Exploring Ipoh Old Town

We had a very short road trip in the second last weekend of May 2013.
Our driving route for the 3D2N: Penang --> Ipoh --> Bukit Tinggi --> Bentong --> KL --> Ipoh --> Penang.

Ipoh is my second hometown. I spent 7 years of my preteen in this clean, lovely town (now a city). So, I always have a soft spot for Ipoh. I always try to plan a brief stop at Ipoh, whenever I can, when I'm on my Malaysia road trip.

This round, we skipped our favorite dimsum. Instead, we had some nice breakfast at 2 different coffee shops in the old town. I just love to explore this part of Ipoh city.

All the walls have stories to tell......

And I bet this tree can talk like an Ent, with stories worth passing down, for days and nights.

Every corner, there's an old charm standing tall, waiting for you to explore.

And I love all the passages to the past......

And most importantly, I love how life continues, in this rustic corner of the modern city......

As usual, we first went to Nam Heong for the addictive White Coffee. Before the "Old Town White Coffee" franchise era, this street was where our family spent our Sunday morning, for the aromatic white coffee, and the to kill for roasted pork.
After I had my favorite white coffee, and some food, we went to the famous Thean Chun Restaurant, which is fondly known as The Hall of Mirrors.

This, surprisingly, was my first visit. With the 95% full stomach, I still couldn't resist but ordered a lot of food! (well, at least to my standard). None of them really made an effort to help me so we actually spent more than 1.5 hour there, trying very hard to finish my 2nd round breakfast.

Because this gang that followed me on the road trip was not so keen in food, I guess I have to arrange for another makan-makan trip to Ipoh.

I'll be back.....

Cuti-cuti "Half" Peninsular Malaysia - Day 4 - Sunrise at Panorama Hill

3rd June 2013:  
Driving route: Sungai Lembing --> Kuala Lumpur

We woke up at 5am and left Lembing Riverview Resort for the Panorama Hill sunrise at 5:30am. Except papa, none of us brought torch light. Luckily there were other tourists too so everyone was helping each other.

For a place to view the sea of clouds, Panorama Hill is relatively low. Averagely tourists take about one hour to fight the steep stairs to reach the top. If you are going with kids or senior citizens, be careful. Though relatively low, this hill is still quite challenging.

We reached the top right before sunrise. Though not as crowded as my previous trip, still, it was hard to find a great spot for photo. So instead of focusing on the sunrise like everyone else, I took quite some Chinese-painting-style-photos. 

Our luck was good but not great. The sun was blocked by huge, thick cloud! So instead of the view of egg york coming out from the horizon, we got to see the "golden-lining" decorating the cloud.

I wish I can paint something like this......

Hard work, everyone :)

Going downhill was equally hard. Dad and I walked slowly while the others went to the market to grab some breakfast (phobia, from previous night experience)

Tips: For those that plan to visit Sungai Lembing, sigh..... it is really hard to choose. If you go during weekend, most probably you have to fight for food (and everything else) with a lot of tourists. If you go on weekdays, most of the famous stalls are not open.

After breakfast, just like any responsible tourists, we visited the village, the suspension bridge, and the famous Lembing noodle making factory.

The Sungai Lembing noodle shop owner told me that no matter how much she made, the tourists "sapu" within an hour. I guessed the Singaporeans just love this traditional food.

 
After our short Sungai Lembing trip, we drove all the way to KL to meet our uncle. It was a long drive, luckily there's someone kept me entertained :)

Cuti-cuti "Half" Peninsular Malaysia - Return of the Masterpieces

As I have told you earlier, we enrolled in a batik workshop and we enjoyed the experience very much. However, our masterpieces were accidentally sent to the Australian family when they left Pasir Belanda Resort. Pasir Belanda Resort owner promised to try to contact the Australian family after their Taman Negara trip and try to get them to send the batik to my home address when they reach Kuala Lumpur. This happened almost 2 months ago. We thought we will never see our masterpieces again.....

