Falim House, Ipoh after the estate destruction

See previous blog for photos of the Falim House estate before it was demolished for development.

By March 2013 this was the view from the main road

 and from inside looking to the main road

The house now stands in isolated splendour. It has been painted and does look rather grand. Though it is a shame there is not a single tree remaining.

 View from main road -

The porte corchere

 Old Ford

Looking at what was once the estate gardens and orchards, with the railway line in the background -

The end of an era.

© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission

Falim House, Ipoh before the estate destruction

I have been past Falim House a few times but never took any notice of it and had not taken any photos. It is a large house located in Falim, just outside Ipoh in Perak. It is off Jln Lahat. It was built for the tin tycoon, Foo Nyit Tse in the 1920s and has 20 rooms. It is set in 26 acres of estate. See history on Save Falim House.

I was able to take a few photos on 26 Nov 2012. There is a driving school at the northern end and a pond. Then there is a row of workers' quarters before the main house, as seen here from the road -

 Stone gate posts

It was not easy to get a good view from the road as the trees were rather dense.

By early 2013, the whole estate surrounding the house had been demolished, leaving the house standing alone. Every single tree had been felled. The house was turned into a sales gallery for the Tin City commercial development. This will be a township of 2 - 4 storey shop lots, and phase 2 will be a condo. The artist impressions were all rather garish in contrast with the splendour of the old house.

See next blog for photos of the development.

© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission

Another old Ipoh house demolished

At the corner of Jln Sultan Azlan Shah and Jln Gopeng (Rajah Dr. Nazrin Shah) there used to be a fine old colonial house with a porte cochere. By 2004, maybe earlier, it had been converted into a swiftlet house.

I was shocked when I went past in March 2013 and the house had gone. It was just empty land.

These are Google Earth images from 2002 and Nov 2012

© Liz Price

No reproduction without permission

F1 prices

Malaysia has the cheapest seats of the whole F1.

See this BBC report .

British Grand Prix one of the most expensive F1 races

By Lawrence Barretto BBC Sport
14 March 2013

The British Grand Prix's cheapest race-day ticket is among the most expensive of its type on the Formula 1 calendar.

The 2013 season starts on Sunday in Melbourne, Australia - where the cheapest ticket costs £66, compared to £145 for Silverstone.

Only races in Brazil and Abu Dhabi are more expensive than Britain, while Malaysia is cheapest at £13.

Cheapest tickets to 2013 showpiece events in the UK

• British GP - £145
• Champions League final - £60
• Grand National - £21
• British MotoGP - £70
• Aviva Premiership final - £25
• The Open (final day) - £65
• World Snooker final (final session) - £68
• Wimbledon (men's final) - £130
• First Ashes Test (final day) - £20

In contrast, a race-day ticket to the glamorous Monaco Grand Prix in Monte Carlo costs just £30.

A race-only ticket for the British Grand Prix costs £41 more than the equivalent ticket for the Spanish race, £60 more than the German Grand Prix and nearly double that of the Italian event.

Silverstone managing director Richard Phillips defended the race's ticket prices, telling BBC Sport: "While not cheap, I believe British Grand Prix tickets are competitively priced and offer good value for money.

"It frustrates me when people compare the cost of a ticket to watch a 90-minute football match or 80-minute rugby match with a ticket for the British Grand Prix.

"For example, a ticket to watch Arsenal play a category 'A' game at The Emirates - one of 38, 90-minute league matches that they will play this season - can cost as much as £126.

Cheapest available race ticket

Rank	Race	Price
*2012 prices as 2013 prices not yet available. Bold and Italic - No race-only ticket available so prices are for full race
1	Abu Dhabi*	£339
2	Brazil	£229
3	Britain	£145
4	Spain	£104
5	Belgium	£103
6	US*	£102
7	Singapore	£100
8	Germany	£85
9	Japan	£76
10	Korea	£72
11=	Italy	£69
11=	Hungary	£69
13	Bahrain	£68
14	Australia	£66
15	Canada	£62
16	China	£45
17	Monaco	£30
18	India*	£24
19	Malaysia	£13
	Average	£95

"To come to Silverstone on the Sunday of the British Grand Prix - a World Championship event that only takes place once a year in the UK - tickets are available for £145 for a whole day of world-class entertainment, both on and off the track."

Phillips added that Silverstone is not influenced by prices of other races, but needs to make sure the event is commercially viable.

"When you combine ticket packages, entertainment packages, commercial agreements, government support - or lack of in Silverstone's case - attendance figures, crowd management and the number of days fans attend the event; no two grands prix experiences are the same," he said.

"While the overwhelming majority of venues around the world rely on government funding to cover all, or part of the fee to host Formula 1, the British Grand Prix remains one of the few privately funded events on the calendar.

"The future of the British Grand Prix is solely reliant on the BRDC [British Racing Drivers' Club] and Silverstone from a commercial point of view.

"Over the three days, the British Grand Prix attracts a bigger crowd than any other event on the F1 calendar, so the value is obviously appreciated by fans."

The prices for the cheapest and most expensive race-day and weekend tickets were available as of 4 March 2013. Each ticket offers a seat or a place on grassed banking and hospitality tickets were excluded.

Figures are for the 2013 season, however 2012 prices have been used for the Indian, Abu Dhabi and United States Grands Prix because they have yet to put tickets on sale.

The cheapest average race-day ticket costs £95 while the average three-day ticket will set you back £106.

