Ipoh 2023 - Ipoh Shops and Tea Time

After a short 2 hours or so ride, we arrived at Ipoh with gloomy clouds. Same as Penang, Ipoh has beautiful colonial buildings that are in need of some maintenance. I hope things look better when I visit it in one week's time, so that when I blog about it again, I have more positive report to document!

 

This is the first time my husband is visiting Ipoh! (not counting the time the bus we took from Singapore to Penang where the engine overheated and we ended up in front of the Ipoh Police Station somewhere.....). So we took the heritage trail route and walked ourselves to our hotel. We were staying at Cititel Express Ipoh. We also booked the same hotel for our 2025 trip since it is in a convenient location. Basically I hate paying for taxi rides no matter where I am. For this trip of 4 days 3 night, I planned for us to spend 1 day cave temple exploring, and 1 day museum exploring. 

The rain did pour down in the afternoon, which made the often crowded alley of Concubine Lane almost empty. Rainy day sights were also quite calming and pretty, although pretty wet. Luckily the rain did not last long. 

I took my husband to wander around the old town. It isn't hard to explore everything on foot. I love looking at the old shops and houses. It's colours are always so contrasting. Old town Ipoh area is also pretty Chinese, although Little India is also around the area.

There are just so much Chinese wordings on the shops and houses. Everything looked so retro it's almost charming.

For some reason, I've never walked inside the Ipoh Park or Kinta River area before. They always looked so worn out, empty, or with some weird people inside. Perhaps I can try venturing into them on my upcoming trip since I will be having two men with me? 

Since we had a lot of time, we went in to some of the shops to take a look around. 

I also love these retro but new blinds you can find in Ipoh. These are becoming quite rare in Penang  now. You can see old dusty ones in Taiping, but here in Ipoh, they all looked so new and pretty. Every one is unique, and retro. Love them. 

There were a lot of traditional shops around along some of the deserted streets on this rainy afternoon. Since there weren't much to do, we went in to explore. Above is a dry good store that sells dry seafood and chinese cooking stuff. They looked pretty alien to me too! But my husband was pretty at home with the ingredients here. He bought some preserved vegetables that is used in some Hakka dishes.

They also sold a lot of pork products, as do most chinese shops......

A lot of fermented stuff too, mainly fermented soya beans and bean curd. I don't really like these, but I do like Japanase and Korean version of the same things (miso and gochuchang, samyang etc). I felt pretty much like a traitor here cause I didn't know how to cook with these chinese version of seasoning, but felt pretty at home with the Japanese and Korean version.

I don't know what are these. I took a photo of it cause they looked so gross! Hahaha. Fish? Lizard? Bats?

With nothing much to do on our first day, we went to have our tea at Nam Heong Kopitiam. The classic thing to order here is egg tart and white coffee. I'm pretty sure there are other things on the menu as well, but these two were my go-to tea time snack here. Basically, just order white coffee anywhere in Ipoh and it will probably been good.

I mean, look at that! Just by looking at the photo makes me drool. I can't wait to go back! 

Ipoh 2023 - Penang to Ipoh via Ferry and Train Ride

 

Ah, beautiful Penang. Will be going back soon, and will be making a short trip to Ipoh again with my friend and hubby, to meet another family of my hubby's friends there. When my friend asked me what is there to do and eat in Ipoh, I wanted to share with him my previous trip to Ipoh 2 years back, but when I checked this blog, I realised I haven't wrote about it yet! So here I am, scrambling to write everything up before I leave for Penang tomorrow. Yes, I could have started a few days ago, but it has not been a great week for me so far..... I've been addicted to my phone, games, and British talkshow...... But I am writing now! I need to complete 18 post before I leave! Hahahahahaha. The madness.....

So 2 years back, for our anniversary, I decided to bring my husband on a trip to Ipoh to show him around. I also wanted to explore more of that sleepy old town. We decided to spend 4 days and 3 nights there, and booked our trip to Ipoh via train. So on that faithful morning, as usual, it was a slow bus ride down to Georgetown area. We stopped around one stop from the jetty, so that we could admire the old heritage buildings in town while walking to the jetty itself.

