Place: Ipoh
7:00 am Had a bit of trouble waking up since I slept at two in morning (stupid me doing last minute research on the town). But what irked me most was losing a contact lens in the toilet (and it hasn't been found yet).
3 (No, I only have two eyes) pieces of contact lenses: RM 21
8:20 am This is supposed to read "8:00 am". Stupid contact lens. On our way to Ipoh!
Ipoh Selatan toll fee: RM 26.50
Petrol: RM 60
10:45 am Took us long enough to finally reach Ipoh town centre. After a not-too-long-not-too-short search, we stumbled upon Nam Heong Kopitiam (南香), one of the oldest kopitiams in the area. What better way to start the morning (of course, you could argue it's near noon...) with a cup of Ipoh White Coffee (yes, it warrants the caps lock).
To put it simply:White Coffee (1 hot, 1 iced), good. Personally liked the iced one better. RM 2.70
Hor Fun, okay, me and Myen both thought. I liked the soup. RM 3.50
Penang Char Kuey Teow, wonderful! RM 3.50
Dim Sum (fried yam), okay. As we say in chinese, Myen's arse itched, so he ordered one. For a small thing, the price can kill. RM 1.40
Whole day parking ticket RM 4.0011:15 am So here's a heart-lifting story, proof that there are still good Samaritans among us. Earlier when I got off the car, I heard a 'thud' coming from inside the car. I tried to look for the cause but found nothing, and I blissfully walked away. Then at Nam Heong, I found my camera missing. A RM 1500 camera, missing. Thinking it might still be in the car, I stayed at my seat, and the photos above were taken with my phone camera.
Later when we went back to the car, we still couldn't find it. Then two Indian guys came upon us and asked if we were missing something. They teased me a bit, and finally, to my relieved, revealed that one of them saw the camera on the ground and kept it safely for me. He promptly returned it to me, and waved goodbye to us.
Imagine that happening in Kuala Lumpur.
Much later I got the Indian a small token of appreciation, and returned to the shop to give it to him. He was blushing and all (so was I!) and it was really just a very amazing incident to brighten up the rest of the day.
But I digress.
12 noon Do you know I love temples? I do. And I love it when they're all in a row for me in Ipoh. At least 4 in a row! LingSen Tong (灵仙岩）...
SamPoh Tong (三宝洞）...
NanTien Tong (南天洞)...
and a Tibetan Temple.
The three Chinese temples are built into the limestone mountains, and they're very old and very cool (temperature and the architecture-wise) inside.
Let me show you what I mean!
Enter NanTien Tong and you'll come to some stone stairs. They lead out to the great outdoors, and another set of incredibly steep stairs.
Reach the top and you'll see a large cavern, which houses another set of stairs.
Climb the stairs, and I have no idea where it leads to, since the wooden stairs are creaky and wobbly and the place so dark that timid ol' me didn't have the guts to continue on. The whole place felt like old mine shafts that could crumble anytime.
Returning back to the gates, we saw the other tenants living in the same area. There are signs warning tourists not to feed the monkeys.
At Sam Poh Tong, there is an amazing tunnel...
...leading to this beautiful closed-in area that is just like the place of the gods in old Chinese folklore （仙境）. This is just awesome. However, the building is not open for tourists.
The tortoises here grow to large sizes.
This building is located near the toilets outside.
It was hot. The sun was scorching, and we didn't have a water bottle on us. A coconut juice stall just beside the road is like nectar, only it's not. It's not sweet, and it's a total rip-off. RM 1.30
1:30 pm I got hungry, much to Myen's astonishment. I have strong gastric juice. He whined about Yong Tau Fu located on Jalan King, and we had hell of a time looking for it. Actually the search was fun, even when we were running around on streets that all seemed the same. It was truly through pure luck that we stumbled upon the right place. I kid you not. One minute we were wondering where we were, the next minute the street post ahead of us sounded familiar...We laughed so hard to recognize that we finally found the place.
忠记鱼旦, one of the stalls under these big trees, had the longest queue. Is it really that good?
Turned out, it was only so-so. Okay, the meat in the Yong Tau Fus did taste good, and Myen says the Yau Char Kwai is really good, but it's not that memorable. Over-hyped? Perhaps. But the long queue tells another story, I guess. RM6.30
This mixed fruit blended ice, on the other hand, is delicious! It's choked full of fruits (watermelon, mango, dragonfruit, jackfruit, pineapple, papaya , lychee and a slice of lemon) and it's cool! And sweet, of lychee flavour! Quite expensive, but we loved it! RM 3.50
3:00 pm Just beside Jalan King is Jalan Queen (we saw a Jalan Prince nearby as well) which we found the muah chee (glutinous cake with blended peanuts) stall we read online, Hong Kee (芳记）. True to the review, it was sweet but not too much, and the best part is it doesn't stick to my teeth! I hate the muah chees sold here in KL. They tend to stick to every part of my mouth. And the peanut! They were fragrant and fine! A bit expensive, but totally worth the enjoyment. RM 2.00
3:10 pm Heading back to town centre to look for the kind Indian proved to be a hard search. Took us a while but in the end we found him and gave him the small trinket we bought for him. Later we stopped for a box of salted chicken (盐 火局 鸡） RM 16.00 and some pomelos (2 medium 2 small) （柚子）, RM 27.00.
Funny thing about the chicken is, you don't even have to get off your car. From afar, one the shop assistants locked eyes with Myen, and lifted a hand and showed one or four fingers at intervals. As I'm often slow in understanding, Myen was the first to show one finger to the guy. I didn't even understand what was happening. The guy promptly ran back to the shop and grabbed a box of the chicken and then ran over. All we need to do was roll down the window and gave him the money. Now this is what we call service!
I've always loved the chicken. Everytime we come to Ipoh, we would buy at least a box. My most favorite memory is buying a box to eat in the cool air of Cameron Highlands (only an hour's drive away).
4:30 pm It's true about what they say of the water in Ipoh making the food there tasty. No one comes to Ipoh and not have a taste of taufu fah or soya bean drink. This is the most famous stall of them all.
It may not look flashy, but the kind uncle here has been working for as long as I can remember, and his taufu fah and soya drink is terrific! I like his black bean taufu fah better, as I think the sweetness is more subdued, but only the original soy bean version is available that day. I opted for a soya drink while Myen clamoured for the cendol. ABC and cendol were new on the menu, maybe because he hired a Malay kakak to help out at the stall. Last I was there, it was run by his son. The kakak said his sons left for Kuala Lumpur to work.Cendol, Myen says is the best he has ever had. I don't know much, but I do know he likes cendols very much and has had enough bowls of them to give out this comment. He says the ice is very fine, and the taste is superb.
I still like the soya bean drink. I'm not a good food reviewer so I'll just say it's refreshing and good and a total waste if you missed it. Total RM 2.60
The cute tauke and kakak of the soya bean stall.
5:00 pm I would have loved to visit Kellie's Castle just 20 minutes away before going home. But it was getting late, so here's hoping for another visit to Ipoh soon. I still haven't had chee cheong fun and dim sum that Ipoh is also famous for.Ipoh Selatan toll fee: RM 26.50
I suck at maths, so I'm not gonna add up the total. Suffice to say it's a very reasonable budget for a one day trip that is both exciting and satisfying.
