybil Kathigasu in Ipoh, named after Independence, to commemorate Sybil’s bravery.

The historical edifice that was once Sybil Kathigasu's clinic,
left to the mercy of the weather and time. Newspaper cuttings
pasted on the doors tell a little about its history.

Another historical structure in Papan is the Istana Raja Billah, a stately mansion which is also the town’s largest building in its heydays. Slowly being swallowed by tall grass but still visible from the main road, this mansion belonged to Raja Billah, a Mendailing nobleman from West Sumatera who settled in Papan with his family in the late 1800s. A merchant and tin miner, Raja Billah was also the headman for Papan at the time.

Istana Raja Billah is a pale shade of itself today although it was once refurbished and turned into a museum. It was even used as location for the movie Anna and the King, according to a local who lived nearby. However, neglect in the recent years, he added, had reduced this stately edifice to its derelict self, with parts of the wooden panellings and tiles having been stolen or vandalised.

Just a stone’s throw away from the Istana is the Masjid Papan. Completed in 1888, the mosque sits on land donated by Raja Billah. The structure is made of local hardwood such as cengal, merbau and damar laut. It was designed with one pyramid-shaped zinc-sheet roof sitting on top of another, separated by air vents. The entire structure rests on brick-cement piers. The mosque also did not have a tower and calls to prayer those days were made by hitting a drum known as a taboh.

Contrasts of the old and the new in Langkawi

I was in Langkawi recently and after seeing so much development there, I began to wonder how building materials, scoefically cement and concrete, were brought to the island. Well, my curiosity was soon answered when I rented a car and drove all over this resort island.

Located on the northern side of Langkawi was a huge structure that looked like the space launch pad of Cape Canaveral. Rising over 10 stories high at least, this structure in green and grey turned out to be the Lafarge Kedah Cement Quarry. I decided to stop by and do a piece on it because I had not done one on a cement quarry/factory before.

Since there were no security outposts like most factories in Klang valley, I invited myself into the compound and parked my car along the drive way so that I could get a good view of the factory complex. I had to station myself quite far away to get this main complex into the piece and I had to also work fast because it was almost lunch hour and my presence could attract unnecessary attention.

The Kedah Cement Quarry/Factory owned by Lafarge, located north of the Langkawi Island.

Despite the wave of concreted buildings sweeping across this resort island, I am pleased to be able to find some very beautiful traditional houses in Langkawi.

One such house - there are many more as I have spotted, especially along the non-touristy areas of the island - is at Padang Matsirat, where the Padang Beras Terbakar or Field of Burnt Rice is located. This house (photo below, inset) belongs to Ku Halim Ku Hassan and is a fine looking timber structure built raised on stilts. It has a lovely concrete staircase.

This is a lovely timber house that is also well taken care of. I like the clean surroundings and
 the beautiful Malacca-style concrete staircase leading into the serambi (sitting area) of the house.

Stopping over in Rantau

This is the only zinc-roofed timber-built shop along the main road of Rantau. How long it will be here, I do not know.
Occupied by a fledgling sundry shop business, it will not be long before development erases it to just a memory
 and that is whyI chose to record this in my visual journal.

CONTRARY to what I thought, the name Rantau, a small town not far from Seremban, in Negri Sembilan, did not come from the Malay word rantau (to travel).

Instead, I was told it was derived from the name of a village called Kampung Orang Rantau Panjang Kelang. The village was believed to have been set up by Bugis immigrants who fled the civil unrest in Rantau Panjang in Klang during the mid-1800s and what began as Kampung Orang Rantau Panjang Kelang, had over the years lost its mouthful of a name.

Today, it is known simply as Rantau. The main bustling area in this sleepy hollow is along the main road, Jalan Besar, which is also part of the trunk road linking Seremban, off the expressway, to Linggi and other smaller towns. With a population of 9,000, Rantau was once surrounded by rubber and oil palm plantations but these have made way for housing estates.

I painted this house because it appeared to be the only zinc-roofed timber building that had withstood the ravages of time and development. Known simply as 38 Jalan Besar, it is the premises of Tamilan Store, a small Indian sundry shop. It is two doors away from Sri Bala Thandayuthabani Temple along the main road.

According to a villager who saw me painting from across the street, a huge fire decades ago razed the upper reaches of Rantau town.

“Most of the buildings you see here today are modern ones,”she said. “Most of the shop operators here are Indians and Chinese, but as it’s a small town, many shops are barely surviving.”

This uncle at left was amused that
I chose to paint this small town. 