Then, last week, I received an email from Pasir Belanda Resort. I was told that the parcel was returned to the sender. I suspected something wrong with Bukit Mertajam post office, or the postmen working in Bukit Mertajam, or even something wrong with my house address since I always face problems with the postal service (remember the Threadless episode?). So, I gave them my office address instead. 

So, finally, this morning, the parcel arrived!!!

With Pasir Belanda address written on the back of the envelope

It's so nice to finally see the final products! This is the first time I see our final products!

Nicely wrapped

Again, another shot!

I was so excited! I have to open up all these 3 in the office, almost immediately!

Sonia's masterpiece, dolphin and friends, get the most thumbs ups!

Wei's bright and vibrant artwork, the sunflowers and the butterfly, is quite popular too!

However, I still love my cute little mushrooms the most! They reminded me of the lovely China Dance from Fantasia :)

Cuti-cuti "Half" Peninsular Malaysia - Day3 - Near Starvation at Sungai Lembing

2nd June 2013:  
Driving route: Kota Bharu --> Bachok --> Kuala Terengganu --> Sungai Lembing

Due to my "bad habit" (can't resist to stop at great spots along the coast), I suspected that I could never arrive at Sungai Lembing before sunset. Hence, I have chose the highway instead, to drive from Kuala Lumpur to Sungai Lembing. 

Little did I know that the highway is actually still in construction. The first time we reached the junction with a sign board showing "turn left to Kuantan" but there were no way to turn, we were panic! We turned on every gadgets we had in the car, checked our direction, checked the GPS, checked Google Map, checked Waze......We were stressed until we were sure that we were still on the right track. 

About less than hour later, we were back to the old federal road. It was under construction, it was raining, it was full of trucks, it was SLOW! I should have continued on the beautiful coastal route!

Anyway, we reached Lembing Riverview Resort around 6pm. We got our keys, chit chat with the resort owner, and ordered the famous roasted pork from the resort owner. Guess what, the roasted pork was delivered to the resort! What a service! :)

The roasted pork smell sooooo good and we were sooooo hungry then, we totally forgot about taking photos. The only thing that I can tell you is that it was crispy outside, juicy inside. My aunt said this is the best Shio Bak she has ever tasted!

After getting our roasted pork, we drove to the town area. There were only 2 restaurants in the town. So we walked in to the shop nearest to our car. 

"Did you make any reservation? We are full and do not entertain walk in" the waiter told us. I couldn't believe this! I could never ever link "restaurant reservation" with a town of only 2 streets! 

Anyway, I accepted the fact, and we walked to another one, just a few shops away. Full house too! They were kind enough to find a table for us, but the waitress said "You all can sit down first, but we have to serve all these people in the restaurant at this moment, and there are 3 more tables with reservation that will come to the restaurant an hour later, then only we will serve you". I almost fainted! I doubt if this restaurant could handle this capacity, and whether they have enough raw material to serve us 2 hours later (if we were lucky). So we decided to let the senior citizens to stay put, while Wei Wei, Sonia and I explored the town. I sent Wei Wei to the almost-close grocery store to buy some biscuit (just in case), while I surveyed the only still-in-operation-food-stall. I was told that there were only 2 bowls of clear soup noodle (清汤面) and a few bowls of curry noodle left. Without any delay, I quickly secured one table while I sent Sonia back to the restaurant to get the rest to come to this humble little stall. Finally we managed to secure THE FINAL FEW BOWLS of food left in this town! Phew!! 

We knew there were a lot of people flocked in from Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and many other places during the long weekend (Yee Hau warned us by sending Singapore news to Wei Wei when we were at Kuala Terengganu), but we didn't expect that even getting something to eat could be so difficult. A local guide must have seen how we struggled and came chit chat with me. He said we can consider ourselves lucky. The day before there were more than 30 tour buses in this tiny little town! And for the local guides, each of them guided more than 100 people to the Rainbow Waterfall in one day! Unbelievable!

Tips for those that wish to visit Sungai Lembing:
1. Please go as soon as possible. This place is turning into another Cameron Highland soon, a wonderful place that was ruined after developed into a famous tourism spot.
2. Please avoid long weekends. You will hate the crowd.
3. Please make sure you pre-book your meals!

