Ipoh : Kampar Kari Kai Bun

Initially we planned to omit lunch after the heavy breakfast. But since we passed by this famous Kampar Curry Chicken Bun branch in Ipoh on "our way back home"... I meant leaving Ipoh, So.. what to do? Hahhaa, No choice but we had to stopy by and helped ourselves with the famous signature Kampar Curry Chicken Bun dish !! It was 2:40 pm in the late afternoon.

The Ipoh Yau Kee Restaurant (a branch of the main restaurant from Kampar) serving the famous Kampar Curry Chicken Bun & Herbal Chicken Bun.

The huge & gigantic Curry Chicken Bun or Roti Ayam or KariKai Bun - an ingenious creation. The precooked curry chicken was wrapped up in the grease-proof paper and tucked inside a huge loaf of bread dough prior to baking. Take note : NOT to bite the bun. RM 24 for one loaf (it's huge).

Time to savour the fragrant chicken curry with tender pieces of chicken meat and potatoes.

The curry go exceptionally well with the soft & fluffy bun. Divine!! Kick Ass!! I should have tapao the Herbal Chicken Bun back home.. Now I regret :(

Address:
Restoran Roti Ayam Yau Kee Kampar,
119 & 119A Jalan Pasir Putih,
Ipoh, Perak
Tel : 05 2416504

Ipoh : See-see Look-look Time

Following the heavy breakfast, it's time to stretch a bit & do some exercises walk around Ipoh town..

Old shop houses in Ipoh old town. The thing that caught my attention - how the clothes hung out with the traditional way using bamboo sticks. You won't get to see this in big cities.

Kong Heng Cafe. Just a reminder for myself to visit this cafe in the future if I dropped by in Ipoh. I read somewhere they serve nice dessert custard pudding with caramel.

The energetic grandpa with the chubby grandchild.

Belachan and Burung. What comes to your mind when u see these two pictures? *Evil thought* Fried Belachan Bu..... Nah, erase the thought! The bird is too cute to be eaten. So, just let it be (Let it be, let it be.. let it be..) :P

The Ipoh Railway Station & The Ipoh Majestic Station Hotel with elements of Moorish architecture, built in 1917. The orange school bus buat kacau only.

The magnificent dome - done you think it resemble the shiny botak head? Mmmmmm... This is the so called "Taj Mahal of Ipoh"?

The ancient lift or elevator of yester-year in the Majestic Station Hotel, which is still in good shape and functioning. Take note of the confusing "Car Coming" button. (Lift = Car?)

There is a poster inside the elevator, with a poem as a gentle reminder to handle the elevator with great care :

All dearest boys & girls,
I'm as antique as your grand grand-pa,
I move slow & react slow,
If u push/pull my door when u use me,
Then I will shock there & stop there.

St Michael Institution (SMI). Since this is one of the premier school in Ipoh which is established way back in 1912. Since passing by, no harm stopping by for few minutes to capture few shots.

The green-green tei D.R. Seenivasagam Park. Should I carve my initial on one of the tree trunks? Hahaha, nope... my hands are not so itchy :P

Ipoh : Breakfast

Day Dreamer asked me twice "go Ipoh no drink White Coffee meh?". Surely this is a must. Although I'm not a coffee person, how can I miss out white coffee if I go Ipoh? ;) In fact, I had white coffee 3 times during my stay there.

This is the place where we had our breakfast in Ipoh Old Town. I didn't realise these are two different coffeeshops located next to each other earlier on. Later only I realised - One is Sin Yoon Loong Cafe whilst the other is Sun Yuan Foong Cafe. The names sound so similar, just like unidentical twins :)

Even though this is a working weekday and it was 9:30 am in the morning, the place was still crowded. Can't imagine how would it be on weekends. Manage to get a seat after waiting for few minutes. This is the die-die also must drink Ipoh White Coffee (RM1.20). The aroma... The taste.... Mmmmm...

Minced pork sauce & Mushroom Chee Cheong Fun/豬腸粉 (CCF - but not Congestive Cardiac Failure). Wonder whether is there anyone in history who suffered from CCF after eating the CCF? Nah... :P

Another bowl of Sar Hor Fun/沙河粉 (This is the 3rd time I savour the sar hor fun liao).

And not forgetting to sample few pieces of the sinful Siew Chee Yoke & Char Siew. Eat till so full.. Beh tahan. No choice but to waste some food :P

We walked around Ipoh town for a while after the heavy breakfast. Is that the end of the story? Nope... We came back for another round of Ipoh White Coffee, but in a different shop - Nam Heong Cafe. The Sin Yoon Loong white coffee tasted better.

And not forgetting the smooth Tau Foo Fah/Soybean curd & the fresh Soybean milk that we had (from different shop). We thought we can skipped lunch after such a heavy breakfast, but....

Ipoh : Salt Baked Chicken (鹽烤雞)

The Salt Baked Chicken @ yim gouk kai (鹽烤雞) is another Ipoh delicacy which shouldn't be missed..

The Salt Baked Chicken specially sold in Aun Kheng Lim is hard to find elsewhere. At least I haven't see it elsewhere :P

The chicken is wrapped together with Chinese herbs in one piece of grease-proof paper and baked in an oven covered and filled with coarse salt crystals. With this unique cooking technique, the chicken meat is still tender and the essence is well preserved.