In the morning until late afternoon, the hawker centre on the main road is a hive of activity, Villagers gather here for a meal and to chat with each other. By evening, there is not much activity. Although the town itself does not have much to offer tourists except a chance to stretch their legs and have a drink, there are several back-to-nature holidays in the Rantau district. They include Rantau Ecopark in Kuala Sawah and Rantau Agro Park in Kampung Seri Lalang.

Anglers may want to check out Kampungstay Haji Sulaiman in Kuala Sawah which offers not only accommodation but also a chance to hook up a whopper at its freshwater lake.
Rantau has produced a few prominent Malaysians such as Maha Sinnathamby, the man behind Greater Springfield, Australia’s largest master-planned development, and the former soccer great, the late Ghani Minhat.

Kelly's unfinished labour of love

This piece was done on a larger sheet, an A3, when I ran out of pages on my sketchpad.

Kellie's Castle, also known as Kellie's Folly, is an incomplete castle located in the Batu Gajah district in Perak. This unfinished mansion, now a ruins, was built by a Scottish planter named William Kellie Smith. It was believed to be a gift for his wife, built beside the Sungai Raya, a tributary of the Kinta River. Some people say that it was for Kelly's son, however.

Today, this tourist attract has received another refurbishment in preparation for the Visit Perak Year 2017. This sketch was made during my recent walkabout up north the state of Perak.

CITY SKETCHING: Jalan Ampang

The AIA Building of today. 

Raintrees used to dot the entire of Jalan Ampang but today, not many are left.
These four magnificent trees are not the original inhabitants along
the riverside. They have been planted in the 1980s or 90s, if I am not mistaken.

I spotted a lone street sweeper along the road opposite the AIA Building
and decided to capture it in a sketch.

Jalan Ampang is an old street in the heart of Kuala Lumpur, stretching right from Jalan Tun Razak in the north to Lebuh Ampang in the south. In the 70s, Jalan Ampang was thrown into the limelight because of the hostage-taking drama in the AIA Building by the Japanese Red Army. On Aug 4 1975, a group of the JRA stormed the AIA building which housed the Swedish and American embassies and took 53 employees of the embassies hostage. I decided to sketch this area from the side of the road just after the Chinese New Year period when the traffic is less busy.  In the 70s and 80s, there were no tall buildings in this area except the AIA Building. Today, there are several tall buildings in this stretch, offering shelter from the sun for a good part of the day.

Artists' Colony @ Jalan Conlay, Kuala Lumpur

Ink and wash of the huts at the eastern end of the colony. You can check out the actual scene below,
together with my outdoor set-up.

This is my first outdoor work of 2016. Had been busy with some work and today, being the eve of the City Day, I decided to visit the Artists Colony in Jalan Conlay. This originally started with a colony of traditional wooden huts for artists to work in but over the years, the number of huts dwindled. A car park came up in the middle instead. You could still artists at work here, on weekdays, 9am to 5pm daily. 

The several huts which captured by attention.

This is the west end of the colony. Lots of greenery but as you can see, the colony is hemmed in by development. This is prime land, and I hope the powers-that-be will reserve it for artists to work at. It's the only artistic attraction left in KL.

Rasa - a taste of rural township

The Sunday morning market in Rasa Town.

I was trying to escape the haze last week when I took a 70km drive to Rasa in Hulu Selangor. It wasn't very successful but I did enjoy myself having a plein aire session there. Rasa is a single street rural town lined by two rows of pre-War shophouses. With a residents profile of predominantly Malays and Chinese, there are several housing estates surrounding it. The Rasa Komuter station is at the side of the town and it was where one could still find some very old double-storey mansions and shop houses, some abandoned but some still inhabited.

The air was so thick with haze that I decided to do a quick sketch of four shop houses facing the Rasa train station.

Kuala Kubu Bharu's Memorial Clock Tower

The Kuala Kubu Bharu Memorial Clock Tower was built in 1931 to mark the Coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. It sits on the hilltop overlooking the KKB town. This memorial clock - looks more like a cenotaph - sits just at the entrance to the Traffic Police HQ. You can't see it from the road below because of the foliage surrounding this structure.

This Clock Tower was built in 1931, to commemorate the Coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.

The shipmaker of Endau

The finished painting of the shipyard in Endau. Inset: Starting to put paint to paper.

