We started our journey from the Juru McDonald at 8.30pm…To our surprise we bumped into Ching Wern, Wen Ping and Zi Pheng. They were heading off to Ipoh and Kampar as well, for food trip…hmm…really a lot of food enthusiasts.
We took the PLUS North South highway and exit at the Taiping (U). We arrived in Taiping town after almost an one and half. But in the town, we were somehow lost for the guide book seemed to be too rough in mapping. A horizontal street turned into vertical and when it says next, it was at the other corner of the street across.
We walked round the Casual Market for numerous times looking for the stalls recommended by the Star Guide to Malaysian Street Food…no stall number given…only photos with blur background and description of the food. However we still managed to complete the jigsaw puzzle. We tried the do re mi drink (stall 70), mamak popiah and the teo chew char kuey teow (stall 78). Well this breakfast was cheap …do re mi drink good…the barli and the 'yin yong' or coffee and tea really blends well…the thickness and sweetness of barli drink actually enhanced the coffee taste and leaving the sweet aroma behind.
do re mi...looks ordinary but taste real good!
seen mamak popiah?
Then we headed to the Taiping Lake Garden searching for the Perak museum which according to my research online, the road sign to the museum is obvious but actually it was rather too small to be notice and confusing.
The Perak museum is the 1st museum established in Malaysia. The collections were rather poor taken care off but the old building that home this collection was still in good shape.
impressive architure
As time was permitting, we visited the Taiping Zoo. The number of animals they have there was impressive…richer than Singapore’s but honestly, I preferred the Singaporea Zoo for it was well maintained…the grass was trimmed and the dried leaves were collected and with…proper pathway...walking under the hot sun was getting me tanned.
in front of Zoo Taiping
Malaysians are fat. So is our Orang Utan
Then we drove to Kuala Kangsar, the royal city. We visited the Royal Museum…but we were not in the luck to visit this old palace...it was under renovation…thank god for those kind folks who adviced us to head to the Sultan Azlan Shah Gallery.
Royal museum under renovation
we stopped by at Masjid Ubaidah...
The Sultan Azlan Shah Gallery is open to public and free at the moment…the collection was astonishing. The medals, trophies and gifts were sparkling…and for those who wish to visit the gallery, spare more time for this…the Gallery have 3 major building…not to miss his majesty’s car collection… This is truly the best museum in Perak…and the best that I have visited so far…
the main buiding of Sultan Azlan Shah Gallery
even the gate and fence look grand!
Then we headed to Ipoh. There we had our food hunt. 1st the Oon Kee Chicken and Spouts Restaurant. This was my 2nd visit to this restaurant. I prefered this over the famous Lou Wong for its' cleaniness.
The food....I found the chicken ok…but the spouts were sweet. Perak…really rich of mineral.
After the night market, we head to the Tong Shui Kai…both the stall recommended by the Star guide, were closed so we tried the stall no. 27. The green bean soup was good. The fruit punch was not as good as what I have in Swatow Lane Penang…sweetest just fine but the shed ice was rather rough…better if it was finer making it smoother but this was still fine for me…what troubled me was how the drinks and punch prepared…I saw them dipping their hands in the container filled with lychee and syrup. I understand that we at times in preparing food, we will just need to use our bare hand, but the way it was done looked really UGLY and BAD.
green bean ...good!
the fruit punch..look good taste ok
stall 27...good business
Back to our accommodation, we have a room in the 2 star Sri Malaysia Ipoh…overall this hotel sucked… online review giving it a 4 out of 5 for cleaniness but I though I may consider giving them 2…the bed sheet was stained and stains on the staircase remained over the night…wonder if they even wiped it of later…
Malaysian hospitality…poor…the receptionist was not helpful and the waiters at the café were unfriendly and slow!
But the room was indeed spacious enough. I think I can even have a somersout there but somehow the space utilization was rather bad…no TV stand..TV sat on the dressing table blocking half of the mirror…
see the space btw the bed and the coffee table...enough for a somersout...
Accessibility…outskirt…only possible if you have your own transport.
Facilities…no gym and what more a swimming pool.
Overall...This is a non valued for money hotel…
To conclude the day.... this was really an enjoyable day of outing...driving around and venturing into new places...have more than what we expected!
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