Two Sore Backs

Ricki and Tom, the travel agents we had met on Koh Libong, highly recommended Ipoh, so we decided to spend a night there before continuing to Kuala Lumpur.

One of our first stops, after the bus from Cameron Highlands and getting settled at our hotel, was Aud’s Cafe for lunch. Their avocado smoothies are fantastic, but what really hit the spot was their “Tau Ew Bac” which is soy sauce-braised pork belly served with tofu and egg. My mouth is watering as I write this almost 3 weeks later.

After lunch it was over to Ha Chin Pet Soo museum. There are lots of murals along the way.

The museum is located in a former Hakka (Chinese) miner’s clubhouse, and is dedicated to the area’s tin mining history. The club was founded by two wealthy tin miners, Yao Tet Shin and Leong Fee in 1893.

The club had plenty going on. Concubines, gambling, drinking, all sorts of activities. Here is a pillow that was popular at the time. Why?

Because you can keep your money in it , and, if you pass out from the opium, nobody can steal it without waking you up.

More uses for tin. The old signs, including one for Standard oil – now Exxon – were interesting to see.

After the museum, a drink and snacks at the Miner’s Arms made sense.

Then dinner at what they claim to be the oldest operating restaurant in Malaysia – Durbar at FMS (Federated Malaya States).

We were lucky that the restaurant was around the corner from our hotel. This is what we saw after stepping outside:

The next day started like most, with a search for good coffee.

We had arranged a food tour for our next stop, Kuala Lumpur. The guide, having heard we were going to be in Ipoh, recommended this place. We were pretty sure it was because of the historic building – Old Town White Coffee is just a franchise.

Instead we found this place, called Cool Blue, hidden away on the upper floor of a nearby historic building.

Then we did a self-guided tour of historical buildings and roads. Just follow the footprints.

You can only drink so much coffee in a day, so I think tea might become the next obsession.

At this point in the self-guided tour, the temperature was off the charts and we were getting very uncomfortable. With a couple hours before our train to KL, we decided to cool off in the hotel restaurant. The view was pretty spectacular, and the air conditioning brought us back to life.

Then it was a Grab for the 5 minute ride through the blazing heat to the train station. Off to KL!