The facade of the old colonial buildings were majestic, but seriously in need of some maintenance. But it was a beautiful day as we made our way to the ferry jetty.

Look at that sky and water! Plus the lovely colourful ferry. A great day for travel! The ferry ride from Penang Island to Butterworth cost 2rm per person per trip, and you could just buy the ticket online on the day itself. It's just a 15minutes ride, but do cater to some wait time for the ferry, especially if you are travelling on non-peak period.

It was a clear day, so we could see some lovely sight on our ride. Above the view of Penang as a boat sail by. The tall buildings in front of the hills as the background always made Penang looked so much bigger than it truly is.

We could also see Penang Bridge in the distance. This is the first bridge. The second bridge is further south and can't be seen from the ferry. But if you take a flight in or out of Penang, you could usually see one or both bridge on a clear day, or night.

The contrast between Penang Island and Penang Mainland is pretty stark, even when you compare it to the ferry, jetty and sights. When you see this blue ferry parked near the mainland jetty, you know you've reached the mainland. (It might not be there anymore when this post published as these photos were taken 2 years back).

Walking from the Jetty to the Train Station took around 10 to 15minutes. Everything is connected now, and sheltered. We saw some cute poster along the way. There is also Penang Sentral where you could stop by for a bite or some shopping. That's where you'll find the bus terminal as well. I read that an upgrade has been scheduled for the bus terminal as well as train station. Penang Train Station is quite a sorry sight as compared to KL or JB Train Station. So I'm looking forward to the upgrade, especially once they finally connect Penang with Singapore via the ETS trains. 

For this 2023 trip, I decided to try the Komuter Utara train to Ipoh. It cost 60% cheaper than an ETS train, and you have to book the ticket only on the day itself. Meaning no advance booking, and no assigned seats. But there are more frequent trains, and if you travel during non-peak period, there are always seats. But during period, you may be stuck with standing for 2 hours.....Or wait for a few trains before you could actually get into one!

So basically, it's like an MRT metro service.  There are no cafe or toilet on the train. It's basically a long distance public transport train.

And the seats also reflect it. For our trip in 2025, we have booked the ETS train both ways to ensure we got seats and travel in comfort, cause end of November is holiday season, and we didn't want to take any chances since we will be meeting up with friends in Ipoh itself.

Beijing 2024 - 3D Paint Kit from Beijing

 

This post is about how the paint kit turned out! I was excited to try it. It's a 3D painting, and I wanted to see how good it was. So here goes!

It was pretty cool that they guide you in how to paint the painting. It's all in chinese, and I think there is even a video clip to show you how to paint it. But sometimes, as like those paint-by-number kit, you don't really have to follow the instructions fully. Just let your creative juice flow!

What the kit looked like with all the content inside. It's a pretty small painting.

I like the saying on this. Creating things does make me feel happy! If I don't create things for a long time, I get pretty agitated. Create includes blogging, cooking, art and craft, or just producing something. I don't know how to explain it, but when you keep on consuming things, you feel like your life is pretty useless. At least that is how I felt. I needed to produce things to feel alive. I also need to pick up on new music from time to time to feel like I am still alive and relevant. I hate not liking any new songs, it makes me feel somehow like I'm left behind, old, and jaded. So yes, I do still listen to new songs. Even without radio, it is amazing how I discover different genre of music from instagram or YouTube. I think people should always stay relevant, whether in technology, news, and the arts. 

Painting half way. I did enjoyed it a lot.

The end product. I actually felt that I did a very good job, especially with the shading and shadows. 

My own art corner at home. How pretty! 

Lighting up my life daily :) There is always sunshine in my home in Penang :)  Above is the desk in my bedroom. In 2025, I also got an even smaller paint kit, also of Van Gogh. This time, it's the painting Starry Starry Night. I look forward to painting it as I will be back for 3 weeks soon. 