Cuti-cuti "Half" Peninsular Malaysia - Day3

2nd June 2013:  
Driving route: Kota Bharu --> Bachok --> Kuala Terengganu --> Sungai Lembing


Mama prepared lots of "bak chang" for our trip. So, on our last night at Kelantan, we were ordered to finish all these "bak chang" as breakfast on the next morning. However, I did notice that little Sonia doesn't like "bak chang" so I promised her I'll order breakfast for her from Pasir Belanda Resort.

Platform by the river

On the next morning, after we finished our bak chang, we all came to the platform by the river to accompany Sonia for her American breakfast. After days of spicy local food, I bet she missed American food :)

While Wei Wei and I chit chat with Sonia, my mum and her siblings were having their "math class" at this beautiful platform. Though we had great fun, my mum couldn't stop complaining about the "ugly river".

Well, to be fair, I did see some real nice photos from Tripadvisor of this river besides Pasir Belanda Resort. I guess it must be the season for these floating plants to conquer the river when we were there. Though not as beautiful as I imagined, still, I think it is still nice to sit by the river, enjoying the green, where buffaloes and geese wandering afar.

After breakfast, we packed and started our long journey to Sungai Lembing.

From Pasir Belanda to Bachok is a long, boring drive. There are endless traffic lights and it took almost forever to reach our destinition.

So, by the time we reached Wat Phothikyan (Double Dragon Temple), I was quite glad that I finally can stretch my limbs.

Wat Phothikyan used to be famous for the double dragon at the entrance. Now it is famous for the relatively new standing Buddha statue, and this is also the tallest standing Buddha statue in the South East Asia.

My personal favorite is the huge "wishing tree". You can buy the "wishing apparatus" from the temple, write down your wishes and throw it to the huge rain tree. If your apparatus stays on the tree, your wishes will come true. :)
Though none of us made any wishes there, Wei and I took a lot of photos of the colourfully decorated wishing tree.

After the brief stop at Double Dragon Temple, we finally actually started our journey to Sungai Lembing through the beautiful Malaysia Federal Route D11, T3 & T1.

The weather was excellent that day. South China Sea was more beautiful than ever. I couldn't resist the endless shades of blue and we kept having pit stops for the sea breeze. (How I wished I had a few more days off so that we could spend a few days in the islands)

After a few stops, I knew we wouldn't be able to make it to Sungai Lembing before dark if I keep on stopping. So, I changed the strategy. Instead of stopping at the beach, we drove extremely slow on the scenic roads by the beach.

Since I was the driver, I didn't take as many photos as I wish. However, I have decided that I should plan for a photography trip on Malaysia Federal Route T1 in near future.

Yacht Competition

This scenic route ends at Kuala Terengganu. When we drove cross Terengganu River through the bridge of Jalan Tengku Mizan, we can see Kuala Terengganu City standing beautifully under the sun, surrounded by South China Sea and Terengganu River. The white Floating Mosque stood out from the background (deep blue river) and shines from afar.

Perhaps due to my marvelous mood after driving along Federal Route T1, Kuala Terengganu seemed much more beautiful than I could remember. I'm glad that I planned for lunch here.

We were delighted. The China Town is nicely paved, clean and vivid. We settled for a decent yet cozy restaurant "On The Way". It's a 2 stories prewar building that oversee the Waterfront.









While the rest waiting for their food (and had "Math Class" again!! In the public!!!), Wei Wei and I went to explore the lovely Chinatown.

I was too lazy to carry my DSLR so I explored with my iPad. Wei Wei carried her "weapon" so I naturally became her model. Most of the time, I was in the photo because she needed some "perspective" or "the beautiful yellow door needed an object to "photograph".

Besides being colourful and interesting, there were also a few restaurants in Chinatown that look authentic and we really wished to try. Maybe next time.












There's also a new tourist attraction in town. A small alley was converted to "Turtle Alley". It's decorated with mosaic of turtles along and walkway and on the wall. It's definitely an artful way to create awareness on turtle conservation.

 

After lunch, I decided not to take the coastal Federal Route since it is more time consuming. We gave the South China Sea a sweet farewell and then took the highway and headed to Sungai Lembing. 

