Backdated post: Ipoh trip
Photos will be up later!
Hubby and I will usually make a trip down to Ipoh every two months for a weekend away. Thought I’d blog about it this time…=) Well, this weekend, we had lots of stuff to move back to his Ipoh house so we ended up driving my Jazz instead of his S40 coz my car has lots and lots of space in the boot (after pushing down the passenger seats)!
After hubby huffed and puffed to move…urmm….one tv, two speakers, a whole entertainment unit…down to the car, we packed, had a quick lunch and took off. We took about 1 1/2 hours to reach Ipoh…traffic was nice and smooth. Earlier in the morning, hubby recorded over 100+ Chinese songs into a CD for me (and printed a lovely cover using our new printer for me!!), so that kept us entertained along the way. Upon reaching, we went straight to Ipoh Swimming Club where we met up with hubby’s friends for a game of badminton (just him, not me!). While they were playing, I kept myself entertained by taking lots of photos of them in action…sigh…they are getting slower and slower each time they play…old farts…=))
After badminton, we rushed back to his house for a quick shower before heading out again for dinner at Woon Kee Restaurant @ Chemor. The drive to Chemor was a long one for Ipoh standards, and the roads were badly lit. Luckily KK was leading the way…we would’ve probably gotten lost if we went by ourselves! By the time we arrived, I was absolutely starving. The restaurant was actually not really a restaurant per se, ie. in a proper building. It was open air, and covered by a zinc (I’m guessing!) roof. Luckily, KK booked the ‘aircon-room’…which was actually a small partitioned area with (thank god!) aircon, and two tables. One of the table was completely filled by a group of aunties and uncles celebrating someone’s birthday, while the other table was reserved for our party. KK had already ordered beforehand, and once I & J arrived, he asked the waiter to start serving the dishes…*rubs hands with glee*. First up was a fish soup thingy…the soup had lots and lots of pepper so I couldn’t drink much (yes…in addition to chilli, I can’t take pepper either!), but the fish meat was deliciously tender. The serving was huge…the claypot the soup was served in looked practically bottomless, and I had serious doubts that we could finish it….but I didn’t count on KK being the soup-king!
As for the remaining dishes, we had claypot mushroom and sea cucumber…
…and kung-pow lai-lui-har…
…and sweet and sour pork…
…and fried vege…
…and yummy-yummy fried siew yoke (BBQ…or is it roasted?!?…pork)…
…and ice-cold chinese tea to wash it all down.
The portions were huge…heck, it looked like we ordered a eight-person portion for six!! All the dishes were really tasty, and I loved the fried siew yoke the most. Sometimes, good ol’ fashion tai-chow food just tastes so much better (and more wholesome) that those super-expensive Chinese restaurants! Burp! Best part was how absolutely cheap it was…$$$$….=)))
After dinner, we headed to Ipoh Garden East (West? Until now, I still can’t remember!) for drinks and card games (chor tai ti). Can’t remember the name of the cafe we went to though…there were so many different ones along the row of shops. Anyways, I was just blindly following the crowd…=) I haven’t played chor tai ti for ages…luckily I still remembered the basics and picked it up from there! Hey hey…I won two rounds…don’t play play. After we finished our drinks and everyone have had the chance to lose and shuffle the cards, we took a short walk in the light drizzle to Y2K. I have no idea how KK managed to get us in without any cover charges (and to the upstairs VIP room to boot!)…but won’t question a good thing. I was feeling a little queasy in the tummy when we reached there, so I just sat on the couch watching hubby, KK and J play drinking games. I joined in much later…unfortunately, the game they were playing was in Cantonese…and as I’m half a banana *blush*, I kept on losing cause I had to mentally translate Cantonese to English and vice versa…=) Poor hubby had to drink on my behalf (he was on a winning streak before I took over…hahah…)…luckily they were just drinking watered down Johnny Walker with coke!
We left about 2am and made our way back to the car. By then, KK was looking really sleepy and a teeny weeny bit drunk…hehe…=) And whaddaya know…as soon as he got into the car and hubby started driving, he rolled down the windows and puked…! Twice! By the time we made it back to his house, he was half asleep and his wife and hubby had to drag him into the house…=)
Next morning…surprise surprise…we actually managed to drag ourselves out of bed for a dim-sum breakfast (however, our plans to go take some photos at the limestone caves went up in smoke…hehe…). After brekkie, hubby took some time to clear up his room before we left for club again for another badminton session. While they were sweating it out in the badminton court, I played with my iBook and waited patiently for hubby to finish so that I could have my banana split! I totally love the banana split at club…there’s nothing special about it…just plain ol’ vanilla, strawberry and chocolate with a drizzle of chocolate sauce, some mixed cocktail fruits, banana and whipped cream…but it just tastes so darn nice! We lingered around for awhile before finally going back to the house for a quick bath before heading back to KL.
