The Great Heritage Project: Let's Get To It!

Every time I travel to other parts of the country, I usually rant about the same thing (actually, even to downtown KL): How our old, pre-war buildings are not well taken care of. 

These buildings are historically and culturally important and should be preserved and appreciated. But usually, you'll see them rotting away OR refurbished to look gaudy and unappealing. 

Recently, we took the trunk road from Tanjung Malim to Ipoh and we got to see all the towns in between, each with their own identity, their own set of beautiful old buildings. Happy to see that some have been maintained well, but others left much to be desired. 

Pls refer to pictures attached.

I know that most of these buildings are privately owned and not protected by the relevant laws, but speaking as a lay person, would love to see this become the priority of local governments. There should be more engagement with the owners too, and a masterplan to get everyone's buy-in, even the rakyat. (Do let me know if this is all being done.)

But yes, I am happy and encouraged to see this initiative by DBKL and CGB Consultants in KL! (Refer to pics below). 

Let’s also widen the scope so budgets could be allocated for even non-heritage sites. 

Come on, let's get this done folks!

Jom Heboh Ipoh 2012

It's been ages since my last visit to Ipoh, so it was pretty cool when I was told I'd be "on duty" at Jom Heboh this past weekend. We left KL on Friday evening and the drive took around 2 hours plus. We went into the city centre looking for a makan place, but driving "blind" with no map or guide whatsoever, we actually got lost, going round and round, without finding anything significant. So we decided just to check in to our hotel, the Impiana, and had some hotel grub.

The next day, it was time for me to suit up and face the Jom Heboh heat and crowd. Getting to the location, Stadium Indera Mulia, was pretty easy though. I just looked out for some stadium floodlights and drove towards it.

First up for me was co-hosting "Sembang-Sembang Jom Heboh" with "WHI"'s Azzura and "Mag 7"'s Irin.  And we had a special guest on set as well, Filipino award-winning actor, Dingdong Dantes! Yup, the dude's been raking in the ratings on TV3 through a few telenovelas, the latest one being "Endless Love". The buzz on Dingdong had been pretty good with him causing extreme excitement amongst Media Prima staff the day before Jom Heboh itself.

The interview itself went pretty well. And I must say Dingdong turned out to be a down-to-earth dude who loved to eat! He was game enough to brave the heat at the Women's booth and entertained all picture-taking requests from his fans. But then again, I was informed by his entourage that the weather's much more punishing in Manila, so I guess it wasn't too tough for him after all. Hehe.

And talking about the weather, it turned out to be pretty erratic throughout the entire two days there. It was nice and breezy in the morning, scorching hot in the afternoon, and it rained suddenly on both days after 4pm!

Apart from "Sembang-Sembang", I also recorded two other crossover segments that were aired around 4pm on Saturday and Sunday. But one of the highlights I need to mention here of course was my first taste of the famous "nasi ganja". Yup, that's the name, and you're allowed to say it out loud, like this... "SAYA NAK NASI GANJA!!!" Haha. Anyway, the kind peeps of TV3 got someone to buy a few packs of this local delicacy and together with Dindong and his entourage, we gobbled down the good stuff in no time at all.

My verdict? It's somewhat like nasi kandar but with a slightly different sambal concoction. The fried chicken was also absolutely delicious. So yes, as they say on social media-land... WIN!

We also had some time to do some ronda-ronda around Ipoh town. Weren't looking for anything in particular but I was told on fb to try out some of the food at  Dataran Ipoh.

The place wasn't too hard to find, but we had to follow our instincts as to which stall to choose. We saw one with a good crowd and ordered the char kuey teow. Which turned out to be pretty good, really.

I also organised the 15th round of Larian 40 Taman at Ipoh's famous Padang Polo, but that's for a different post altogether.

And oh, we also stopped by Ipoh Parade, but you know-lah, a mall's a mall, no matter where in Malaysia :) But I must say the crowd at Jom Heboh was really happening and the people came out in droves. Hate to use the cliche, but "Ipoh mali talak sombong!" Hehe.