We bought two tickets for a Super VIP Coach with 24 seaters from Transtar Travel to Ipoh for Chinese New Year at S$88 per ticket. This was the first time we took Transtar and I like the pick-up location as it is just above Lavender MRT – conveniently located only a few stations away from our house. The coach left Lavender at 9:30pm, went by Tuas Checkpoint and left the checkpoint at around 10.15pm. We reached Ipoh the next morning at 4:50am, 5 Feb 08. I was so soundly asleep in the coach when the driver yelled “Ipoh! Ipoh!”.

Ipoh Yummies!

Tuesday, 5 Feb 08

We waited at the bus terminal for Jacky’s brother to fetch us. There were some men smoking at the terminal, “treating” us “breakfast” with choking cigarette smell. I learnt that our lungs go through detoxification from 3:00am to 5:00am, and these people could still smoke at this hour, it’s really bad.

Soon, Bro reached and we went home straight. There was no one at home except both of us and Bro. The rest of the family were still in Penang. The other brother’s family in Kuala Lumpur were not coming home for reunion as his wife was going to give birth soon.

We slept till noon time and went out for brunch at Xin Dong Qu (新东区) Kopitiam. There are a few stalls with good food: Hakka Mee stall, Curry Mee stall (the one with longer queue), Popiah stall, Wonton Mee stall, Hokkien Mee stall and “Chao Fun” stall.

Ipoh is famous for its food, particularly “Sar Hor Fun”( 沙河粉)– flat white rice noodle served in soup with shredded chicken meat and prawns; “Hor Hee”(河喜) served with fish cakes; “Nga Choi Kai” (芽菜鸡)- chicken with stout and juicy beansprouts; “Hakka Mee” (客家面)and “Hiong Piah” (香饼)– flaky and crisp biscuits filled of smooth, thick and sticky sugar syrup.

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Wednesday, 6 Feb 08

Supposed to wake up early for Dim Sum but slept till noon.

Most hawkers were closed for Chinese New Year eve and many people were doing their last minute shopping at Jusco shopping mall, the nearest mall to our home. I bought two tops from Padini at 50% discount, and gave one to Melissa as it was too small for me.

We had lunch at Kenny Roger restaurant and were quite disappointed with the food and poor service. The vegetable salad was very little – as little as one piece of small leaf being torn into halves! Kenny Roger restaurant in Malaysia should be cheaper than Singapore’s, but with smaller portion of side dishes.

Drove around Ipoh and passed by some cave temples. Surprisingly, we didn’t see any worshipers there. It could be due to Lunar New Year eve and the Chinese were preparing for reunion dinner.

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Thursday, 7 Feb 08 (First day of Lunar New Year)

This was the first time we gave out “ang baos” to our younger, unmarried relatives. My single friends have been asking me to give them “ang baos” too! I gave them a No-No, because I want them to get a partner soon and give me “ang baos” during their wedding instead! I told them it’s a “taboo”; if I start giving them “ang baos”, they could be receiving “ang baos” for the next many years! And still remaining singles.

When I was searching for “Doraemon” games online for Grace (8-year-old niece), I came across this international game site with online games from Korea, Japanese, Italian, Myanmar and other countries.

This game site has many girl-games – Dress up games, Make up games and Cooking games. I like the Cooking games – they are cute! The games are mostly in foreign languages so we need to figure out how to play them. Grace and I played the games for the rest of the afternoon.

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Friday, 8 Feb 08

Ipoh is hot all year round as it’s surrounded by limestone hills. It is also known as “san seng” which means “hill city” in the Cantonese. And finally, it rained.

In front of the house is another range of limestone hills. There used to be a big pond on the right for fishing activities, but in the recent years, it became a land for new housing developments.

We went to Parkson mall in the late afternoon but a lot of shops were still closed for the Chinese New Year celebration.

The bizarre limestone cave!

Visit the bizarre limestone cave in Ipoh that let imagination running wild - “Kek Lok Tong” (极乐洞; Cavern of Utmost Happiness).

When we saw this big cotton tree. Can you see the cottons hanging on the branches? Anyone knows what is the real name of this tree?

Three children joyfully sticking out of the car roof and waving at everyone on the road.

The entrance to the cave temple - “Kek Lok Tong”. It is a limestone cave with karstic formation around it. It has a cleaner, quieter and more cooling environment and I personally think it has the best scenic cave view among other caves in Ipoh.

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Got to wake up early to catch the morning movie. We had breakfast at Xin Dong Qu (新东区) kopitiam again.

My Hokkien mee – mind me, the soup for this dish is very thick! But a little too thick for me. Overall, it was quite good. I had tasted better Hokkien mee in Penang.

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