Discovering Ipoh

It's Eid al-Adha weekend. Since the festival fell on a Sunday, we had an extra day off on Monday! Yay! Time to explore Malaysia. Or for this, it's just the town of Ipoh located in Perak state. Malaysia has 13 states, and it takes many many weekends to explore Malaysia. 

So, for this weekend, my friend and I drove to Ipoh. On the way, we passed by Bidor town. A very small town which has one famous specialty - Duck Herbal Noodle. The yellow colour building - Pun Chun Chicken Biscuits and Restaurants. 

Since the duck noodle was such a rave, we gave it a try. But it was a let-down. The herbal soup didn't have the strong taste - slightly bland. The duck meat was tender - that was nice. The noodles were not exceptionally special. My friend said it was reasonable for a price of RM7, considering the large duck meat.

The place also bakes its own biscuits. The crunchy chicken biscuits.

I went to my first cave temple - Ling Sen Tong. Ipoh is full of cave temples due to the abundance of caves. The limestone caves. A temple is built in the cave. When I went in, I was surprised to see the cave walls painted and tables, altars filled the place. But this cave temple pales in comparison to another cave temple I went the later part of the day. 

We had lunch at a famous stall where it had made its presence for the past 40 years under this huge tree. What is famous is the 'yong tau foo' and 'assam laksa'.

This drink is blended red bean drink! Soothing and cooling. Famous here too.

'Yong tau foo' means stuffed bean curd. Let me explain why - It is bean curd stuffed with meat paste of fish or pork. Now, other types of vegetables can be stuffed too - like lady's fingers. See the below photo? There are also other food added like fried fish ball. And the gravy can be curry or soy sauce with chilli paste.

'Asam laksa' is a sour, fish based soup. 'Asam' is the Malay word for tamarind where the sourness comes from. The main ingredients include shredded fish, normally mackerel, and finely sliced vegetables including cucumber, onions, red chillies, pineapple, lettuce, and mint.

This is a very beautiful cave temple I went to - Perak Cave Temple. I was speechless as I stepped into cave temple. Look at the photos and you will understand why.

There were steps leading to the top. The climbing hours are from 9am - 4pm. So, up we went.

There are many huts on the top of each steps, and one can see the view of Ipoh town.

The huge character on the wall is 'Fuo' which means Buddha. I was in a state of awe as I stared at it.

As I came down back the steps, I saw a rock that looked like the fingers of Buddha. I am not sure if you can see what I see.

Exiting the place, you can see the statue of the Goddess of Mercy from afar.

Ipoh has more to offer, and I will come back again!