Category: Travel

The Sad Truth

Many of the shops in small towns along Federal Route 1 are dying, if not dead. Mr Yang, a long-time shopkeeper in Slim River town told me he is glad I am here to photograph the town now and not later. I asked why. He said if I were to come later, many more local old businesses will be shuttered or turned into something else.

It is not the new highways that are by-passing old towns or the shrinking population to be blamed, according to this old timer. The bitter truth is there are few young people interested in taking over a traditional family business. To blame other factors is to be in denial; said the man in honest introspection.

Be it a Chinese medical hall, an Indian grocer or a Malay tailor shop, the founder’s younger descendants see their future elsewhere. Mr Yang contends the new generation prefers a business with quick profits.

Nobody wants to idle away their lives stuck with a slow-moving business in a sleepy town. Old money has lost its charm; I added and he concurred.

To steer our conversation to a less-depressing subject, I asked him about remaining unique or interesting businesses in town.

Mr Yang smiled and asked me in Hokkien: “Lu wu chiak bangkali loti boh?” (Do you eat Bengali bread?)

He then pointed in the direction of a Indian-Muslim bread factory that is now in its third (and probably final) generation. I’ll visit it next.

Sony Alpha a7R, ISO 100, f4, 1/320 sec.

Tough Fruit On A Tough Vehicle

Something piqued my interest when I was walking down the street in Slim River town. I saw a Land Rover with a Tooley Electro Mechanical batch on its tailgate.

The now defunct English company from Church Street, Earl Shilton, Leicester used to do conversions for Land Rover vehicles.

Vehicle owner and durian seller Halim at first thought I was examining the durians he was selling from the back of his vehicle.

He was naturally happy when he found out I was a former Defender 110 owner. I wrote and directed a couple of television commercials for the Defender and Discovery some years ago. As such, I know a bit more about the series than the average guy.

I also attend and photograph the Rainforest Challenge International Offroad Competition almost every year. Even though it was a chance encounter, me and Halim ended up talking shop for a long while and became friends.

Halim promised to take me to some secret off-road tracks in the jungles off Slim River and Sungkai in his other 4WD.

Further north in Kampar and Ipoh, there are several workshops and dealers specialising in refurbished Land Rovers.

Of course, there is also the world’s largest fleet (estimated at over 7000 at one time) of mostly ramshackle and heavily-modified Land Rovers at the vegetable farms up in Cameron Highlands.

Jaguar Land Rover decided to stop producing the iconic Defender model come December 2015. It marks the end of an illustrious era for the famous utility and military vehicle launched in 1948.

The successor to be launched in 2018, was shown earlier as the Land Rover DC100 (Defender Concept 100) and I must say the planned replacement looks really awesome.

Sony Alpha a7R, ISO 100, f7.1, 1/320 sec.

Forgotten History: Battle of Slim River

Continuing my stroll down main street, I met this family on a bike. The mother is dropping the kids in front of P.K.Mohamed Mastan & Sons.

I learned that the Indian-Muslim grocery shop was founded before World War 2. They stressed their grandfather settled here before the Japanese Occupation; perhaps as a reminder of the turbulent history the town went through.

The Battle of Slim River was fought here in 1942. Some 500 soldiers from the British Indian Army lost their lives fighting the invading Japanese Imperial Army. 3,200 men were captured.

The assault force using tanks was commanded by Major Toyosaku Shimada. The British commander was Acting Major-General Archibald Paris.

Indian soldiers were from the Hyderabad, Gurkha and the Punjab Regiment. The experienced Punjabis set fire to a few tanks with molotov cocktails.

Destroyed tanks caused a bumper-to-bumper tank crawl on Federal Route 1. That left the enemy exposed and vulnerable but unfortunately artillery units did not arrive on time.

Staring at the road, I made a silent salute to the brave and unsung men who defended Malaya. Read more on the fierce Battle of Slim River on Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Slim_River).

Sony Alpha a7R, ISO 100, f4, 1/250 sec.

Stare Down At The Cowboy Town

Mani Store in Slim River sells fresh cow’s milk, among other things. The Indian family business started 78 years ago with a small herd. They now run a ranch with 180 cows, supplying milk to its own shop and to a government agricultural agency.

I spoke to the lady proprietor who is a devout Anglican Christian. Funny to hear from a cattle ranch owner that Slim River is a cowboy town. Not in the lawless sense but in its visual representation of a one-street town with rustic shops, I guess.

I walked down the main street like a gunslinger and the town dwellers stared at me, as expected. They didn’t challenge me to a quick draw though. If there is going to be any shooting, it will be with my camera.

Some of the curious town folk engaged me and we ended up with very interesting conversations. In upcoming pictures, we’ll meet some of the ‘cowboy town’ people on Main Street, Slim River.

Sony Alpha a7R, ISO 100, f10, 1/320 sec.

I Want To Know What Blue Lemon Is

In my life there’s been yellow and pink
I don’t know if I can face it again
Can’t stop now, I’ve traveled so far, to this Slim River town

I want to know what blue lemon is, I want you to show me
I want to feel what blue lemon is, I know you can show me

Blue Lemon is the most popular drink at the Slim River Ramadhan Bazaar but nobody gave me a straight answer. Finally at one stall, the lady said: “It’s just colouring”.

Sony Alpha a7R, ISO 100, f7.1, 1/320 sec.