Ipoh

#np Don't look back, just go, take a breath, move along. -Boys Like Girls "Go"

Day 1 : Cave-Temples (that's what I call them)

Upon arrival, Kar Yee’s mum brought us for lunch (food will be written in another section). And after that we went for the Cave-temples!

First up, Ling Sen Tong. 

There’s actually not much to look at, 20mins tops and you’re prolly done with the whole place, unless you’ve decided to take 10 pictures each with/of the statues. Or you have a hard time getting up the statues. Yup, one awesome part bout this place is you can actually sit on the horse/pony/UNICORN.

Yes, there’s a Pegasus in there somewhere, I didn’t post it up cause I look SO FREAKIN ADORABLE on it, I just didn’t want anyone to pass out from my adorable-ness (note the sarcasm) *rolls eyes* 

Next up…. Nan Tian Dong 
which is actually just BESIDE Ling Sen Tong. It’s like there’s this road going in and there’s acbout 3-4 cave-temples on that stretch of road. Or to put it simply it’s a hill/cave and there are few temples (with different names) built here.

Funny story, you know how certain religions (i,e Buddhist) believe in the whole buy small animals (fish, turtles, birds, eels) and release them to the wild to reduce accumulated sins. But what if, whatever that you released is then re-catch back by those people who sell it. Wouldn't it be a never ending process than only profits the merchant?

So I asked this question to my parents, and the only answer they can give me is, before releasing, the steps and procedures they do (chanting mantras and stuff) actually liberates the animals while decreasing our sins for liberating those animals, cause you know we believe that they are born animals due to the sins that they have done in their past lives. reincarnation. Okay, nevermind, I'm blabbing. And yes, I can accept and believe that not everyone believes this. Hahhaa

Anyways, there’s more things to see at this cave and it’s much bigger. 
Compared to the other caves at this area.

Ji Le Dong
Notice that all the names have the word dong, this is because in chinese it pretty much means "hole" or caves, in this context.  

This is situated near a residential area, surprisingly. Like I was just so confused why we’re in a residential area and then suddenly wala! This thing appears. And to be honest, for me, this is the prettiest of all. And apparently locals come here for a walk, cause you see there’s a park on the other side of the cave (?). 


Note: Gate closes at 6pm.

Day 2: Food and the little things people overlook
So this isn't really Day 2, because I'm gonna combine some things I did on Day 1. This is cause, we went sightseeing on day 1, and it's more of a chillax, put your feet up thing on day 2. And I didn't wanna spam too much pictures and all in one post, hence why I split it into 2 parts.

First up, after sitting on the KTM for about 3 hours, Kar Yee's mum (May God bless that woman & family for her hospitality on such short notice) brought us to have our lunch, more like brunch...

Now this Sar Hor Fun is not like the usual ones I took. Cause,
1) it's in Ipoh (duh)
2) the soup base, is made of prawns! so, it's very sweet, and gives the red colour, at first I thought it was spicy, and then aunty explained it to me.
3) it's to-die-for, so.freakin.good





And side dish for my brunch would be, thai style seaweed with octopus. It's not actually those black/green seaweed. This is another type of seaweed aka the bird nest under the sea (海底燕窝) cause apparently it has properties like the swallow's nest that Chinese LOVE oh-so-much but it's under the sea. the texture is crunchy and there's actually little flavour on it's own, so it's taste highly depends on the ingredients you use to make the dish.

Other than the cave temples, I got to visit one of those places where they still make biscuits in a traditional way! :D It's a family business, and the shop is actually a house. So when I reached, some were making the dough, packing the freshly made cookies/biscuits, and heating up the furnace.

And then we went to this place, for Taufu Fa, and Soy bean milk + Leong Fun (optional)
Apparently, a really popular place in Ipoh, people usually buy in 1.5l. And also there's no place to sit, just this little bench.

After filling our tummies and sight-seeing, time to check out my accommodation! Well, it's actually a house (so it's in a residential area), and she rented us for only RM50/room. Due to the fact that, we're the only one that rented that night, we pretty much conquered the whole place. watched tv, used the fridge, and could have chose any bedrooms we wanted (but we didn't). So I would say it's pretty worth it, plus the rooms were REALLY big, like you can actually accommodate 6 people (with no problem) in there?

Truth: We really didn't know where will be staying when we reached Ipoh, we knew nothing bout the place, had no proper planning, only a friend there, Kar Yee. And I would really advice anyone to never ever do that. We're just really really lucky that, the place where aunty had in mind was vacant and close to their place (walking distance). So yes, very bless to meet super nice people and had no real problem in my 2 week trip. 

And bless our lucky souls, cause Kar Yee's mum coincidentally baked a Durian cake, so we got to eat some as well. It's soooo goood! 

Ngar Choi Kai (Tauge Chicken)

For dinner we went to eat, Ngar Choi Kai (tauge/beansprout chicken). This is a must-have for tourist who come to Ipoh, cause you can only find it here. Oh! The meatballs were fantastic too.

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So the very next day, I wanted Dim Sum cause Ipoh had a very famous Dim Sum place where people from KL and Penang just drive all the way here to have, and so I must have too! UNFORTUNATELY, food-luck was not on my side, and on this day it was a public holiday and Dim Sum place thinks it's part of the public too, decided to take a day off :( So I had no choice but, to go to the one opposite it. Not too bad as well, and they're cheap!!! Or may be I'm just so used to Sabah's price that anything less than RM4 to me is cheap. (And before you guys have this idea in your head that Sabahans are bloody rich, we're not. We just have high standard of living, with low pay)

Oh! another must-have-dish in Ipoh, Yim Guk Kai which translates to, Salted Steam Chicken. We had that when we have dinner at Kar Yee's place before leaving.

The End . . . (to my 2 day 1 night Ipoh trip)