Photography Tip: Look for a plain chick with a entrance/exit cutout. Use it as a frame but it only works when there is a person behind. I think this was the proprietor of the medicine shop in Bidor.
#chicks #blinds #ruralscape #smalltown #urbex #bidor #tapah #perak #smalltown #history #urbex #series #streetphotography
I have a peeve about landscape or street photography on social media. People tend to garnish a mediocre pic with a quote, without attribution. Happens a lot in the Malay world of Instagram. They take a pic of the sky or a goat and superimposed it with a quote. The end result looks like a constructed meme.
“It was very much like Norman Rockwell: small town America. We walked to school or rode our bikes, stopped at the penny candy store on the way home from school, skated on the pond.” ~ Dorothy Hamill, American Olympic skater.
Insert or add some nonsensical babble or philosophical thought or hipster rant about life.
Taking a pic and not wanting to waste it, you go back to write something to make up at story retrospectively, that wasn’t there. Worst are those who insert thoughts into a stranger’s mind. How do you know what the stranger on the street was thinking without making contact?
The boy is thinking: “I am hoping the colours of my bike add some excitement to this drab town. The umbrella is giving this town the competition it needs. Nothing happens around here since the war, my grandpa used to say.”
End of fiction. I was in tiny town Rasa. It may be good for those who likes writing but there is a danger. Let your picture tell your story, The danger is it may affect your story telling ability with a camera and your audience becomes lazy too. And not everyone can write compelling captions that the reader can rasa or feel.
The opposite is my pet peeve. Those who are extremely frugal with captions. For some reasons, they don’t even want to reveal the subject matter or its location, making it as annoying as a cryptic post.
Nearest decent hotel to Rasa is The Leverage Business Hotel in Rawang
hhttps://www.agoda.com/partners/partnersearch.aspx?cid=1775757&pcs=1&hid=44313
#smallrown #streetphotography #rasa #selangor #hawker #streetfood #rawang
Love this article which traces the history of the roadside motels in America. The traditional mom and pop motels – once ubiquitous are slipping away without much notice, People bypass the old roads.
Fascinating read: http://www.businessinsider.com/american-road-trip-hotel-2017-6/?IR=T
Crushing realities: The early travelers were Depression-era migrants who’d been pushed off their land by failing crops, relentless dust and heartless banks.
Struggling to find some sense of home on the road, these environmental and economic refugees searched for hope against a backdrop of unfathomable loss. They were heading to California, the land of hope. Along the way, cheap motels popped up to cater to the new wave of travelers across America,
After the war, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, frustrated by the difficulty of moving military tanks across the country, promoted a plan that mimicked the German autobahn: the Federal Interstate Highway System. But the first of these four-lane highways would take over a decade to build.
In America, the new highways bypassed many classic motels, diners and gas stations such as those found on Route 66. I think another reason is the decline of the roadtrip culture sue escalating costs of gas, tolls and vehicle maintenance.
Our nation built highways because our truck roads were narrow,winding and sloping, Many lives were lost in horrific crashes.
The story in America in many ways mirrored our history. The NSE bypassed many small towns that led to its decline. The only exception I think is Bidor town which was once a popular rest stop due to Pun Chun restaurant. They are fortunate because the toll plaza is located near town. Today it is still bustling. Other popular stopover towns were Tanjung Malim, Kajang, Seremban, Gemas, Ayer Hitam. Batu Pahat and more.
Many family owned hotels known as Runah Tumpangan faded away without record or people documenting it.
The picture used in the article is the historic motel chain Wigwam which uses concrete tipi or teepee tents as rooms.
You can book one of three the surviving ones in San Bernardino, California here:
https://www.agoda.com/partners/partnersearch.aspx?cid=1775757&pcs=1&hid=173118
Pic by Agods. Remember, American friends, you can book a hotel anywhere in the USA via MyCen Hotels
#roadtrip #nse #highway #motels #wigwam #history #freeway #expressway #mycenhotels
Wen Dee was saying there should be drive-through ATMs. I remember seeing it in tiny Bekok town where motorcyclists withdrew money without dismounting. In searching for the pic, I found this pic from the 2009 Rainfoerst Challenge at the Selai National Park, part of the Endau Rompin National Park in Johor, it is a beautiful and rarely seen view of the park.
Bekok is the frontier town and western entrance. Participants from the various counties drive out of the rainforest during their “break days” to get supplies. The Chinese medicine shop was like a convenience shop. I wrote this:
The nearest town is sleepy Bekok, about 27 km from the entry to the park. It is the ‘frontier town’ and the only place nearby to look for the fabled Chi Kit pills when you have acute diarrhea. The popular local medicine is so effective than an overdose may lead to weeks of constipation. It must be a truly once-in-a lifetime and bizarre experience for the local grocers to have a Siberian./ Russian pulling up suddenly in a Russian-registered vehicle looking for Pil Chi Kit Teck Aun.
#rfc #johor #bekok #nationalpark #segamat #pilchikit #chinese #medicineshop
The Secret Handshake.
I saw a beautiful Sikh temple in Tampin town. Decided to photograph it up close and was confronted by one of the toughest strangers to engage with. Mr Gurdev Singh, the 85-year-old temple caretaker was wary and distrustful initially. He was, after all, a retired Special Branch police officer.
His dog Rajoo was menacing and I had to first win his faithful companion’s trust. When the dog started licking my face, Mr Singh said I passed the first test. There was to be another secret handshake. He scribbled on a piece of paper “godisnowhere” and asked me to put in the spaces. I put it is as “god is now here” (instead of “god is nowhere”).
The man finally let his guard down and we chatted like old friends. He told me the history of the temple, about the handful of Sikhs living in Tampin and even invited me to his nearby house for wild boar curry.
Tampin is such a quaint, idyllic and serene town. Stay behind to explore and meet other warm town folk. Find a hotel in or near Tampin here:
http://www.mycen.my/tampin-hotel-deals-finder/
Olympus OM-D, ISO 200, f6.3, 1/200 sec.
PS: Updates: reports are coming in, stating Gurdev is hale and hearty.
#sikh #punjabi #sikhtemple #dog #tampin #sepia #malaysia
