Ipoh, July 28

Just thought I should try and complete the summer postings:

Every year when I visit my hometown and the surrounding areas, I am struck by the beauty of the limestone hills here. This year I made very sure to take pictures around Ipoh and I will post some of them here too. Ipoh is the capital city of Perak, and about 40 mins north of Kampar. Famous for limestone hills, pomeloes and their chicken noodles, Ipoh is where I had my first job as a ballet accompanist, joined a good choir & performed in public, took piano and voice lessons, and attended classical concerts. I love this city and have enjoyed its flavor.

Pictures showing the limestone hills surrounding Ipoh.

It is nice to play a recital here and the piano for this concert was made in Ipoh. C Steinberg has a factory here and Ipoh is actually the piano capital for Malaysia. There are lots of factories here. Ticket sales were a little sluggish because there were other concerts before and after ours. We had a hall (more like a barn) that doubles as an indoor badminton court. (Tangent: Badminton is a world-class sport & Malaysia performs fairly well). It was really echoey so I didn't need to pedal too much.

I had a really good lunch on the day of the recital, went to one of the famous established local restaurants and pigged out. I don't do this in the USA. Can't afford it and there's nothing really to pig out on!

The audience was made up primarily by my home church members, Chinese church members, lots of friends from Kampar and Ipoh and a whole bunch of students. We offered student tickets and also transport to the concert venue. The concert went well and the Tamil Methodist Church hosted the concert. Their youth group did a fundraiser too by selling refreshments at the intermissions. Hence the pop cans opening during my festive Chinese "Flower Drum" piece. I didn't mind so long as the kiddos were having a good time.

Ipoh planning committee who worked really hard.

Our Ipoh audience.

Here was where the James Bond jokes were. And I pity the next group of performers now that Mr T didn't use a mike. The rest will now be compared to him whether they like it or not. At least, I have the honors of being the local girl and escaped scrutiny. :)