To breakaway from the usual weekend routine, my partner & I decided to make an impromptu trip to the town of Ipoh in Perak on 18 April 2015, Saturday.
We took a light breakfast and set off approximately 9:30am from Subang Jaya, and headed to a coffee shop eatery called
Restaurant Kong Heng (
Google maps location) on
Jalan Bandar Timah. The journey was estimated to take 2 1/2 hours which will just be about right for lunch. We were very fortunate to get a park space just as we arrived at 11:47AM.
Parking System
It been close to two years since we visited Ipoh and we discovered it now used a Parking Coupon system which operates on Mondays till Saturdays (exception on Public Holidays). The parking rates were RM0.30 for 1/2 hour and RM0.60 for an hour. There was a newspaper stand behind
Restaurant Thean Chun which sold the coupon booklets, where one can buy a booklet of five pieces of RM0.30 for RM1.50 or five pieces of RM0.60 for RM3.00. We did not think we will take more than 1/2 hour for breakfast so I just a booklet for RM1.50.
Lunch
We started to order our feast. Ipoh is famous for its White Coffee but I preferred to just go for the conventional coffee with milk. I was surprised that a small cup of coffee now cost RM1.70 (which is the same price as Kuala Lumpur)
My partner ordered a plate of '
Chu Cheong Fun' with mushroom sauce, and this plate cost RM2.50. It was tasty and a good variant from the usual type that usual sweet sauce or the combination of sweet + chilli sauce.
Next was a single piece of '
Popiah' for RM2.00. It was 'OK'
I ordered a plate of 'Char Kueh Teow' which is a mix of thin yellow noodle and white 'hor fun'. This plate cost RM5.80 for a big serving. This was nice - fried with prawns, cockles, and egg with a dash of chilli sauce on the side.
Lastly is satay. We ordered a plate of ten(10) sticks and it cost RM8.00. This was quite dish disappointing, the meat was no longer as tender as the last time I remembered it to be.
After completing lunch about 12:30PM, we decided go about looking for the "
7 Ipoh Wall Art Murals by Ernest Zacharevic". I had done some searches on the Internet and found a write up about it
here that provided the GPS coordinates and a map.
The Walkabout
We drove over to the
Jalan Dato Maharajelela and parked in front of the Perak Tourists Information Centre (
Google maps location) to start our walkabout (we later that that was not a good move, which I'll explain shortly).
The first mural we saw was this giant size mural at the side of the OldTown White Coffee shop. An elderly gentleman enjoying a cup of white coffee.
Walking down
Jalan Tun Sambanthan next the Ipoh field, we spotted the second mural on the top-side of a shoplot that depicts a paper plane with two young boys riding it. I guess it was showing the simple pleasures in the good old days where children have fun the old fashion way - with some paper and a lot of imagination.
Next we continued down
Jalan Tun Sambathan, crossing Jalan Sultan Yusuff to the next mural. Here we can see five bags of Kopi-o which were the usual favorite drinks of workers. I jest with my partner that "
I won't want to wait to see the (giant) workers who left their coffee hanging by that building".
Continuing down
Jalan Tun Sambathan, it will intersect to
Jalan Bijeh Timah where you'll spot the mural that depicts what industry the state of Perak was famous for, Tin (Malay: 'Timah') Mining Pools. This piece was named 'Evolution', showing how the town of Ipoh had evolved from colonial times to what it is now.
From
Jalan Bijeh Timah, we turned right to
Jalan Panglima and found the fifth mural which was the Humming Bird (below). When I first saw this mural, I thought of something was missing ... I then realize that due to 'progress' A REAL TREE which the Humming Bird was painted next to had been chopped down. Apparently when it was first drawn, the humming bird depicted to be sourcing for nectar from a tree (left).
Such a waste !
From
Jalan Panglima, we turned to
Jalan Bandar Timah where we spotted this life size mural of a girl climbing on a stack of real plastic stools and some thick books to reach a bird cage. Due to the elements of sun and rain, the classic red plastic stools have start to fade and crack.
Backtracking a bit to
Jalan Bijeh Timah and walking towards
Jalan Market, there is a narrow lane where you can find the final life size mural of a man stacking his trishaw with trash and recyclables. You can choose to pose on either side of the trishaw to 'lend a helping hand'.
Recall I mentioned that we made a mistake about the
Walkabout starting point? the map below show you why... the coffee shop,
Restaurant Kong Heng where we had our lunch was at the center of it all
DOH! ..
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| Ipoh Art Mural Map |
SO if you wish have a smoother journey, have a meal at either Restaurant Kong Heng or Restaurant Thean Chun first then check out the murals from 3 to 7 first before driving over for 1 and 2.
Dinner
We hung around Ipoh town a bit and visited Ipoh Parade (I won't be elaborating on it). We decided to have dinner before we set off home, and the place we chosen was '
Burps and Giggles' (
Google maps location) -
YES IT IS IN THE SAME AREA !.
From the exterior it did not look much but we were surprised when we got inside.
We saw this beautiful piece upon entering the shop ...
I noticed other pieces around the restaurant;
The overall ambiance of the shop was warm and welcoming.
The Drinks & Food @ Burps & Giggles
I ordered an Ice Cappuccino while my partner ordered a 'Mango+Apple+Orange' juice. For appertizer, we ordered an item called 'Wanted' - calamari fritti, lemon wedge & honey mustard dip. Our mains were a 'Harvey' - Fish, Coriander-Mint Salad, Thai Infused Spread, and Beef Meatball Pasta, Tomato Rose Sauce & Splashes of Cheese Creme.
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| Menu |
|
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Ice Cappuccino (RM10) &
Mango+Apple+Orange juice (RM12) |
|
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| Harvey (RM17) |
|
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| Harvey - internal |
|
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| Wanted (RM13) |
|
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| Beef Meatball Pasta (RM17) |
|
We truly enjoyed our meal. As we were walking back to our car, we spotted another street art - this was by an artist named 'Kareem'.
It was around 7:00PM as we departed from Ipoh town. It had been a truly delicious and artistic trip. We do look forward to visiting Ipoh again in the future ... hopefully we can find more beautiful treasures the next round.
How about you? Have you visited Ipoh before? and if you have, what are your favorite eateries, sites & activities?
