Heritage Buildings of Georgetown, Penang

Backstreets and lanes of historic towns like Georgetown, Ipoh and Malacca are a wonderful place to find some colorful old heritage style houses and shops. This corner house has had some rather unique renovation carried out as you can see with the tacked-on extra room made from corrugated iron. Of course I'm sure that proper planning permission was granted here and that these modifications adhere to good building practice and regulations!

Camera Shy in Shanghai

The locals in Shanghai seemed strangely averse to having photographs taken as can be seen in this image. On numerous occasions I had locals turn away or even get downright nasty when my camera was out and armed. This lady took a defensive position by hiding behind her scarf  as she walked down one of the interesting, winding back lanes in the Old City area of Shanghai. I particularly liked the subdued, muted colours of the walls and doors and the outfit worn by the lady seemed to match very well making a good shot .... although a smile may have enhanced the shot even more.

Old City of Shanghai

Away from the tourist areas of The Bund, Pudong and Yu Gardens lies the Old City area of Shanghai where a maze of small streets and alleys takes you into another time. This small street in a back lane of the Old City is typical of how life goes on unchanged since many decades ago. Only one small sink with water outside the house to do all the washing, cleaning and cooking, a tiny outside cooking area and of course no heating for the cold winter nights. You can see here the ingenious way of using straw to lag the water pipes to prevent these freezing in winter.

Ipoh Alley

Some of the back lanes and alleys of Ipoh still have some wonderful examples of traditional shophouse architecture that is sadly rapidly disappearing. Although rundown and dilapidated these streets still exhibit some of the nostalgic character of bygone days that cannot be matched by the modern buildings of today.