Cuti-cuti "Half" Peninsular Malaysia - Day 2 - Temples Tour in Kelantan

Kelantan housed a lot of Buddhist temples, including the largest reclining Buddha statue in South East Asia, the largest sitting Buddah status in South East Asi, and the largest standing Buddha statue in South East Asia! So, on Day 2, I planned a half-day-temples tour. We covered 4 temples, including Wat Mai Suwankhiri (Dragon Boat Temple), Wat Pikulthong (Standing Buddha), Wat Matchimmaram (Sitting Buddha), and Wat Photovihan (Reclining buddha). While on Day 3, we covered Wat Phothikyan before heading to Kuala Terengganu.

1) Wat Mai Suwankhiri

Dragon Boat Temple

In my opinion, this is the prettiest temples among the 5 temples that we have visited. The original temple was said to have been built 400 years ago but the current structure has been built for over the past 50 years. There is the beautiful dragon boat temple, and the main shrine hall where most the fine artworks are housed.
Oh, and I MUST pointed out that the wax statue of Phor Than Di in the main hall will put any wax statues in Madame Thussauds to shame! (Sorry, for respect reason, I didn't take the photo of the wax statue.) One can simply feel the kindness and humbleness without fail.

The Main Hall

2) Wat Pikulthong 

Wat Pikulthong temple is relatively smaller. However, you won't miss this temple since the Buddha statue is standing tall. Facing the standing Buddha, there is a graveyard and a fish pond on your left while on your right is a school inside the compound of the temple. We had a only brief stop since most of the area is still under construction.


3) Pantai Tujuh

While on our way to search for the other temples (Waze failed to bring us, pointed us to the middle of the main road towards Thai Border), we got lost for a short while, and ended up having a short fun time at Pantai Tujuh.

My aunts went to the loo, my father went chit chat with the locals at the food stalls, while Sonia, Wei and mum examined and investigated the spirally coiled shells that populated the bay area.

Sonia learning the trick of reconstructing the pine leaves

4) Wat Matchimmaram
I forgot to set the location of Wat Matchimmaram in my Waze and hence it was already out of my itinerary. However, when we were on our way to the Reclining Buddha temple, we saw this huge sitting Buddha and we decided to make a stop. How can we not visiting the biggest sitting Buddha statue in South East Asia?

The temple is full with murals of stories from the Sutras. A bit scary for the little girl though.

While we were there, we were please to see the REAL MALAYSIA, the true racial harmony that our ancestors practiced, and still true in Kelantan. Wei Wei got a better picture to demonstrate this.

Another thing that I remembered about this temple, is the beautiful water hyacinth flowers. Despite staying quite near to the river for a few years in Taman Sri Rambai, I have never seen the water hyacinth blossom! This is so pretty.

5) Wat Photovihan

Reclining Buddha

Wat Photovihan must be the most famous temple in Kelantan. This 40m long statue has a long history. It was completed in year 1979. I think I have a few photos of the 5-years-old-me standing in front of the statue hidding somewhere in the old photo albums.

By the time we reached the temple, we were already out in the sun for almost 6 hours. Everyone was exhausted (you know la~ Malaysia weather).

We were so glad to see a few food stalls in the temple compound. After we parked our cars, my parents and aunts rushed to the shady stall for some refreshing fresh coconut juice while 3 of us had fun playing with the puppies.

None of us wanted to walk into the sun and walk towards the temple. It was until we realized it's almost time to go back to Kota Bharu town, and we shouldn't come to the temple compound and not paying respect to the Buddha, we finally dragged ourselves to the temple.

The Reclining Buddha (or we called "Sleeping Buddha" in Mandarin) is as huge as I remembered. The 12 Chinese Zodiac statues are still as eerie as I could remember. I tried my best to explain the stories of Gautama Buddha as per in the drawings but I think I failed miserably.
Before we leave the temple, Si Yi and Sonia made wishes by throwing coins into the huge alms bowl. Si Yi's coin went right into the alms bowl in one throw and that concluded our temple tours.