While checking out the fishermen's wharves in Endau, a small fishing town about 150km south of Kuantan , Pahang, I stumbled upon a shipyard in Jalan Dato Mohd Ali that specialises in repair of local fishing boats. Being fond of marine vessels, I went right in uninvited to capture the scenery that I was familiar with while growing up near in Kuala Terengganu. 

Luckily for me, the owner of Cahaya Empat Slipway Sdn Bhd, Law Ah Wah, who is in his 70s, did not mind my intrusion. I explained to him that I wanted to paint one of the fishing boats that was undergoing repair and he agreed.

There were several fishing boats that were undergoing maintenance work that day. Under a shade at one end of the shipyard, a timber fishing vessel was being built. The boat that I intended to paint had undergone repairs and maintenance for some time and would be launched in a week. Another boat had just arrived and waiting to hauled onto land.

The shipyard uses several diesel-powered winches to tow the vessels onto a trailer which sits on a rail track before being hauled onto land. Once the boat is landed, it is cleaned and dried before the hull is stripped and checked for rotting parts and those that needed replacement.

For timber bottomed boats, planks of hardwood are usually joined side-by-side using a strong adhesive-sealant called damar. A type of fabric thread is inserted into the gaps between the joints before damar is applied. This is to not only strengthen joints but also make them waterproof. Once the joints are cured and smoothed, the hull is painted, and the vessel launched into the sea to continue its seafaring duties.

 

Potting around at the kiln in Ipoh

MY ARTIST friend Phang Chew who lives in Ipoh took me to this old pottery kiln in Jalan Kuala Kangsar to paint the scenery there. Ah Fatt, the partner-owner of the Xin Fa Pottery, is his friend. I decided to grab the opportunity to visit the place because I had never been to a pottery before. Phang, who is an accomplished outdoor painter well-known in Ipoh, has sold many pieces of the scenery he painted here.

My sketch of the old kiln's smokestack.

Located along Batu 2-1/2 Jalan Kuala Kangsar, just 100 metres off the  main road, Xin Fa Pottery is over 60 years old and has several kilns of various sizes producing many types of clay pots. 

According to Ah Fatt, there were quite a number of such factories two or three decades ago in the area. Dwindling business and development have caused many to move out. His factory now produces pots for the local market (including artistic clay sculptures) as well as for export.

A Schmincke Field Box in one hand and the leg becomes my easel.

Although the owner was a little busy to take me through the entire process of pot making, he did allow us to go into the main wood-fired dragon kiln which had yet to resume operation. The dragon kiln is a Chinese invention that dates back thousands of years. We had to be careful as the kiln’s ceiling is not very high and the years of firing have caused the glass-sharp stalagtite-like protrusions to form. We were told to lower our heads or risk getting a nasty cut.

Sifu Phang Chew in his element.

Phang, his wife and I ended up painting the scenery of an abandoned kiln located beside a dilapidated storehouse at a shady corner of the factory’s compound. I found much challenge in recording the various types of foliage around this old structure and came up with a watercolour sketch for good measure. My friend Phang and his wife drew on larger sheets of paper and within an hour, they had completed their masterpieces

Trees' company in Sungai Lembing

 The trees were planted by the early settlers in the town,
 providing shade for the people along the main street.

LIKE SENTINELS of time, a row of old trees stand watch over the quaint town of Sungai Lembing  from the road island in the middle the main street. According to a friend, the trees were planted by the early settlers in the town which once had the longest pit tin mine in the world. This tree is just a stone’s throw away from the Sungai Lembing food court. 

A local who watched as I painted this tree explained that the present tree was in fact a Strangler Fig, a type of parasitic tree, which took over its host after having “strangled” it. Only a few of the original giant trees remain. They are believed to have been planted in the early 1800s.

The museum is located at the hill top at the far end of this padang.

At the far end of the town of Sungai Lembing, where the last of the giant trees provide a shady respite for townsfolk, lies the town’s padang. It is here that the schools nearby and townsfolk hold their activities. From here, one can see the Sungai Lembing’s main tourist attraction, the Sungai Lembing Museum, perched on the hilltop.

I painted this custodian of Sungai Lembing’s rich past in in the evening, just after the rain, using line and wash technique from the northern side of the padang.

Something old from Sungai Lembing

This is what that remains of its only petrol kiosk. It is a grim reminder of
the town's glorious past. Today, petrol is sold in bottles of 1,5L in sundry shops.

Did you know that Sungai Lembing did not have its town petrol station? It used to, more than 15 years ago, I was told. Not anymore. If you are visiting it, you had better make sure you have enough petrol or fill up your tank at the nearest petrol station 28km away, just after the East Coast Highway exit. Otherwise, you may have to flag down a passing motorcyclist and get him to buy you petrol should you run out of fuel.

