Bougainvillea Park, Ipoh

I spotted a garden from the balcony of my hotel, The Tower Regency Hotel. It is located next to The Syuen Hotel and opposite Ipoh Parade. The garden is called Bougainvillea Park and its name sparked my curiosity.

It's not a big park but it sure function as one of the green lungs for Ipoh City. A perfect place for an evening stroll.

The Syuen Hotel from the park

It is quite obvious why the park was named in such way as there are a lot of Bougainvillea flowers (the locals called in Bunga Kertas if not mistaken) here. It's a shame it was not in full bloom during my last visit or otherwise it would be a magnificent sight.

The rock garden at the edge of Bougainvillea Park. This is probably the most beautiful (and the coolest on a hot afternoon) section of the garden as I can see a few couples taking their photos here.

Fai Kee Restaurant, Ipoh

Just opposite The Regency Tower Hotel Ipoh is a road called Jalan Seenivasagam (hope I don't get the name wrong) where we came across Fai Kee Restaurant on a hot afternoon.

There was this poster in front of the restaurant that highlights their signature dishes and their appearance in the local newspaper.

The display caught my attention and there was a reasonable huge crowd here which suggest the food here should be good.

The menu served here are well posted on the wall. The food price looks reasonable with the price range from RM4-6.

Fish Head Mee Hoon (RM5) where the waft of the aroma is enough to tickle my appetite. Thumbs up for this dish.

Their coconut juice (RM3.80) tastes so great that ordering just one is simply not enough. I reckon this coconut is either imported from Thailand or Taiwan.

One can dine in the restaurant or below this tree opposite the restaurant. Most people prefer to dine under the tree.

Around Ipoh Old Town

Walking around Ipoh Town might be like going through a maze for the first timer here. However, a proper study on the town map, the walk will be a breeze as the town is mainly made of parallel and one way streets.

Yau Tet Shin Road is a good place for food hunting. Some even call this street "Dim Sum Street" with a few establishments here especially Fok Shan which sells Dim Sum. Fok Shan is so famous that the place is always jam packed with people (either take away or dine in).

The famous Ipoh Bean Sprout Chicken Rice is also located at Yau Tet Shin Road. Lou Wong and Onn Kee Restaurant are the two famous outlets in the town. Strangely, they are just located side by side. Its very hard to dine here as the places are always full. It's a shame we don't have the opportunity to try their signature dishes.

Along Yau Tet Shin Road, there are many stores selling tempting looking biscuits and the famous pomelo

Another local delicacies here are the salted chicken where the chicken is baked in salt. There are a few shops around Theatre Street, Yau Tet Shin Road and its surrounding (you just need to explore on foot to find out) that sell salted chicken.

An antique shop at the town

A shop selling Chinses Lanterns (probably for the mid autumn festival). I reckon I saw the shop along Jalan Onn Jaafar

Pasar Besar Ipoh at Jalan Onn Jaafar is the main wet market for the town folks.

For the best shopping experience within the walking distance in the town, head to Ipoh Parade (just opposite Syuen Hotel). This place is pretty huge.

The bridge along Jalan Sultan Iskandar which cross over Kinta River had been demolished and been replaced with a temporarily bridge (which is not pedestrian friendly) for the time being.

The buildings and the shop houses nearby the Ipoh Padang and State Mosque (which is what they called the Ipoh Old Town) still able to maintain their original architecture which were established around the pre war era.

The once famous Mercantile Bank building (now house Elken office) also can be found around the area. The building was built in 1931 with interesting art deco designs of swags and cartouches

The banks here are pretty lucky to be able to operate from buildings with such architecture beauty. The now OCBC Bank branch was once The Straits Trading Building in 1907 which boast Italian Renaissance architecture.

Transformers Energon: Rodimus

Rodimus made a comeback appearance in the Transformers series after a very long time since the G1 era. This time he returned and featured in the Energon series which was aired between 2003-2004.

The packaging by Takara for Rodimus. It also illustrates his ability to powerlinx with other Autobot.

It is quite obvious that his design bears some resemblance with the G1 Rodimus Prime. It is a perfect homage for the G1 Autobot leader.

Rodimus alternate mode is a truck. It is a pretty small truck though.

As with any Autobot in the Energon toy line, there is a storage port for his weapon and Minicon in vehicle mode.

Rodimus in robot mode. Some great articulation can be achieved in robot mode.

Rodimus lack of the "Prime" title in the Energon series but he is still ranked highly as he is known as Rodimus Convoy in the Japanese series (Convoy means commander in Japanese)

Rodimus is regarded as Cybertron hero due to his decision to leave Cybertron with the like minded Transformers (be it Autobot or Decepticons) and find a peaceful home. Cybertron at the time was consumed by the war between the Autobot and Decepticons.

His valor and principle is still taught in the Autobot Military Academy. Hence, he is well known especially to the younger Autobot warriors who graduated from the Academy.

In the Energon series, Rodimus mainly powerlinx with either Hot Shot or Prowl

Powerlinx Rodimus (with Prowl). He is able to maneuvre with greater speed in this mode due to Prowl's superior speed.

Powerlinx Rodimus (with Hot Shot). Rodimus is an Autobot Hot Shot look up to ever since he is a young warrior.

Rodimus never powerlinx with other Autobot to form the lower part during the combination in the series. However, in an unofficial episode in a wrestling match, he powerlinx with Hot Shot to form the lower part.

Here, I add a little twist to the transformation when Rodimus powerlinx with Prowl. I basically moved Prowl's chest plate up and extend his "wing" on the hip.

Powerlinx Rodimus and Powerlinx Hot Shot. Somehow, Rodimus head size appears a bit small and did not match the size of the body.

Rodimus is highly respected by the current Autobot leader, Optimus Prime who had occasionally requested Rodimus to lead the Autobot army in the event of his demise when battling Unicron.

Rodimus bio data given by Takara. For those who can read Japanese here are the specs; Strength: 8, Intelligence: 8, Speed: 9, Endurance: 7, Rank: 8, Courage: 9, Fireblast: 8, Skill: 8.

Well, I don't agree with some of them as I will give 8 for Endurance and 9 for Rank