Exploring Muar Town - The Historical Town

I would like to share some of this Pre-war buildings at Muar town with you. As you can see the completion year were shaped emboss somewhere near the roof.

Streets view of Jalan Abdullah (N2°02.854' E102°34.053')

We love to explore by walking through the town, streets by streets....

We started our journey from Jalan Abdullah (road) somewhere opposite Maybank Muar. Walked pass through Jalan Haji
Abu (road) and turn left to Jalan Ali (road), until the jusnction.....we turn left again into Jalan Sayang (road) and left to Jalan Meriam (road).

I found this old building at the junction of Jalan Abdullah & Jalan Hj. Abu
(N2°02.871' E102°34.080')

And.....Ooopss!! (The Lady Street of Muar)

Muar town had been existed since 13th Century, according to the history here.
This is also the town which the origin of Hoe Kee Chicken Rice Ball, which is very famous in Malacca now.

Hmm.....They named it 'Cooked Food Market' during 1952, it's actually a food court today..... Foods are good! (Located at junction of Jalan Hj. Abu & Jalan Ali N2°02.800' E102°34.136')

Street view - Jalan Ali (N2°02.803' E102°34.145')

Nice and neat parking....

Chiang Chuan Association, Muar (N2°02.777' E102°34.102')
I remember I read somewhere about this building experience the bomb attack about 500 meter away during the 2nd World War. It's so lucky it missed, otherwise we won't be able to witness this Prominent Heritage building anymore....


Alley beside the Chian Chuan Association, Muar

I believe this is the First Chinese Primary School at Muar Town...
Chung Hwa National Primary School One (N2°02.746' E102°34.081')

Rows of well preserved pre-war buildings still dominate the town’s architecture. These buildings still house various shops along Jalan Abdullah, dubbed as Muar’s central business district. Prominent heritage buildings, among others, are the Abu Bakar Building (completed in 1929) that houses the town’s administrative offices and the Custom building (completed in 1909). The age of most buildings can be easily identified since the date of completion (ranging from 1930s to 1950s) were cast on the buildings’ exterior. These buildings are the priceless heritage that portrays Muar’s prosperous past and appreciating this splendour would bring one’s memory back to the nostalgic. More on Wiki.

Grocery Importers and Exporters Association, Muar (1954)
(N2°02.746' E102°34.071')

The above and below buildings are located at the junction of Jalan Sayang & Jalan Meriam. They were re-paint and restored.
(N2°02.785' E102°34.047')

The different generation of the windows.......

Unique design of the roof (located along Jalan Sayang)


Do you still remember when was the last time you step in to this book shop?

A Pharmacy or Clinic? I feel the signage on 1st level is unique....

We finish the first part of Muar Town Exploration in about 90 minutes and continue proceed to our next stop.....

Muar related post :-
* Tanjung Emas (Golden Cape) Of Muar, Johor.

Muar foods related post :-
* Famous Glutton Street (贪呷街) of Muar, Johor.
* Salty Shrimp at Panchor, Muar - Johor.
* Foods of Bukit Gambir, Muar Johor.
* Restaurant Double Lim (Assam Fish), Muar.
* Leng Kee Bak Kut Teh, Muar, Johor
* Merlin Restaurant (Assam Fish) at Muar, Johor.

MY TRIPS - Home

Seafood Noodle at Kulai, Johor

After so many times having the beef noodle at this Restaurant Soon Ji, this time I decided to try their 'Seafood Noodle'.

It serves in claypot as same as the beef noodle. Basically, there were shrimp, squid & others seafood.
Frankly speaking, I prefer the beef more than the seafood version. The beef soup is taste better......
There are some other version like pork & mutton.....try it if possible, you won't regret with the beef noodle.

Rated : 3/5

Related post :-
* Beef Noodle at Kulai

MY TRIPS - Home

New Face-lift for Machap R&R Area, Johor

This Machap Rest Area (N1°53.755' E103°13.454') north bound had just upgrade to better environment. This is the First Rest Area if you travel from the south to north via PLUS Highway.

We always have a rest over here and this time it's really surprise me!
The washrooms area were upgrade to clean & nice! And the food court area had been isolate with glass & air-condition for better hygiene! Yes, chase away all the flies! (But kind of warm, maybe the temperature was too high...)


The place even equip with escalator for both direction. (I think this is a bit out of it, make it look like a shopping complex! Worth it?!) And hopefully they will maintain it well.....

You can even have Baskin & Robbins now at Machap R & R area.

MY TRIPS - Home

LA Jewish Journal Story on Czech Jewish Heritage

(Inside the Boskovice synagogue. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber, 2004)


The Los Angeles Jewish Journal runs a nice travel feature by Jay Firestone on Jewish heritage in the Czech Republic. I have covered all the material in my own writing -- and all the sites mentioned are covered, in more detail, in Jewish Heritage Travel. On this blog I have also posted a lot more information on many more Czech sites.

Still, it's great to see an article that goes beyond Prague and takes in some of the the wonderful little towns in Moravia, such as Boskovice, Trebic, and Telc -- though it's too bad that Mikulov wasn't mentioned, as it is one of the most important site of Jewish heritage in the country.




October 1, 2008

Czech Republic surprises with Jewish treasures

By Jay Firestone


A tight budget, an embarrassing exchange rate and exponentially expensive flights -- it's a tough time to be an American, and an even tougher time to be an American traveler. But it's still possible to enjoy a first-rate European experience while keeping travel costs reasonable.

