A Look Around Ipoh

Ipoh is a mid-sized town in Malayasia, an historic city, built from tin mining and featuring some iconic British era colonial architecture. The mines are closed and the British have moved away, leaving behind hints of their history through the old buildings.

Picturesque bridge leading from new to old Ipoh.

The Kinta river. Nice pedestrian trestle bridge in the background. St Michael's school, looking straight out of a Jeremy Irons movie.

Main train station. Ipoh is inland and the British needed a major rail line to move all the tin to the coast for further transport.

Moving on in time, ever-present mosques.

Fountain in a central park.

Progress and pride, new building pushing out old neighborhoods and showing patriotism on a government building.

Ipoh today, not afraid of a color statement.

Yangon Old Office Building

The British built an impressive number of colonial structures while in Myanmar, most of them still in use by the government. There are also buildings from the same era, now used as offices, if not quite for their original purpose or condition.

Typical exterior, a brick facade, overgrown trees, rich patina.

Heading in. The awning is a later addition, among many add-ons that disguise the original entrance. Inside, the floors have been carved up into little office stalls, completely obliterating the original floor layouts.

Typical tiny office.

The center courtyard has also seen radical alterations, a spiderweb of plumbing added. You do not want to see the bathrooms on the other side of the piping. It's a bit like a Tim Burton set in the dark stairway.

A sign too hard to resist. That's me!

Old Architecture In Yangon

Yangon has some of the most impressive British Colonial and Art Deco architecture of any city in Asia. Most of the municipal buildings were built by the British and more recent architecture followed current worldwide trends. Between regime change, wars and tropical wear and tear, most buildings display various stages of disrepair and rot.

Old high school.

Telegraph office, intruding cell tower. Apartment building, both fading away and keeping up electronically.

The most important British Colonial building in the city, now being impressively restored, The Secretariat.

Old movie theaters in various amounts of Art Deco trappings.

St Paul school for girls, still in use.

Lovely details, stressing the amount of architectural detail.

The rot is real with many buildings in prominent locations still waiting for the renovation angel and the many kyats needed to bring them back to original splendor (with air conditioning, wifi, parking).

London, India

If you're in Mumbai, ignore the palm trees and the people and, depending where you look, you'd think you were in jolly ol' London town. The Brits left plenty of old architecture behind and even today double decker buses abound.

The old Churchgate Train station.

The iconic Taj Palace hotel and its interior staircase.
Lazing by the Gateway of India. Dog days, indeed.

The Prince of Wales Museum and a look down MG Road.

Bustling Victoria station, James' sister holding still to illustrate said bustle. Thanks sis!

Looking a lot like London, double decker bus helping the sell.