A Bolt Of Lightning

A girl cycling past an old shop wall with a big crack. It looks like wall art featuring a bolt of black lightning. Something else hit the town dwellers.

Tanjung Malim people seem to be unusually curious and conscious about the presence of a stranger with a camera. And I don’t even use a neck strap or a big camera.

A few stopped cycling, walking and even driving just to watch me work. At this spot, several courteous pedestrians and cyclists crossed the street to avoid getting into frame, thinking I wanted to shoot the wall alone.

During my walkabout, some came forward to talk instead of me approaching them. One guy ran after me to tell me there is a interesting building in the opposite direction.

Good people.

Sony Alpha a7R, ISO 100, f5.6, 1/250 sec.

Time To Talk

Mr Wong is the proprietor of a watch and clock shop in Tanjung Malim town. The family business is now more than 60 years old and I asked him about changing trends. They used to sell Rado, Omega, Timex and Tissot. The current top selling brand is Casio.

But a more important question: Why is the time displayed on a analog watch or clock at a shop always set to 10:10? The answer is simple.

At 10:10, the hands are in an optimum or ideal position where it doesn’t block the manufacturer’s logo (typically at 12 o’clock) and date window (typically at 3 o’clock).

Love the old-fashioned wooden strip blinds on the shopfront. This kind of sunshade, also known as bamboo chicks, are made and sold by another shop in Tanjung Malim town.

Sony Alpha a7R, ISO 100, f11, 1/320 sec.

The Barber

Much of my time on the journey, so far, was spent engaging the locals. Usually the conversations can get quite interesting and long. Some will even invite me into their homes or to a coffee shop for a drink.

As for shopkeepers, I try to keep the conversations shorter as I know they need to tend to business and customers. But there is one businessman who can (and have the skills to) hold a long conversation.

The guy whose career began at the top; the barber.

The ideal place and time to join in a conversation is at where a conversation is already going on. I stepped into the Hibiscus Indian Barbershop in Tanjung Malim town.

Kumar the cheerful barber was originally from Tamil Nadu in India. He has been here for eight years and can speak fluent Malay. His customer, Deen from Kelantan, works in Tanjung Malim.

Apart from the two seen here, he has six other kids and that prompted a good-natured chat about traditional aphrodisiacs and birth control (or lack of). Heh.

Sony Alpha a7R, ISO 500, f4, 1/60 sec.

Map – Federal Route 1, North of KL

What was supposed to be a 100 km journey for this stretch took more than 1000 km as recorded by my GPS and odometer. Every town or place on this route is like a treasure chest waiting to be discovered and opened.

The extended mileage was because of the multiple up-down trips back home and to various accommodation locations. There were also numerous detours and excursions to branch roads and such.

Sub-trips sometimes yield little for the camera but were still worthwhile for the additional info I gather from locals about the geography and history.

Here’s a gentle reminder again to not make armchair suggestions. I wrote about the methodology, or lack of, in an earlier post.

As well meaning or well intended and appreciated as they may be, I view them as spoilers. That’s because I work entirely at random. No script, except for what I already know from previous trips.

In fact, as I explained before, I will not even view any other pictures in advance so as to have a clean slate or state of mind with no-preconceived notions.

Every stranger you see featured, I met by chance and it is them, the locals, who drove the direction of the journey by suggesting the next place.

It is not a tourism promo or a paid junket packaged as a travel story for a newspaper or magazine. It is one man’s journey and his honest perspective; simple as that.

This first leg of Selangor (north of KL) has about 70 pictures. The stories were all written on the go, on the fly, on the road and usually, minutes before I post. Please view the series from the start to fully understand how each town connects.

Big thank you to the wonderful people I met so far. Big thanks too to you followers and friends for joining me on this ongoing journey.

You can also follow the series on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, all under @tvsmithmy

End Of Act 1 – Intermission.

I am now leaving the state of Selangor and entering the state of Perak for which the capital is Ipoh. The city is still a long way ahead in the scheme of things. After a short break, I’ll first explore the border town of Tanjung Malim.

I am sure many of you didn’t know the significance of the digit 1 painted on the old road nor cared. Now that you know, why not hit the road yourself and find the many gems in your own country.

In the next post, I’ll include a route map generated from my GPS tracks and logs. It’ll give you an idea of each location and the relative distance between the towns visited in the Selangor leg of the journey.

Sony Alpha a7R, ISO 100, f5.6, 1/400 sec.