4D3N Ipoh Trip 2024: Food, Attractions with a Side Trip to Cameron Highland

During our CG Retreat to Ipoh, we checked into Impiana Hotel Ipoh a night earlier and visited the Ipoh Night Market (aka Uptown Ipoh)…

1. Uptown Ipoh Night Market

Uptown Ipoh Night Market was where we visited during our first night in Ipoh. If you do a Google search for “Ipoh Night Market”, the Uptown Ipoh Night Market would be the first return. It is a pretty organised night market with shopping, entertainment, outdoor food trucks and indoor dining hall – with LOADS of dining option. The only thing about Uptown Night Market is that the ventilation is not so good – it does get quite stuffy, especially during meal times when the woks and pans are fired up. Nonetheless, a good place to visit for coffee outdoors, under the fairy lights, serenaded by live performances at Ipoh Night Market (after 9pm).

2. Ming Court Hong Kong Dim Sum (明阁香港点心)

After the rest of the group checked-in at Weil Hotel the next morning, we started our trip officially with our first meal at Ming Court Hong Kong Dim Sum (明阁香港点心). There was a long queue when we arrived but we were advised by our CGL that the queue would move very fast. After waiting for about 10 minutes, we were in. Once you’re seated, you’ll be bombarded by staff from all directions, asking if you’d like the chee cheong fun, the fried items or the steamed items. Before long (within minutes literally), the table was full! (see photo above). The cool thing was that because there were 8 of us sharing the items, each person only paid the equivalent of $6 SGD and we were SO FULL! Great spot to start off the day – thanks to our CGL. Don’t forget the “life-changing” chee cheong fun while you’re there!

3. Ho Yan Hor Museum

The Ho Yan Hor Museum in Ipoh showcases the life work of Dr Ho Kai Cheong – a herbalist who created the familiar household remedy known as Ho Yan Hor, which eventually became a trusted herbal tea in Ipoh. During the WW2 era, he would also treat Chinese immigrants and used Ho Yan Hor as a treatment and preventive medicine for the extreme heat conditions that the immigrants would be subjected to during the day. Inside, you’ll see the transformation of HOVID products (nothing to do with COVID) from the initial tea making (in a big wok) to the production factories with many products in the market today. You will also be able to taste the various teas on sale on the way out. One of our favourite was the Ho Yan Hor Night Tea, a beverage that tasted good and indeed allowed us to sleep well in the evenings.

4. Han Chin Pet Soo Museum

Our educational tour continued at Han Chin Pet Soo Museum. As a Hakka Miners’ club set up in 1893, the premise hosted all the towkays (or bosses) of tin mines that made these bosses (and Ipoh) a very rich town in those days. Inside, you’ll find out more about the tin mining process as well as the lifestyles of the towkays which includes vices such as opium and gambling. The visit ends off with a round up of the hakka cuisine that you can still find today.

5. Concubine Lane (二奶巷)

Apparently, there are 3 lanes sat Concubine Lane bought by tin mining tycoon – Yao Tet Shin for each of his 3 wives. Today, these lanes have been converted into entrances to shops such as restaurants, souvenirs stalls, cafe and bakeries. Although we didn’t buy anything here, it was fun just to walk through the lane and experience how long would have been like over 100 years ago. Look out for the many murals that you can take photo with (such as the one above) while you’re here!

6. Durbar at FMS

Durbar at FMS is a popular venue for meals in Ipoh. It offers both local and western cuisine and its highlight is the classy, colonial-era decoration within. Cocktails are also popular here. This time, we had the Baked Chicken (29RM), Ginger Beer (8RM) and the Aperitz Cocktail (38RM). You can also try out some popular items such as the Oxtail Soup, Fish & Chips, Hainanese Chicken, Fried Rice and Wat Tan Hor.

