hail ipoh foods! (day)

went to ipoh last weekend with mum and the naughty one. mum and the naughty one looked bored so i decided to bring them to a place they have never been where they can eat till they drop (fortunately they did not).

we started our journey from home at 7.30am and headed towards jalan duta toll which according to plus is the shortest distance to ipoh. of course you must take into account on where you are staying. the toll costs my purse rm26.50.

i drove around 110 - 120 km/h. couldn't take the risk of being caught on the speed trap. else it would cost me another 300 bucks. along the way, there are these beautiful mountains again which i couldn't resist to take another picture again. they are just so beautiful.


we arrived at ipoh at 10.30am. we headed straight to where we would spend the night - ymca hotel. it is about 5 minutes drive from ipoh new town. there is a park near the hotel and sultan azlan shah lived somewhere near it as i found out later. i couldn't find another better hotels as they were running full house. one night at ymca hotel for a double bed room costs rm55. you have to pay another rm10 for the key deposit which they would refund on the day you check out. they gave us a room on the 2nd floor. as there was no lift, we had to drag our big butts up the stairs. it would be a good warming up for the food we would savour later. the room was not very nice. you could see dirt on the walls, low water pressure from the heater, dead lizard on the balcony and iron burnt marks on the carpet. of course these wouldn't matter as we spend most of the time out of the room anyway. when the naughty one was asked if he likes the hotel, he excitedly shouted 'yes!!! yes!!!' while jumping on the matress.

we went out later for lunch. as i have heard so much about the good foods in ipoh old town, i drove around looking for the road sign 'jalan bandar timah'. we parked in a private car park for rm2/entry as i did not have ipoh parking coupon. please be aware you must put parking coupon monday to saturday 8am - 5pm. else, you will say bye bye to your beloved $$$. after a short walking distance, i saw the famous shop 'kong heng'. next to it is another famous shop 'thean chun'. both shops were quite full and we chose kong heng as i spotted an empty table. i saw a lady having a drink which i recognize as the famed ipoh white coffee with ice. having love ipoh white coffee i ordered the same. the taste was heavenly, i would say it it at the same par as the ice blended coffee you can get in coffee bean of sf. i ordered chicken rice and mum ordered char siew rice. a man then came asking if we would like some satay. of course we would!!! i guess that man is the son of the eccentric old man i read in blogs. the satays dipped in peanut sause were heavenly. the meats were tender and easy to chew. we also ordered some dim sum soup. i forgot all about the caramel from thean chun as i was too absorb in eating my food. and the bill... less than rm20. where can you get food that damn cheap (apart from sibu)?

after lunch, we walked back to our car and saw this young lady selling durians. mum and i being durian lovers bought one durian. mum told me that to get a good durian, it must have strong smell and the content inside must moved when we shaked it.

after having some rest at the hotel, we went to st. michael's church for sunset mass at 7pm. mum saw the shrine of mother mary and stopped there to pray. there's a graveyard near the church and some little boxes in storeys (i don't know what it's called) where i guess they put the ash of the dead ones.
this is interesting as i never see this before in a church compound. graveyard is a normal thing but not that 'little boxes'. christians are normally buried not cremated.

old and new (ave maria convent school with ipoh parade at the back)


hail ipoh foods! (night)