The £30 ticket for Monaco gives you access to one of 10,300 spots on the hill overlooking a large part of the circuit. For an extra £17, you can have access to the track for Thursday practice and Saturday qualifying, with the ticket allowing you access to roving grandstand seats.

In contrast, the most expensive seat can set you back £734 with views of the pit straight, however the most expensive ticket of all can be found at the Singapore Grand Prix night race, costing £1,109.

The Malaysian Grand Prix offers the cheapest ticket at £13 and gives you access to Friday practice, Saturday practice and qualifying and Sunday race day at Sepang.

Key numbers

• 4 - races you can go to for less than £50
• 13 - races you can go to for less than £100

The cheapest multiple-day ticket for the Japanese Grand Prix ranks fifth at £76 and gives access to the circuit from Thursday through to Monday.

The ticket gives access to the pit lane and autograph sessions on the Thursday and includes a five-day unlimited ride pass to their on-site 'Motopia' amusement park.

The Spanish Grand Prix is in the bottom half of the table at £104 for the cheapest weekend ticket, but it does include access to the two pre-season tests at the Circuit de Catalunya.

At Albert Park, Australian Grand Prix organisers put on four days of track action - more than any other - with practice sessions for the V8 Supercars starting on the Thursday.

	Cheapest race	Cheapest three-day	Most expensive race	Most expensive three-day
*2012 prices because 2013 not yet available. Prices correct at time of publishing.
Australia	£66	£125	£143	£367
Malaysia	£13	£13	£367	£367
China	£45	£45	£390	£390
Bahrain	£68	£85	£265	£308
Spain	£104	£104	£216	£338
Monaco	£30	£47	£431	£734
Canada	£62	£81	£360	£360
Britain	£145	£165	£320	£430
Germany	£85	£85	£404	£430
Hungary	£69	£78	£350	£390
Belgium	£103	£108	£414	£450
Italy	£69	£78	£493	£493
Singapore	£100	£100	£463	£1,109
Korea	£72	£121	£430	£532
Japan	£76	£76	£528	£528
India	£24*	£36*	£143*	£251*
Abu Dhabi	£339*	£376*	£339*	£471*
US	£102*	£102*	£322*	£322*
Brazil	£229	£229	£745	£745

F1 2013

It's F1 time again. March 22-24 2013.

 I've never been to a practice session on the Friday and I didn't intend to go this year, but when I read in the Star on Fri morning that there was free entry for Friday, I decided to go. Car parking was also free. However I decided to take the shuttle bus from KL Sentral, which was RM30.

The bus took quite a long route, using the N-S highway as far as the Nilai memorial park then turning off to KLIA. And as we approached Sepang the driver was phoning someone for directions. Even when we arrived he still took the wrong entrance to the car park!

I was surprised at how few people there were, although I know that Fri is  never that busy. I managed to avoid the bag search and having my water bottles confiscated. That saved me having to buy water at RM5. Food is expensive at the F1, set meals of "fast food" are RM25, in the restaurant its about RM70.

There seemed to be less entertainment this year. The Segway wasn't there, nor the zorb balls. There was a rock climbing wall and another something I don't know the name of where a person is strapped in and then catapulted to the top

I walked through the Tourism Malaysia pavilion which was advertising Visit Malaysia 2014. It was all rather pathetic with a tacky display of Mulu

and a Malacca trishaw, a racing car and a teddy bear sat on the floor!
The Petronas display celebrated their 15th anniversary of F1 cars -

As seating was free today, I was able to try out all the "posh" expensive seats. Could look across at the pit building and at the winners podium. I've only been here once before in 2004 when the area was opened to the public after a Sat session. I was surprised the pits didn't have the drivers names up, or maybe it was just too early in the weekend.

2004 view with the names -

Looking towards K stand

Force India team getting ready (above) and looking across the area -

 It's good to see the stands are no smoking areas

The famous red lights, and the podium before and after

Pushing the Mercedes car to the pit

Red Bull making final preparations and being photographed then coming out

The second practice session started dead on 2pm. I was surprised at the speed at which the cars came out of the bays. Here's the 2nd Red Bull -

The practice is underway.

In previous years when I've been to F1 we've sat on the open hill slopes and the noise is bearable with ear plugs. But this time in the stands (which are the expensive seats) the noise was horrendous as it was trapped by the building and also you are much closer to the track. Of course there are very expensive enclosed boxes which must be nice.

Ferrari going back in

Red Bull approaching the turn by the C hill slope

and the Caterham

McLaren (above)

Screen showing on board camera on Red Bull

I then went to the grandstand.

Looking back at the pits

I'm sure these photographers got far better results than I did with my little digital camera !!

Views from the grandstand -

After an hour the rain arrived so there was a break. A Sauber spun when going home and  managed to get going again in front of Red Bull

The rain didn't last long and the cars were out again in less than 15 minutes. There was quite a lot of spray from the cars.

By now my ears were hurting so I made a move. Lesson learnt - if ever I go again, either take the really cheap hillslope in the hot sun, or if I'm in the expensive seats take proper quality head phones.

There is a helipad by the pit building

Final shots of a group of 5 cars

Going back was a bit of an epic. Firstly the first bus of the afternoon was full but luckily they allowed the next bus to leave when that was full. But the driver didn't know the route and missed the KL Sentral exit, and stayed on the Mex highway along Jln Tun Razak all the way into KL and then on along all the way around KL. Came to the Sentral turn and he missed it and went on towards Cheras then went wrong again before finally  heading back to Sental. The journey took 1 hr 40 mins instead of 1 hour).

That evening my ears were sore, but thankfully were OK by the next morning.