7. Ipoh Bean Sprout Chicken – Lou Wong OR Ong Kee

What is a visit to Ipoh without trying out the Tauge Ayam (beansprout chicken)? At the intersection of Jalan Yau Tet Shin and Jalan Dato Tahwil Azar, there is a war of the Ipoh Bean Sprout Chicken going on. Here, you will find 2 major players – Lou Wong (Yellow Signboard) and Ong Kee (Blue Signboard). We have tried both and both have their own fans. This evening, we went for Lou Wong Beansprout Chicken and it was very good. You can choose between rice, hor fun for your mains while portions of chicken and beansprouts can be ordered separately. The unique thing about Ipoh beansprouts is that they’re short and fat while retaining a nice sweetness and crunch to it. Remember to mix the beansprouts and chicken into your hor fun (we always choose hor fun) before you chow in!

To round off the evening, we also shopped at Hooga @ Palo 101 as well as Zhao Dessert. At Zhao Dessert, we had a Taro series and a Tau Fah (beancurd) series dessert at 14RM and 12RM respectively. Almost bought set of outdoor furniture – inclusive of delivery came up to about $500 which was decent.

9. Day Trip to Cameron Highland

The next day, we started off at 830am for a day trip to Cameron Highland, 2 hours away via a mini-bus. The guide took us to several places along the way including:

Hobbitoon Village

Hobbitoon is a recreation of the Shire made famous by the trilogies – The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit and costs 40RM per entry. Although we didn’t enter, the views from outside was already quite good. But having visited Hobbiton in New Zealand, we can only wonder what Peter Jackson and JRR Tolkien would think of Hobbitoon…

The Sheep Sanctuary

The Sheep Sanctuary was one of our favourite attractions at Cameron Highland. For 12RM, you’ll be able to interact with free-roaming sheep and have a box of feed to feed them. The staff would also keep reminding visitors not to show the white feed boxes to the sheep because they are accustomed to being fed from these boxes and at times, target those boxes instead of the feed. Be careful also while walking inside because some of the steps are quite steep and we saw a couple of kids missing a step and tripping. Lastly, there are other animals such as lamb, ram and even alpacas! Though it can get crowded, the Sheep Sanctuary is a nice venue to visit, pat and interact with the animals before you continue visiting the other attractions at Cameron Highland.

Green View Garden

We also stopped by Green View Garden, mainly for shopping at the Avant Chocolate shop. But it turns out to be a beautiful garden with an Avant Cafe that offers Japanese Asian Fusion meals for visitors while being surrounded by flora and fauna. Inside, kids can also do boat paddling and visit a mini petting zoo which includes animals such as lamb and the super cute bunny rabbit! For us, the highlight was the strawberry ice cream (see above) that had a sizeable portion of strawberries mixed into it. Delicious!

BOH Tea Garden

It was drizzling when we eventually arrived at BOH Tea Garden. The roads up were also rather bumpy. At BOH Tea Garden, you’ll be able to visit the first tea factory at Cameron Highland. Cameron Highland was chosen for tea planting because of its temperate climate, abundant rainfall and hours of sunshine year round. At the BOH Cafe, you can sit and enjoy teas, local delights as well as some BOT Tea ice cream creations. Next door, visit the BOH Tea Gift Shop and get some products home – we found the Cham to be pretty good!

We also got to visit Bee Farm and Strawberry Farm during this visit. During lunch, our driver also encountered a stalled engine. Thankfully, after getting some help from the restaurant, we managed to push the mini-bus out of the lot and miraculously, the engine started! Thank the Lord!

However, on the way back to Ipoh, there was a massive jam due to a flood that caused one of the 2 (one-way) lanes to be closed. Hence, our dinner at Pusing Public Seafood Restaurant was pushed back by about 2 hours. Thankfully when we arrived, the seats were still available and we put in some orders. As the food was soooo good, we were too focused on eating and missed out on the photos. But we must say that all prawn dishes were a hit!

10. Restoran Makanan S S Fatt

The next morning, our food frenzy continued with our first stop at Restoran Makanan S S Fatt Ipoh. Restoran Makanan S S Fatt Ipoh is known for its beef noodles – clear flavourful broth with pieces of white carrot inside. What makes it stand apart is the deep-fried items that you can choose to have together with the beef noodles – the freshly fried ones like the fried brinjal and beancurd that we had, were excellent!

