Batu Arang was once a bustling coal mining town that rivalled Newcastle. Apart from feeding steam locomotives of its era, the plentiful coal meant fuel for a brick kiln. That too has closed and what remains today is a chimney and ruins overgrown by the jungle.
Around the sleepy hollow, there are some tell-tale signs of its glorious past. Many wooden houses in the surrounding villages spot an unusual patchwork of red bricks. It was as if there was one final warehouse sale of bricks and every resident grabbed some.
This kid running for her school bus provided a little visual counterpoint to the sedentary landscape.
Olympus OM-D, ISO 200, f9, 1/400 sec.
