Malaysia 🇲🇾 Part I : Ipoh

I fly to Kuala Lumpur to meet Shane and we have an overnight before our train journey to Ipoh. Luckily we are staying at a hotel that we can access without going outside of the train station as there’s heavy rain, with thunder and lightning. We get off to a great start with a very tasty meal (I’m confident the food will not disappoint here). I have salted egg with chicken rice and Shane has a laksa – tasty with just a nice bang of heat. Next morning we have breakfast included and are spoiled for choice at a huge Asian buffet. Satiated and happy that the sun is shining, we find our train and enjoy the two hour journey to Ipoh.

Ipoh is world renowned as a top food destination – no surprise that’s our reason for coming! There are three main communities here – Chinese (mostly Cantonese), Malay and Indian. We intend to eat across all three cuisines and enjoy the many specialties of this region.

We are staying in a really nice apartment surrounded by lots of eating establishments so this is going to work out well. We settle in and then take a walk around to get our bearings. We have a late lunch/early dinner and for our first meal we have the traditional “chicken and rice” which is poached chicken served with bean sprouts and rice. It’s not at all spicy but of course it’s served with chilli sauce on the side.

We find our local shop and get some basic provisions (milk for tea obviously!) and have an easy evening at home.

Next morning we start with a local breakfast of noodles and soup! I’m taking it very easy mind you… small amounts until I establish the belly can handle it!!

Shane is working so I have a lazy morning before we head out for lunch… more noodles but totally different to this mornings and served with a raw egg on top!

After lunch while Shane is working, I take a walk to the local shopping mall (it’s gigantic) and have a pedicure. Once Shane finishes work, we take a walk around old Ipoh and see lots of cute murals and interesting buildings.

It doesn’t take long to see all the main sites… the Birch Memorial Clock Tower, installed in 1909, features four panels with historical figures from various fields, including history, arts, sciences, and religion, to symbolize the “growth of civilization”. We take a close up look and guess quite a few of them (does that make us nerds – happy to take it!).

We see the very nice Ipoh Town Hall, completed in 1916.

The rest of our walk is soaking up the general atmosphere of the laneways and streets which are decorated for Chinese New Year. We stumble across an interesting looking bar called Kiki Lalat and I have a very refreshing soju mojito. Tonight’s dinner is at a very nice Chinese restaurant and we have pork belly, tofu with mince, aubergine and green beans, served with beautiful (almost purple coloured) rice.

Next morning I’m up early as I’m taking a tour to the Cameron Highlands which are a couple of hours drive away. I’m on a private tour (as I couldn’t find a group one to join) so it’s just me and the driver, Jim in a comfy car heading to the Cameron Valley Tea plantation.

I appear to be the first tourist today and I walk around enjoying the perfectly manicured views with no crowds to obscure my view.

I try the tea in the shop after my walk along with a a scone (I wasn’t expecting that) and then it’s time to go to the next stop on the tour which is the Orchid and Rose garden. When I get dropped off, I don’t have high hopes as this place looks like a small garden but as I continue walking through to the back, it opens up and the flowers are really impressive. There are also some animals to be amused by along the way – rabbits, guinea pigs, chickens, turkeys, goats, sheep… they have it all here at O&R, as they call it.

Next on the itinerary is a visit to a strawberry farm. This region is famous for strawberries so I have to taste them so I can compare to our trusted Wexford strawberries back home. The visit to the farm is somewhat underwhelming. I walk around a small area where some strawberries are growing, then check out the shop and that’s it!! I could have paid extra to pick strawberries and take them back but I gave that a pass (this tour has cost me €96 already!). Continuing onwards, we stop at Cactus Point – now this sounded good to me but it was pretty much a garden centre with lots of cacti. In fairness I was very impressed to see such an array of different cactuses / cacti – apparently you can say either but it does feel like a filler to make the tour!

Next stop is the local market – there are roadside markets all over the highlands so we stop at one and taste some white sweetcorn which can be eaten raw and is really delicious. I also try a white strawberry which I’ve never tasted. I buy some of both to bring home for himself.

The last stop on the tour is after lunch (I’m not hungry so it’s a non event for me but Jim has some tasty looking Indian food) and is a waterfall called Lubuk Timah. It’s a short walk past some hot springs to get there and as you may gather from the perfect line at the top, it is man made!!

I haven’t brought a change of clothes but I take off my shoes and socks and walk in up to my calves. The water is super clear and the temperature is delightfully cool.

We have another great dinner tonight, close to our apartment. We have grouper, cuttlefish and some rice with pork and vegetables. The view from our floor looks nice as the sun goes down.

Next morning we go for a walk along the river. We see a couple of monkeys

And walk home via our local mosque.

We have the delicious corn and an array of fruit for breakfast including red and white strawberries, mandarin, tiny bananas and pomelo. A slow morning (well for me) with some book time on the balcony and a quick workout (we have equipment at our apartment) and it’s time for lunch.

