Just back on a 3 day weekend trip to Ipoh, Malaysia. Perhaps because of the relaxing pace, it felt much longer than that. From the people who are always friendly and willing to help, to the dogs, tortoises and birds we saw in the cave temples, and even the merlion (I saw one overseas for the first time) in Kelok Tong temple, the pace of life is to be very comfortable and everyone seems to be enjoying the simple life without the skyscrapers, excessive shopping, aircon.... No congested roads, no overcrowded MRT trains. The cost of living is so affordable. A meal costs only about RM 4-5 with food and a drink. With lots of Chinese in the city area and almost 100 per cent speaks my dialect - Cantonese, Ipoh seems to be the perfect place for my retirement years if most things remain status quo 20 to 30 years from now. OK, but my friends reminded me that I am a foreigner.
We stayed at Shamrock Guest House in Ipoh (new) town. It is a new hotel so not many taxi drivers know about it. The nearby Excelsior hotel is a good landmark. While it was only about RM 120+ each for a 2 night stay, the price is still high by local standard. No toiletries, no breakfast. Only friendly & helpful service from father and daughter, and clean rooms.
Our itinerary:
Day 1
Arrival, hotel check in, then walk to the old town for beansprout chicken (basically any chicken dish usually rice, then order beansprouts as a side dish) for lunch. We then started the hunt to track down the famous wall mural paintings while concurrently taking the heritage trail. In under 2 hours, we were almost done and taking shelter from the scorching sun and enjoying kopi and toast at Sin Yoon Loong, founder of Ipoh white coffee. The instant coffee sachets are really good by the way, but only available in Ipoh.
We spent the evening at the pasar malam (night market), buying back all the local delicacies to have them at the rooftop dining area in the hotel. The Zhen Jie popiah was really good, so was the rojak. Do watch out for the South Asian looking pickpocketers who seemed to operate in a group, following foreigners the moment they spotted us. The Friday market is in the outskirts of the city, in a neighborhood, so we were fairly lucky to spot a taxi on our way out. We booked uncle Cheong Tai Fook's (I think that's his name) taxi for our tour the following day. The market rate is RM30 per hour.
Day 2
Ipoh is famous for its dim sum and we went to Ming court which is a favorite among locals. Our hotel is within walking distance from all the famous dim sum restaurants. Fish paste seems to be widely popular in Ipoh, there's fish paste in everything including dim sum. Ming court is a nice place to go for some local atmosphere but I won't say they serve good and authentic Hong Kong delights.
Uncle Cheong was highly proactive. He gave us a number to call the day before but he was already lingering in our area at around 9.30am. We spotted him on our way back from breakfast. Uncle Cheong seemed very happy to make the RM100 for the day. We can indeed learn to be more easily contented and enjoy life more.
Within 3 hours, we covered the Kelok Tong and Sam Poh Tong cave temples which are close to each other. We then moved down south to Kellie's castle which was never successfully completed. They are all worth a trip, but maybe not Sam Poh unless you want to talk to the parrot at the entrance which can say "hello" or feed the tortoises.
Lunch was at Ipoh Parade mall near our hotel. The boring franchise food but we needed aircon. The next 2 hours or so was spent in the queue for the famous kaya puff at Sin Eng Heong. Because of a shortage of bakers during the mooncake festival seasons, the waiting time was many times than usual. I headed back to the hotel first for some aircon and rest instead.
Dinner was an enjoyment with hotpot buffet at 炭世界(read this in Cantonese and it sounds like "enjoying life") almost 10 meters from our hotel.
Day 3
Breakfast and home sweet home.
If air ticket prices are good (around SGD 100), I can be there more often for weekend getaways. Only Firefly flies directly from Singapore to Ipoh and we bought our tickets at around SGD 170 each with the promotion. For now, the usual 2-way ticket price is about SGD 300+, way too expensive. A 1h 40 min flight.
Next time, I would love to explore Pangkor Island and perhaps go to the nearby Cameron Highlands again for some nice Indian food and fresh air! On this trip, I was enlightened that knowing the Malay language is so very important, with our biggest neighbors speaking the language or similar. I would love to communicate with the locals in Malay the next time I visit or can at least order some food. And after all, Malay is a national language of Singapore! (Why ain't the majority learning that in school?)
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| View of the plane's propeller from inside. |
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| Pig skin chee cheong fun....tasted sour, curry-ey and strange. |
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| Homemade custard. Like crème brulee. |
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| Concubine lane but no more concubines, just a lane under renovation. |
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| The typical simple everyday life of a local? |
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| 4 packets of iced coffee. |
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| My familiar Little India next to Chinatown. The whole old town seems to be Chinatown. |
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| A cute little store at every turn. |
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| The square in front of Birch clock tower. Reminds me of Macau. |
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| Kitty having fun with the plastic bag. We came along and intruded into its personal space. |
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| Dim sum at Ming Court |
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| Kelok Tong |
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| Uncle Cheong's taxi. |
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| Sam Poh Tong |
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| A sleepy dog at Sam Poh Tong. |
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| The back of Sam Poh Tong. Looks heavenly, much better than the main building. |
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| Time for mooncakes - which explained the long queue for kaya puffs. |
