Concubine Lane (Panglima Lane - Jalan Bijeh Timah) @ Ipoh [Malaysia]

I could not deny that the words "concubine lane" on the brochure piqued my interest to take a look at this century old street in the old town sector of Ipoh.

Once notoriously known as the place to go for opium, gambling and brothels, Panglima Lane became a residential area where many rich tycoons supposedly kept their concubines; hence the name "Concubine Lane".

Its colourful and exciting past (think of all the cat fights when the wife confronted the concubine) was unfortunately no longer present in the current times. 

A few of the townhouses were stripped of any furniture and fittings with weeds and wild plants enveloping the premises; a pitiful state for an area that definitely deserves more.

Guess it all boils down to money; it can be expensive to maintain / renovate a townhouse, especially one that has been in existence for possibly more than a century.  

Units that were occupied had their doors bolted shut and i didn't think it would be wise to knock on the door to gain entry for a few photographs. On second thought, i might do so if i wasn't that sleepy! 

Exposed to the weather without a roof, one of the vacant lots was used as food preparation area for a coffeeshop next door. The lady was skewing the meat for satay; an item i regretted not ordering in this trip! 

Some more pictures before i end this post. Hope the authorities would do something to spruce up this lane before it faded into history, like many others.