Today we try Nasi Kandar, or as the locals call it, Nasi Ganja (because it’s so addictive!). Unbeknownst to ourselves we are at the most popular place in town – we had an idea by the crowds but only found out later it’s THE place to try this dish. So what is it…. Well it’s fluffy white rice, a spicy ayam masak merah, half a salted egg, fresh cucumber slices, a generous splash of mixed curries, and – most importantly – a spoonful of spicy sambal kelapa. Add to this a choice of meat – I went for chicken which is the most popular, and there you have it. Most people eat it with their hands (crazy messy) but we were given a fork and spoon… spot the foreigners!!! I’m happy to report it was delicious!!

I have a relaxing afternoon reading my book and in no time at all it’s time for our next meal!! We go to another Chinese restaurant which is very busy due to Chinese New Year, which is in a couple of days. All the tables are full with families eating multiple dishes served in very large dishes on a lazy susans. We have a stingray and vegetable curry and a delicious homemade tofu topped with shrimp and mince.

Next morning I decide to text Jim and have him take me on a tour of some of the sites that are beyond walking distance. Ipoh is surrounded by mountains and limestone caves and cave temples are common. We start with a visit to the oldest one – Sam Poh Tong.

There are lots of Buddha statues and then the cave opens out to a back area where there is this beautiful Chinese temple.

At Jim’s suggestion I’ve bought some tomatoes to feed the turtles that are behind a grid opposite the temple! It’s great fun and I take some video to send to Anya (my niece) at home… she loves this stuff.

We drive about 250 metres to our next temple – NAM THEAN TONG. Technically I think it’s part of the same complex but it’s quite different. There are some very colourful statues outside and lots of nooks and crannies inside full of … you guessed it, Buddha statues!

The third temple in a row, which I can walk to, is LING SEN TONG. Equally colourful, the garden in front is decorated with colourful statues of characters from Chinese mythology such as the Monkey King from the classic tale Journey to the West.

Next we go to Mirror Lake. The locals call it Tasik Cermin 2 and I take a small boat through a cave to the “hidden world”.

You definitely need the helmet they’ve provided as the tunnel gets very low and we have to bend over to avoid banging our heads. When we enter out of the tunnel to the lake it is beautiful.

It’s a tiny boat with a Malay/Chinese couple and two lads – one from Brazil and one from Switzerland.

Next on the tour is Kellies Castle. an unfinished, ruined mansion, built by a Scotsman, Kellie-Smith, in the early 1900’s. Between the onset of WWI and the Spanish flu, it never got finished and when he died at the age of 56, his family moved back to Scotland and it was left in ruin.

It’s really interesting to walk though what would have been an extravagant house, with winding stairs to secret rooms and a tower which was planned to have the first lift in Malaysia.

Just as I reach the top of the castle to admire the views from the highest point there’s some giant rain drops starting to fall. I get back to the car before it buckets down. We get in the car and head north, hoping we’ll get to Perak Cave temple before it closes at 4:30pm. We make it and I’m so glad we did. It’s another temple built into a limestone cave and it’s very impressive. It has a huge Buddha statue (the biggest in Ipoh I’m told!)

What sets this one apart are the paintings on the walls… there are a lot of them and they are very impressive

I really do love these cave temples .. it’s so impressive to see them from the road. What a great idea to carve out a temple in the limestone mountains – genius!

Tonight’s dinner is at SG Frog Porridge. I’m excited to eat here as it got great reviews online and I don’t remember ever having frog before. I’m intrigued by the porridge, which I’ve managed to avoid on all my trips to Asia but tonight’s the night.

It’s not like our oat porridge at home, it’s essentially watery/creamy rice and is the base for the meal, just like a bowl of regular rice would be. At this place it’s got ginger in it and it’s really tasty in and of itself. Along with the porridge, we order frog in chilli sauce, lamb in ginger sauce, bok Choi and Tiger beer. I didn’t have any lunch today so I’m particularly hungry and this is my favourite meal so far. Well it’s a close tie with yesterday’s Nasi ganga!!

Next morning we find more of the river walk… there’s an area set up for Chinese New Years celebrations and the reflection in the water is stunning this morning.

We walk a little more around the old town and see the famous Concubine Lane, which is a famous narrow street however there are much nicer ones all around.

We stop for some brekkie and the owner sits down to chat to us – he is Chef Uni and he’s very excited when Shane tells him he’s from Sydney as he has family living there.

For lunch today we have curry bun. We’ve seen so many pictures of this, close by our apartment. It’s essential curry cooked inside a loaf of bread. It looks more impressive than it actually is but still decent enough. The bread is a bit sweet for my taste but we’re glad we tried it.

It’s Friday so this evening once work is all finished, we walk into the old town and have a beverage at Tin Corner 39. They have Guinness and Kilkenny on tap so it’s essentially an Irish bar!! We end up staying for a few and having our final dinner here as it lashes rain. Luckily it’s stopped by the time we are ready to walk home.

Tomorrow we are traveling north to Penang. We have really enjoyed our week in Ipoh, definitely a good stop if you’re in Malaysia.