We left Ipoh at about 5.00pm…with yours truly driving! Yes…first time unleashed on the North-South highway…whee!! If anyone saw a silver Jazz doing urmm….ok, nevermind. Not going to reveal how fast…oops…slow I was going…=)) I think hubby probably thought that he made the wrong decision to let me drive…haha…cause halfway, he asked me to pull into the rest area and chased me out of the driver’s seat….=P We reached KL about 7.00pm (see…I wasn’t driving THAT fast…) and went straight for dinner at Nam Heong @ Sri Hartamas.
And so…that’s our typical weekend trip to Ipoh. Of course, sometimes we go for a movie instead of drinks, sometimes I don’t get to eat my banana split…=(….sometimes we have really really good sar-hor-fun and rojak for lunch. Uneventful? Maybe. But definitely relaxing, with plenty of good good food…!
Comment by joanne on 1 November 2005 @ 9:42 am
hv u tried any of these???
1. taman boon bak’s chee cheong fun from 3pm onwards.
2. or try jln kampar’s one, the restaurant which is a few doors away from the proton showroom for breakfast.
3. must try the yong tau foo at pou lei fried chicken @ pasir pinji.
4. chu chap chook (ok, ok - it’s fried pork’s intestine and stuff in porridge) at tai she kiok at pasir pinji (they hv yong tau foo too!)
5. bbq chicken wings (ming court on your right, yoke fook moon on your left, go down the road,at the junction, take a right turn, keep left immediately, turn left at the first left turn, go down the road, left turn again at the junction, keep left, the corner restaurant at the end of the corner that u made the left turn). go at night.
6. kon chin kai fan (single plate) or u can order the kon chin kai and other tai chow food with rice to go. again… yoke fook moon on left, ming court on the right. go down the road. the restaurant is just across the junction… on the left. u can see A LOT OF PPL in it, the name something … kei. (x remember, hv to ask my husband too).
yeah.. yeah.. i too go crazy when i go back for my feeding frenzy at my husband’s hometown…
Comment by audiTT on 1 November 2005 @ 5:51 pm
thanks man! u make me drool……!!!
:P~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
when i am “home”, i shall tag along and stuff my tummy(dont look down on it man, it can expand ten fold!). after all we are talking about “peng, leng,cheng”(cheap,good,tasty) food here!
:P~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Comment by geekchic on 7 November 2005 @ 10:36 pm
You visited the little tin mine town of mine called home! Strange, you hopped to Ipoh and I hopped to KL-from Penang. Yeah, the banana split in ISC is FANTABULOUS. But, wait till you try the ais kacang. It’s still the best in Ipoh. (ask for double ice cream if you can) I tarpau-ed 6 packs once for a friend before. I stay VERY near ISC (like 10 mins of really neck-breaking speed cycling down the road when I was still in school) and I used to just cycle over for makan and games with friends on evenings. I grew up there and I absolutely love the place. I picked up swimming, tennis, badminton, being a glutton, love for reading all under that same roof. They’ve renovated the gym too, looks very much better. And, I always still try to park at my favourite spot. And, the librarian always reserves the good books for me (ahem). I grew up there!:)
Also, if you went to Y2K (dodgy, dingy place, I seriously think), it would’ve been Iph Gdn East. There’s no West. Only East and South
Glad you enjoyed Ipoh. If I can choose a place to work and stay in M’sia, it would’ve been in Ipoh and nowhere else.
Btw, joanne, the curry mee on jalan kampar is NOT the best
that curry mee is near my school though and I used to walk over for lunch after school sometimes. I find that the meat they serve is bit too FATTY. There’s one in greentown called Keng Lam which is even better. But the drinks there suck big time. Just forget it.
And, the best chu chap chook is not at tai shue kiok. It’s on Jln Pasir Putih, next to that stupid temple which I can’t remember the name. It only opens at night and don’t order drinks there too. The ice smells of cockroach. UGH.
Comment by sooyin on 7 November 2005 @ 11:59 pm
joanne: urrrmmm…haha…even if i have tried it, i don’t think i can remember cause i never pay attention to where my hubby brings me…=)) but i must ask him whether he has deprived me of all this good food…=))
audiTT: haha…miss m’sian food, leh? nvm…2 weeks of holiday to come back anytime, right?? then we go makan!
geekchic: oopss…after so many years, i still get the name of the places mixed up. ok…ipoh garden east…*hammers into head*…=)) gosh…your life sounds like my hubby’s when he was growing up there too! he stays pretty near to ISC as well…less than 5 minutes by car! and yes…he used to spend his time there too…also with swimming, tennis, badminton…honestly, i won’t be surprised if you guys know each other…=) will definitely keep in mind the ais kacang the next time i go back…!