According to a local there used to be a petrol station operator here until his business was killed by the lack of demand and the annual floods that inundate the former tin mining town. This is my painting of the petrol pump which pumped its last more than 15 years ago. I painted the relic seated along the corridor of one of the old shop houses lining the main street. Townsfolk who mostly rode motorcycles buy their petrol from sundry shops at RM4 per 1.5-litre bottle.

Someone tried to steal this pillar post box but was prevented by the villagers. Today, this relic takes
its rightful place by the Sungai Lembing market (at right).

Another relic of Sungai Lembing is the Victorian pillar post box, which townsfolk said is still in use. This post box is just a stone’s throw away from the wet market. According to locals, it was put in place ago during the town’s glory days when the tin industry flourished. However, the locals continue to care for this relic till this day. According to a local who approached me while I was painting, someone had tried to remove the pillar box some years ago because of its heritage value. Fortunately, the townsfolk intervened and prevented the relic from ending up in an antique lover's collection. 

Parit Jawa fishing enclave

My sketch of an old restaurant complex, now left to the elements. 

This is one of my favourite fishing enclaves on the southern coast of the peninsula. It lies about 13km from Muar town. Parit Jawa is increasingly known as a seafood haven, especially Asam Pedas which locals claim is better than Malacca’s.

I loved this coastal fishing village for its serenity. At high tide during certain times of the year, the water level at the jetty reaches almost the road level. Life here is all about fishing and the hive of activity for locals is the morning wet market at the entrance to Parit Jawa village. Just before you enter Parit Jawa village, you will come across a canal, which gives the town its name, I am told.

If you are into asam pedas and try the outlets at the hawker centre for a no-frills locally-popular asam pedas. Prices are reasonable depending on the fish you pick such as kembong (horse mackeral), siakap (seabass), red snapper (ang choe) and mayong (a species of sea catfish).  Of course, if you want to indulge in variety, the many restaurants near the jetty there will be able to handle your voracious appetite. Be prepared to wait and pay slightly more though.

I sketched this picture of an old run-down building on the other bank of the estuary. I was told that it was formerly a restaurant complex but has since been abandoned. There are many fishermen’s huts and a concrete jetty built out to sea. From the jetty, you can catch sight of Lesser Adjutant storks foraging for meal along the mudflat flanking the estuary at low tide. 

A Lesser Adjutant stork foraging for food at low tide.

Batu Gajah's twin sentinels

This sketch was done by the roadside, the main thoroughfare in March this year. See the black car? It was posing to be a very dangerous partner. 

I came across a pair of wooden houses in Jalan Pusing, Batu Gajah, Perak, as I was driving into town. The duo stood by the main road and were built on raised ground. Like sentinels of time left alone by development, they reminded me of those I have stepped into in Kuala Terengganu back in the 1960s.

These houses are well-ventilated because they were made of timber and had raised floors. During the day, the grilles allow air to move freely. Sunshades were also part of the building to keep strong morning sun out. The roof, if I am not mistaken, comprised asbestos-cement sheets, which also made these houses cooler during the day.

To prevent dampness from seeping into the timber stilts which were used to hold up the house, they were placed on cement block footings. This ingenious building method allows the house owner to detect any intrusion by termites and prevent water seepage which would eventually cause the stilts to rot. In some such houses, the airy space beneath the house is used for hanging clothes during rainy weather. Cars and bikes are also parked within. If you notice, this one had a small storage or garage built beside it.  

There are not many such similar structures around the country and I have not seen one like these two for many years. As such I decided to stop and do a sketch of one of the houses. I did not do a full painting because of the location from where I was seated. It was just at the side of the road that was the main thoroughfare. The cars being driven into Batu Gajah town were not slowing down and from where I sat, it would be difficult for them to spot me as they made the approach.

Just as I was about to finish the sketch, a local drove his Proton right into the tiny space by the road in front of where I was seated. Luckily his wife spotted me and asked him to reverse so as not to obstruct my view. I decided to finish the sketch quickly and get out because the car was dangerously perching on the side of the road and inviting an accident.

Air of serenity at Perak Tong

I painted this scene using a single Chinese brush. How the painting turned out
 was quite amazing (see inset). I used the texture of the paper to produce the misty-like effect. 