The Czech Republic's strong cultural balance between bustling urban life and calm rural communities features a wide variety of tourism options, from breweries to castles to Jewish ghettos. Major cities like Prague and Pilsen are ripe with history at nearly every corner, and Jewish tours offer everything from the construction of the second-largest synagogue in Europe to the creation of the mythical Golem.

Click to Read Full Story

Contemporary Art Project Memorializes Shoah Victims in Prague

From Czech Radio comes a story about a new public art and memorial project in Prague's historic Jewish quarter. It is part of a "Stones of the Vanished" or "Stumbling Stones" project that originated in Germany and has seen similar monuments projects in a number of cities, most of them in Germany. According to the web site, after Prague an installation is also slated for another Czech town, Kolin.


Holocaust victims remembered by new ‘Stones of the Vanished’ project


By Rosie Johnston

If you stumble across a little brass plaque on a walk in Prague’s Old Town next week, then the chances are it is going to be a ‘kámen zmizelého’ (‘stone of the vanished’). The project, organized by the Czech Union of Jewish Students, will eventually see stones commemorating victims of the Holocaust embedded in pavements all over the capital. The idea comes from Germany, as does the man making the memorials, Gunter Demnig. But the project coordinator at the Czech end is Petr Mandl.

I met him on Wednesday morning to ask first about the name of the project:

“I would translate it as ‘The Stones of the Vanished’, the original name is ‘Stolpersteine’ in German, which means rather ‘stumbling stones’, but it is very hard to translate, and the meaning of the project is a bit different in the Czech Republic.”

So is this part of a European network of ‘Stolpersteine’ then? How big is the scale of this Czech project?

“So of course, we wanted Prague to be part of this international project – as you know, it has already been done in many other European countries. And now in Prague we are unveiling our first ten stones, and we want the project to enlarge by around 30 stones per year.”

And I hear that you are actually going to have to look quite hard to find these stones - that they are not going to be all that evident at first glance…

“One of the ideas of the project is to personify the historical event that was the Shoah, the Holocaust. We want to reflect the stories of people who were murdered in its course. So of course, the stones can’t be massive and all down the pavements, on every corner.”

So, if you were going to hunting for these stones, where would you find the first ten?

“Well, the first stones will be put in the Old Town, in the Jewish Quarter, where many Jewish people lived. But in the future, the majority of Jewish people in Prague lived in Vinohrady, and so there will be many stones there as well.”
Photo: www.stolpersteine.comWho is funding this project?

“It is funded by private sponsors and donors, and also those people who want to dedicate a stone to their family share the cost.”

The project is being unveiled later this month, so there aren’t yet any stones in place, but what will they look like, for those who maybe won’t get to Prague, and maybe won’t get tot see them?

“The stones are concrete cubes around 10cm each, or four inches if you want to be metric about it, and then there is a sheet of brass on top with writing. The writing reads ‘here lived – the name of a person, the date of birth, the date of transport, where that person was deported and the place and date of that person’s murder’.”

Worrying News about Wooden Synagogue in Lithuania

In his Jewish Art & Monuments blog, Sam Gruber has published worrying news about the deteriorating condition of the former wooden synagogue in Pakruojis, Lithuania.

The synagogue -- one of the most impressive of the dozen or so surviving wooden synagogues in Lithuania -- was already in bad shape when I visited there in 2006. Sam has posted a slide show of pictures I took at the time.

The synagogue dates from the very early 19th century and is the oldest surviving wooden synagogue in Lithuania. Old pictures show that it once had an ornate interior, with a richly carved Ark and central bimah. The walls and ceiling bore colorful paintings. including one of a locomotive pulling a train. Painted fruit trees, storks, and flowers decorated the ceiling. One painting depicted the messianic image of the Leviathan swallowing its tail; its curved body surrounded a rendition of a t house with potted shrubs out front and three smoking chimneys. The synagogue is still recognizable by its double-mansard roof, but it was used as a cinema and sports hall in the 1950s. When I saw it, the windows were boarded up, the walls were sagging and outer planking had buckled in some places.

Recently, wooden planking as been removed from one wall and, as Sergey Kravstov of the Center for Jewish Art notes, “there are other severe problems, mainly the danger of fire, since the structure is abandoned, and is being frequently visited by homeless.” (Sergey's virtual reconstruction of the synagogue can be seen on the Center for Jewish Art web site HERE.)

These wooden synagogues are remarkable survivors -- I would say some of the most precious Jewish heritage sites in Europe. They are all that is left to remind us of the phenomenally ornate wooden synagogues, dating back centuries, that were destroyed by the Nazis.

The artist Murray Zimiles has created an unforgettable series of works based on the destruction of these synagogues.

Jewish Genealogy Blog

Here's another resource for family historians -- the Tracing the Tribe Jewish genealogy blog, by Schelly Talalay Dardashti. Schlley writes: "I have tracked my family history through Belarus, Russia, Lithuania, Spain, Iran and other countries. My articles about genealogy have been widely published in the Jewish media. In addition to writing, I speak at Jewish and general gen conferences and societies and also teach online Jewish genealogy at Genclass www.genclass.com. I'm past president of the five-branched JFRA Israel, a Jewish genealogical association, and a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists."

I've added a link to this blog on my Blogs to Watch list.