can't resist these great food
lotus seed pear...nicely shaped...in bite size
I find the Lotus Seed Pear. This delicacy was nicely made into the shape of pear with yam pastry and lotus filling. I have never thought that yam blends so well with lotus seed…dishes not to be missed out are lotus seed with sesame aka centoi, ha kau, siu mai, black sesame paste and the steam fish ball…the fried fish ball taste not as good as compared to the steam ones…the egg tart’s filling was good but I preferred the pastry made by the Wong Kok Restaurant in Penang. Overall I found the food delicious but may be slightly expensive. I believe that I can easily get the same quality of Dim Sum in Penang at a cheaper price.
We decided to go for a walk to help digestion after the filling Dim Sum. So we headed to the nearby Bougainville Park, the symbolic flower of Ipoh, Perak. As the garden wasn’t much like what we have expected, we headed to the Japanese Garden instead…again it turned out to be a disappointing one.
best shot in Japanese Garden
After awhile, we headed back to our hotel where we had our 2nd breakfast of the day. We were actually very full but we just wanted to check out the quality of food they provide for their customer. Another upset of the day, the food sucks and the service was way worse than poor. I could not imagine any 2 star hotel to provide their customers with only that limited of choice in a buffet breakfast…only fried bee hoon, fried rice, tomato fish ball, half boiled egg, toast and a limited choice of desert namely water melon only. Not even a single glass of juice is provided. Not only that….besides the poor selection of food type, the service was bad too. Food tray was not refilled with food after they ran out for more than 15 minutes…and dirty table left un-wipe.
So we left only after few bites of fishball and an egg…I wonder how much do they actually charge for this breakfast.
geology museum
Then we checked out and headed to our 1st site of the day. It was the Geology Museum. This museum was really suitable for gems and stones lover as well as a great destination for school trip. Many semi precious stones were in exhibited there with a lot of documentation on the mining in the Kinta Valley…try this museum if you have time….and it was free…
the Ipoh Railway station...Anna and The King was filmed here
Next we went to the old town…1st we visited the Birch Memorial clock tower, then the City Hall and the Ipoh Railway Station on the opposite road. After those places, we started to venture into the old town looking for the trail to the origin of Ipoh White Coffee on foot…on our way we came across the sign of Perak Tourist Information Center, so we got drifted away. Our visit to the center was a pleasant one…the air cond was refreshing and cooling. The guide was helpful enough but may be a little lack of information…tried to guide us to our destination but somehow failed.
Finally, we decided to head back to our car and drive around in search of the Sin Loong Café rather than on foot in the middle of the sun.
Ipoh White Coffee
Thanks to the map, we finally managed to get the Sin Loong Café on the Jalan Bandar Timah. The coffee was great…the aroma was excellent but was a little too sweet…but this should be just nice for most Malaysians…
Next we headed to the Yin Yau Kui for Hakka Noodle but to find it closed. So headed for Restoran Xin Quan Fang on Jalan Iskandar. Sadly when we arrived there, they were closing as well…so no more recommended curry noodle for us instead we drop by the restaurant next to Xin Quan Fang. It was the Something Special Restaurant. We tried the sandwich, Curry Noodle and Pan Mee. The food offered was very cheap. One set meal of a main meal, a soya drink and an apple tart at RM4.90 only.
never like curry mee...but this changes me
Their famous dish, the Something Special Noodle, which was actually a curry noodle cooked with pumpkin and brinjal. The pumpkin made the soup base taste sweet and creamy and with the mint it was so refreshing making it different from other curry noodles which the soup base were too thick and oily with the coconut milk. The sandwich was truly valued for money…Recommended restaurant!
After filling our stomach…we headed to the Perak Museum...a rather so so museum
Then we went south to Jalan Gopeng, in which we visited the 3 temples. They were the Ling Sen Tong, Nan Tian Tong and the Sam Poh Tong. I was too occupied with prayers and ignored the opening time of these temples…I lid joysticks and prayed to every altar in the Ling Sen Tong. I think there were more than 20 altars around. So just imagine how much time it took me to go round the temple…but this was just something that I have learned from my elderly…we have a Chinese saying that sound like ‘enter house greet people, enter temple pray to God’.
All these temples were very nicely decorated in the cave. We have learned that we can actually hike up the hill via the Nan Tian Tong but one must be down by 4.30 pm as the temple was closed by 5.00pm.
Nan Tian Tong
While the Sam Poh Tong, it was a very nice temple. Their garden has won the national Landscaping Competition. I loved the garden…much effort put in by the volunteers…Bravo to all of them!
in nick of time...best shot at the Sam Poh Tong garden...it actually looked better...go visit yourself
Our next stop was Kampar. We purposely stopped there to eat the breaded chicken aka ‘min pau kai’. There were 2 shops selling this famous dish but my friends recommended the older restaurant...couldn't recall its' name now. The min pau kai has 2 flavours namely herbal chicken and curry chicken. I personally preferred the curry ones. The bread only cost RM20 each and it was more than enough to fill 3 stomachs…perhaps 4 person would be just nice.
yummy 'min pau kai'
Then we drove south west for about 50 km to Teluk Intan…my grandfather’s hometown. I have heard nothing much about this town else then the Malaysian’s version of Leaning Tower, the Teluk Intan Clock Tower.
We arrived Teluk Intan or Teluk Anson at about 6.30pm. We drove round the city in search of accommodation to put up for the night. We finally settled in the Anson Hotel. This hotel really lived up to 2 star hotel standards and with reasonable price. RM88 on the Christmas Eve was surely a good deal. It was comfortable and clean.
clean and comfortable room in Anson Hotel
After we took our refresh, we went round the town, stopped by the Leaning tower to examine it in the dark and for photo session in the dark.
Leaning Tower in the dark
Then we went searching for the famous Anson Chee Cheong Fun. We ended up in a market like hawker stalls corner. We tasted the Sam Siu Yeh’s Chee Cheong Fun, the so called no 2 in town. The Chee Cheong Fun was different from the one that we can normally find in Penang or even in KL. Not those with sweet sauce nor like the HK style with prawn and soya gravy. The Anson Chee Cheong Fun was with meat filling but without any gravy. The meat has already been cooked to the correct taste and wrapped in the thin Cheong Fun…but my rating was…so so…a little bit too dry and not that hot and fresh as they were ready made and placed in the steamer waiting to be served only…but surely worth a try.
I really enjoy today…another great day filled with food and great scenery!
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