The Perak Tong Chinese Temple is located along Jalan Kuala Kangsar, about six kilometres north of Ipoh and it is among the most picturesque places of worship for the Chinese and a tourist attraction that has drawn people from afar. During the first and fifteenth day of the lunar month and on major festivals, the temple teems with devotees.

Surrounded by lush greenery, it has a well-kept yard which includes a pool and several pergolas for visitors to rest and enjoy the scenery. The best time to be here to enjoy the tranquil atmosphere is in the morning when the shadow from the tall limestone hill is cast onto the yard. During the afternoons, the casuarina trees dotting the yard also provide a cool respite.

I painted the façade of the cave temple complex and tried to capture the softness of the greenery using wet-on-wet technique. As I was painting, several monkeys descended from the hills and got closer to me. Fortunately, one of the temple sweepers who were around shouted out at the primate and drove it back into the trees.

I was told that the monkeys here were as mischievous as those in Batu Caves in Selangor. No sooner than he has spoken, another yell was heard from the other side of the temple ground. Apparently a monkey had made off with a Tupperware containing food which was carelessly left in a visitor’s motorcycle basket.

 

There is a lake in front of the temple complex which I will leave to paint another day. m

Muar's old world charm

The decades old Hua Nam cafe is still a popular haunt for locals. 

Some years back, when I first visited Muar on the way back from Singapore to Malacca, if I am not mistaken, this was the first premises I stopped at. We were famished that afternoon and seeing an uncrowded café with ample parking space in the street was a sight for sore eyes. Since then, whenever my wife and I are in Muar, this will be one of the first food outlets we would stop here for coffee. 

This building, established in 1917, is located at the intersection of Jalan Yahya and Jalan Meriam. I was attracted by the old features of this building, and even more fascinated with the two colours used on the same building – light blue at left and pink at right.

Pork innards soup and laksa (top right) are the specialities of hawkers operating in Hua Nam Cafe

A local told me the reason for the different colour was because Muar’s buildings had been thematically painted to differentiate their location according to the streets. However, the building painters must have been stumped by the location of Hua Nam Café must which lies smack in the corner of the two roads and they decided to make it easy by painting the same building in two colours to differentiate the two streets flanking the façade.

Located within Hua Nam Café are a laksa stall and a mixed-meat or “chichap” (non-halal) rice seller. Although the café serves toast and eggs with coffee, we noticed that the laksa stall is highly popular both with seat-in as well as takeaway customers. Priced at RM4 a bowl, the noodles (a choice of rice vermicelli or yellow noodles, of half of each) come in a very fragrant curry gravy. I can’t say if it is the affordability or the lipsmacking goodness of the laksa that is drawing a steady stream of customers. Service is also very fast.

I sketched and painted this building from across the street, seated on a folding chair at the five-foot way of a shop. The outlet was closed during Chinese New Year so I could complete this piece without hindering pedestrian traffic. 

This building in pink is another striking attraction that lends old world charm to Muar.

Although there was heavy cloud cover that morning, I decided to paint a strong shadow in the foreground to add interest to the perspective. The clouds were painted with basic primaries, with a tint of warm colours, and some patches of cobalt blue to depict cloud-holes to show the upper layer of blue skies frequently seen during Chinese New Year.

Twilight journey

The last of the remaining ferry service along Sungai Sepang near Bukit Pelandok.

It is the last remaining privately operated ferry service plying the towns of Bukit Pelandok in Negri Sembilan and Sungai Pelek in Selangor, on the otherside of the Sepang River. There used to be two operators but one closed down due to poor demand.

Now the lone operator services residents from the two neighbouring States using a single riverboat, operating from a terminal near Kampung India in Bukit Pelandok. The riverboat is powetred by a 15-HP outboard engine, piloted by the third-generation member of the family-owned business. There is a spare outboard motor on standby in case of a breakdown. There are no deck chairs as the crossing takes less than five minutes. Life jackets and life preservers are available.

The ferry service begins at 6.35am and ends at 7.25pm daily. Passengers are xharged 50sen per trip for an adult, and 30 sen per child. To bring motorcycles onboard, you pay an additional 50sen. For bicycles, it is 30sen per vehicle.

The ferry service begins at 6.35am and ends at 7.25pm daily

To get to the terminal from Bukit Pelandok side, drive straigt until you reach the Bukit Pelandok Tamil school, adjacent to a Hindu Temple. About 300m from the school on the straight, you will come to an X-junction where a green timber sundry shop is visible on your right. The road beside this shop will lead you straight to the jetty, about 1.3km away.

The ferry making a turn at the Sepang side.