Tuesday, June 7, 2011
IPOH'S LIMESTONE HILLS
Ipoh is the capital of the Perak State,Malaysia.It is approximately 200 KM North of Kuala Lumpur on the North Expressway.when I was reading a Malaysian news paper I went through an interesting article which was written by a local person.It was really interesting about his family life in his Village.then He moved to city.the differences between Village and City,especially about Limestone Hills in the Village which is known as Ipoh.
So what I am going to do is to share with you all something what I have read in his article.Title of his article was "Stop the destruction of Ipoh's Limestone hills"
Although he was born in Kuala Lumpur,He lived most of his life in Ipoh.It is still a quaint and pleasant town to live in with plenty of good food and friendly people.Now he works and lives in Kuala Lumpur but He frequently returns to Ipoh as his mother still lives there.
After his father passed away,he invited his mother to live with himin Kuala Lumpur but she still prefers to stay put in Ipoh as she says the whether is cooler and the air is not as polluted as in Kuala Lumpur,what with the constant traffic jams that seem to escalate by the week.
But there is one thing that KL and Ipoh share:the majestic limestone hills,with KL having them in the Batu Caves area while in Ipoh they surround the city.Even his youngest daughter thinks they have suddenly reached Ipoh if we happen to drive past Batu Caves.she will instinctively ask,"Are we in Ipoh? Are we going to grandma' house?"
Lately,he had noticed that quarries in Ipoh are slowly but surely pounding away at the limestone hills.it is dramatically visible to anyone on the North - south Expressway in the vicinity of the Tambun toll plaza.
he remembered when he was a primary school pupil,he used to be fascinated by the various shapes of the numerous limestone hills in Ipoh.
he was not sure if any government department or environmental body was monitoring these quarries as he believed within a few years the landscape of Ipoh will be changed forever,with all limestone hills within sight destroyed,all for the sake of limestone extraction,pure profit driven motives.
if you were to drive past the huge quarry on the southern part of the Tambun toll Plaza,it resembles a war zone with hills that look like they had been bombed indiscriminately.
why hasn't anyone complained about this matter? is it because they are used to the unsightly scenery and just couldn't care less about it.
He could only assume that limestone hills which house temples or have cave paintings will be saved.he hoped the relevent bodies can put a stop to the balatant destruction of the limestone hills around Ipoh.
So this is how his article was continuing ....hope you will enjoy too.....