Rm15 for the entire headless dead body bird aka kokokai. How to eat the chicken? Nah.. Easy job. Put aside the cutleries. Use the "civilized" basic way - tearing the chicken parts apart with bare hands and eat with fingers.

Smooth, juicy and tender chicken meat. Finger licking good. And IMHO, this is much better than KFC. The whole chicken gone within minutes.

Address:
Aun Kheng Lim Salted Baked Chicken
24 Theatre Rd, Ipoh.
Phone: 05 254 2998

Ipoh : Lou Wong Ngar Choy Kai

I went to Ipoh with my hubby last Wednesday. Prior to doing any "research", I wanna take the easy way out to ask any Ipoh lang that I can see online.. including the ex-Ipoh lang.

Chen: where to have good food in ipoh ah? u ipoh lang mah
LB: ok, wait ah, lemme think
LB: chicken kai beansprouts. I cant remember the names, but there are three restaurants all at this junction. Wait, I power up Google Earth. Now, this place is the bestest of the best
Chen: the good kai?
LB: YUP, kai see hor fun
Chen: see whether can find the place or not tomolo :D
LB: only night time ok?
Chen: the name of the makan place?
LB: cant remember names liao
Chen: wat is the name of the street? easier to find if know the street name :D
LB: No, I cant remember name of street, but it's in front of the old Odeon Cinema, which is now a Nightclub, I think. Easy to find. Ipoh small town. (Edited @ 12:49 am)

This ex-Ipoh lang 爱尔比 very keng.. Although he cannot remember the name of the place nor the name of the street but he produced the google map.. Notice the landmark for Starbucks? Heheh.. thanks for the map, LB although I couldn't figure out "where is where" by the time I was in Ipoh town, but we still manage to find the Good Kai place - The bestest of the best :D I googled & did some last minute research few hours prior to departure for the name of the place & the street :)

It is considered incomplete if one doesn't taste ngar choy kai(芽菜雞) or sar hor fun in Ipoh. Some said Restoran Lou Wong is the best in town whilst others will opt for Onn Kee. Anyway Onn Kee was closed that night. Judging from the crowds... I won't be wrong :D

The fatty, stumpy, juicy and crunchy Ipoh Ngar Choy or beansprouts.

Steamed Cocka KoKo Kai aka Chicken @ Ayam with soy sauce, sesame oil & chicken oil?. These are real kai that tasted like..... kai (what else u expect?) Pssst.. Sengkor, Not all chicken tasted like frog, okie? :P

The tasty Ipoh Hor Fun with smooth texture.

The springy and tasty Pork Meatballs.

One plate of Steamed Chicken, 2 plates of Ngar Choy, 2 bowls of Hor Fun and 1 bowl of Pork Balls - all for RM 15.20 (Cheap? No? Yes?)

Address :
Restoran Lou Wong Tauge Ayam Kuetiau
49, Yau Tet Shin Rd,
30300 Ipoh, Perak.

to be continued...

Gua Tempurung, Perak

After our visit to Taiping Zoo last week, we proceed our journey to Gua Tempurung (= coconut shell cave).

Gua Tempurung is a series of caves and chambers famous for its beautiful gallery of stalagmites, stalactites and other amazing limestone formations. Believed to have existed since 8000 B.C., Gua Tempurung is probably the largest natural limestone cave in Malaysia. The stones inside the cave has likeness to animals, deities and mythic creatures.. Situated near Gopeng, the cave stretches for 1.6 km with its cave river. It is made up of 5 huge domes whose ceilings resemble coconut shells. It is accessible from the North South Highway by exiting the Gopeng Interchange approximately 25 km south of Ipoh.

Histories of Gua Tempurung :
-1950 to 1960 : Used by the communists as a hideout.
-early 1970's : Mining for tin at the Gergasi Chamber.
-1998 : Opened as a show cave.

Gua Tempurung is rather commercialized, most of the trails have paths & stairs to ease the hike, which made explorations easier but less exciting. I didn’t bring a tripod stand, so I have a hard time taking the picture under the dim light.. have to hold the camera steady with my hands..(cos of the long exposure time). Luckily I don't have shaky hands, hahah.. or else the pictures will turn out to be blurry. After taking all those shots, my hands were tired.. :P


One can choose between the 4 tours of different length, duration & difficulties.
1) Golden Flowstone Tour (dry tour)
2) Top of the World Tour (dry tour)
3) Top of the World & River Adventure Tour (wet tour)
4) The Grand Tour (wet tour)



We went for the Top of the World tour (tilll Platform 5) since I didn't prepare to get wet. The Top of the World trip is the the highest point of the main passage and it allows us to reach the ceilings of the marbled cave. Tiring, (but more to feeling hot & sweating +++) cos have to climb through several hundreds steps of staircase. I saw quite a number of people turning back half way cos they were exhausted.

There was a wind tunnel between the caves. whereby the hot air meet the cold air from the cave.. Instant relief from the heat..(sweating plus plus earlier on..) How cooling.. Very syiok to feel the cool breeze ;)

Whilst the Top of the World tour ends, we returned using the same path. For those who are more adventurous (& prepared to get wet), there is the more adventurous tour (River adventure tour) which returns through the river in the lower level.

Hahaha, we were the last two to exit the cave.. We are very enthutiastic people ;) Others who came in together with us have left long time ago.. When we reached the car park, the car park was almost empty and there were only 3 cars left there.. The car park was very full when we arrived earlier on.