Treacher Street (Jalan Bijeh Timah) took on a 1930’s ambience recently. With its human-powered vintage vehicles, ipohWorld became the focus of the celebratory parade held in conjunction with the launch of the Ho Yan Hor Museum along the street.
“Two of our machines are in the parade. The oldest is a rickshaw. Rickshaws were used from before 1900 up until the 1950s in Ipoh. The one in the parade is the last one ever built. The other is a tricycle advertising cigarettes. They used to pedal it around selling cigarettes. It could hold several hundred packets but still many people would only buy one cigarette at a time. The reasoning behind this practice is that if you bought a whole pack you had to offer it to your friends. Many could not afford to do that,” said Commander Ian Anderson, Director of ipohWorld.
Anyone would be impressed by the efforts put in, right down to the last detail. For instance, the runner of the rickshaw donned a coolie hat. After the parade, the machines were parked outside Han Chin Pet Soo together with a trishaw, a Roti Man’s (bread seller) pushbike, an ice cream potong (traditional Malaysian ice cream) bike and a Coca Cola tricycle.
“The trishaw took over from the rickshaw but now we’re not allowed to ride it around Ipoh because it can cause traffic congestion. The Coca Cola tricycle is probably the only one in the world. The Roti Man’s pushbike is a very rare machine because the Roti Man hasn’t been on the bicycle for many years, perhaps since the 1960s,” Ian, who knows Ipoh like the back of his hand, explained.
What was the objective of the display? “One is to support Ho Yan Hor. Secondly, we thought we could give a bit of publicity to ipohWorld and Han Chin Pet Soo,” the amiable Ian told Ipoh Echo. Han Chin Pet Soo is ipohWorld’s first building restoration and permanent exhibition.
ipohWorld has come a long way since its formation in 2004. The education-based and non-profit organisation aims to promote awareness and appreciation of the silver state and its unique heritage.
In line with its slogan of “Saving Yesterday for Tomorrow”, ipohWorld has documented close to 8000 items in their archive. They cover a broad spectrum of heritage and social history based on photographs, documents, interviews, artifacts, books and videos.
Have a look at their website to read on heritage issues and share some of your experiences.
Website: http://www.ipohworld.org Tel: 05 2431689Mei Kuan