11. Fire King Char Koay Teow @ Wing Fat Xiaochao Restaurant

Our foodie hunt continued at Wing Fat Xiaochao Restaurant Ipoh. We were originally here for the Fire King Char Koay Teow that even Michelle Yeoh endorses. However, as the wait was much too long, we ordered other items around the coffeeshop. Turns out Wing Fat Xiaochao Restaurant is also home to a very popular Ipoh Hor Fun, which we must say is more flavourful that the ones at Lou Wong and Ong Kee. Its broth had a nice prawn based and tender chicken that topped the dish. As for the fried koay teow, it comes with options of having the chicken or duck egg. Many enjoyed the duck egg version firstly because of its intense flavour and secondly because you can’t get it in Singapore. As for us, we actually enjoyed the chicken egg version a little more, mainly because it is a more familiar taste. But having said that, we think we can grow to enjoy the duck egg version overtime as well!

12. Tempurung Cave (aka Gua Tempurung)

After having our fill, we took a 30 minutes Grab ride to Gua Tempurung (aka Tempurung Cave) to see the limestone formations. For 30RM per person, we were able to cover Tour 1 and 2 which takes you to the end of the “dry” tour. To continue on to Tour 3, you’ll have to don helmets and have a guide as it passes through the underground river taverns and will be really dark in some areas. Nonetheless, with Tour 1 and 2, you’ll be able to see much of the limestone formations including stalactite, stalagmite and golden flowstones. One way to remember is that Stalactite has a “T” that represents growing from the Top downwards while Stalagmites has a “G” that represents growing from the Ground upwards.

Inside you’ll be able to check out views from the Top, the Echo Chambers and our favourite, the Wind Tunnel. On the way up and down, we stopped by the Wind Tunnel to catch our breath and enjoy the cool wind that is forced through this tunnel. Shiok! The steps in Gua Tempurung are relatively well-lit but can be a little steep and wet at some areas. Hence, hold on to the railings whenever you need to!

13. Aneka Selera Kam Wan

To round up the evening, we headed to Aneka Selara Kam Wan Food Court. Here, it is pretty much free and easy. Just choose a seat and order from any stalls here. We enjoyed the popiah, both the fried and normal version as well as the claypot rice – which was sooo good! Just that you have to wait for about 30 minutes because it is only made upon order.

14. Chang Jiang White Coffee Kin Loong Valley

On our last day, we visited Chang Jiang White Coffee at Kin Loong Valley. This is a strongly recommended location at Ipoh. This is because the restaurant is built INTO the valley. Inside, you’ll be able to find right by the valley where waters flow through. Food wise, they were not that great but COFFEE…EXCELLENT. We had the traditional Chang Jiang White Coffee and the Wangher Crossover which were both superb. Hence, even if you’re not hungry and looking for a place to chill out with your friends, Chang Jiang White Coffee at Kin Loong Valley is a great venue. Moreover, after your meal, you can do a little light shopping at the shops there and also walk along the lake next to the restaurant. Further down, you can also take a boat ride into the valley.

If you enjoyed our content, “Like” us on Facebook or Buy Us a Coffee Today!

Klook.com

During the trip, we also shopped at the highly recommended Ching Han Guan 鍾漢元 known for its fantastic Meat Floss Lotus Paste Biscuits. The Lord also blessed us with this beautiful sunset over Ipoh that you see above.

Thanks to our CGL, we had a balanced trip to Ipoh, covering the attractions, excellent food venues and even did a side trip to Cameron Highland which we last visited more than 15 years ago. Hope this post will be able to help you as you plan for your next trip to Ipoh! We know we will because the taxi ride from Ipoh airport to our airport was less than 10 minutes at 7RM, which makes it one of the easiest connect from airport to city we’ve ever come across!