This is the end of my Beijing trip post. I may take a break from blogging for a while. The number of trips I'm making are now overshadowing my blog load! So much back log to clear! I don't even know what I should blog next! I have my 2024 Japan trip, and for 2025 the list of trips to blog includes: Scotland, Central Danang, Shanghai/Suzhou/Hangzhou, and by the time this post in published, the Balkans! Oh my goodness! At this rate, I can never hope to catch up! But I guess that is a good problem :)  

Beijing 2024 - Souvenirs and Snacks from Beijing

 

This post is all about the cool stuff I got from my trip to Beijing. Whenever I travel, I usually like to get perishable stuff so that they don't clutter my house. But seriously, they still do sometimes. Above is the white tea I got from a tea merchant in Shanghai. The tea came in a tin and cost around 10sgd. Inside are 10 packets of sealed white tea leaves. I like how it's sold this way. The tea was pretty nice. And the small green book you see there, it's a book of Tea! I got it from a bookstore, and it's pretty cheap, maybe just 2sgd book? But it looked so cool, and it does contain content about tea culture and appreciation. 

Proof of purchase and origin of the white tea.

I also got a box of cool cakes from Niu Jie supermarket. So I guess that makes the cakes Halal.

I knew these were going to be sweet and bean paste taste, but I still got them anyway cause look at them! Aren't they pretty? They weren't too expensive either for a whole box. I figure worst case I could have them for breakfast or tea time snacks daily. They look so pretty!

I also got these snow crisp snacks and red date snacks. I bought a big bag, so I'm not distributing them to smaller portion to share with my relatives and friend as token from my trip. 

And this is how I enjoy these snacks. I love these so much I bought another 3 packets on my recently trip to China. This coming Christmas, I will also attempt to try making these on my own. I mean, if I love them so much and spent to much money on them, might as well try making them on my own and see how it goes. Will update here if successful! 

Mooncakes from Shanghai. It was easy to eat these for breakfast or tea, or even supper. As long as you eat only one per time, it was pretty manageable. The tea also helps washed down the sweetness of the taste. 

I think these are mixed nuts mooncake with preserved ham. They were pretty cheap at the supermarket in Shanghai. 

What they looked like inside. 

Lol, I ate so much mooncake, of different shapes and sizes!

Practically can last a month!

I guess this is how I extend the feeling of my trip. It's always nice to eat something from the country you've visited. It lets you go back to that time and place, and for your to remember the wonderful time you had there :) It's a sensory experience as well. And since it's food, you can't say it's a waste of money cause it act as a meal in your daily life at home too :P

Yeah, just excuses to indulged :P

And lastly, my husband got me this paint kit I really wanted. I saw it in a KKV shop in Penang, but they didn't have the one I wanted with the gold frame. KKV is a China shop, so when we were there, we still couldn't find the shop, but we did manage to find it online. And the great thing about China is, you could buy anything online and have it deliver to you within the day, or rather, within 30mins sometimes! So my husband got me this as a present, along with the white tea which I wanted :)  Thank you hubby!

Beijing 2024 - Breakfast and Transit at Changi Sunflower Airport

 

Our flight back, transiting in Changi Airport before continuing on home to Penang, lol. After going so long without Nanyang style coffee, we decided to exit the gate and have a very local breakfast.

Ah, I miss nasi lemak and all it's spices! Along with our kaya toast and soft boiled eggs. A very satisfying Singapore breakfast! Although also very expensive! Lol.

We also finally had the time to go see all the Sunflower deco around the airport. We didn't have time on our way to China as our flight was delayed for almost an hour. So now, our task was to run around the airport to view all the sunflowers! We covered T1 to T3, but was too lazy to take a bus to T4, lol. 

I would say some of the deco was pretty impressive!

Since it was early morning, it was nice going around when the airport was quite empty. I love real sunflowers. Actually, I love real flowers more than fake ones. And sunflowers are special, cause I love Vincent Van Gogh. So it's extra special.

Wefie with a giant Sunflower!

Look how big those real ones are! The flower is as big as my face!

After the chaos of China, or any country really, it is always so relaxing to be back in Singapore where everything is clean, safe, and orderly. I say this even when I am coming back from Malaysia, especially JB. The moment I enter the immigration area, I knew I could let my guards down. 

Husband, fooling around at the airport.

Me with all the sunflowers behind me :)  It was a good trip!