Ipoh 2025 - Ipoh Old Town and Cititel Express Hotel Check In (Day 1)

 

A super gloomy looking Ipoh Train Station. Got to take a photo no matter how many times I come here. There is just something about the Ipoh vibe. I've been here many times, and there aren't that many places to go. Yet the food here is still so comforting that you keep coming back. 

Saw some new signs on our walk to our hotel. It's just a 10 minutes walk now that I am familiar with the town and knows all the short cuts :P  Yes Ipoh, I do miss you. I've been thinking about that lovely beef soup every since I had it last time. Hope to eat it again soon!

Was happy to see a few new mural art on our short walk. I don't think I've seen this one before. We walked directly across town via the Birch Tower. I think the tower is so pretty, but I think the food area next to it is kinda sad looking. I think they could have upgrade it to more open cafe concept or something. I know it's a government food court area, but being government doesn't have to mean shabby, right?

Another new mural I haven't seen before. I'm pretty sure this is a mimic of Absolute Vodka! And I've always wondered what does Ipoh-Mari actually mean? Is it just a saying to ask you to come visit Ipoh? Or some it have a second meaning to it? Cause it does sounds kinda flirty.....Just saying.... 

A pretty nice Grab mural! There seems to be one Grab mural in almost every town in Malaysia these days. I saw a nice one in Penang too, at Magazine Road area. If Grab is sponsoring local artist drawing local murals, I think that's just awesome. Grab is founded by a Malaysian, even though they are now based in Singapore.....

I also love these traditional shop blinds that can be found in Ipoh. I am especially happy that even new cafes are putting them up too. They are just so charming and unique. I hope the trend catches on. Supporting local craft men and artisan. 

We stayed at the Cititel Express Hotel again, mainly cause it's within walking distance to everything I want in Ipoh, and especially since it's just a road away from my beef soup. The last time we were here, there was some renovation going on, and this time, we were directed to the lobby at Level 16. Weird. But what a view! Above is the lobby area.

While waiting to check-in, we walked all around the floor, and what a wonderful view you'll get of the whole Padang Ipoh! This is at the restaurant side of the floor. It's usually empty, so just smile and say you just want to see the view. 

You can see the view of St. Michael Institution too. I love the architecture of this school. It's one of the heritage buildings in Ipoh.  You could also see the nearby rivers and limestone caves too, but during check-in, the blinds were down. 

I really love the lobby area. It's just so cosy and quiet. Great place to hang out. I was hoping the hotel room was also updated after the renovation, but sadly when we went to our room, it was the same boring setup. Nothing much has improved :(  We paid around 40sgd for a night stay. No breakfast included. 

Above was the view we got from our room. We got the river view. I've always wanted to go explore the Kinta River Walk, but it always looked so shabby that even on this trip I didn't manage to visit it. Even the guys with me were hesitant to walk down to the river to explore.... There is always some weird man nearby the river here and there, and I always wonder if it's safe to even walk along the river.....

The direct view from my room was this platform next to the Kinta River. Great! At least I could monitor if the river was going to burst it's bank and flood Ipoh! It never did. The water did rise after some long rainy days, but still held its distance.

After check-in and leaving our bags in our room, we walked to Nam Heong for tea. I think the White Coffee here is the best of all the coffee I had on my trip to Ipoh. I always will get an egg tart here as well. Very comforting to come here for tea the first thing after reading Ipoh. It's a nice welcome gesture. My friend ordered some siewmai too. They were closing soon, so most of the dimsum items were already sold out. 

After tea, it was time to walk around old town to show my friend around. It was his first time visiting Ipoh. So rain or shine, we had to do the touristy thing. Above is actually my husband walking by a rattan shop on our way to our hotel. I like rattan shops, and lovely tiles too!

I showed my friend some of the cool cafe in Ipoh, above was one of them. I've never entered this cafe before, but I always think the entrance is so cool looking, very Japanese! So I made him walk in to take a look.  It was drizzling a bit, and it really adds to the atmosphere. 

I like this photo above, of my friend holding an umbrella as he walks in through the rustic path. Maybe once day I can paint a painting of this. I think it makes a nice painting. 

We also went through all the mural streets and touristy alley, but since I have photos of those before, I only acted as a photographer for my friend. I saw this new Coffee Trails sign outside a few coffee shop. This was new to me. Was there a map of all the cool coffee places in Ipoh? Perhaps only local coffee would be nice. But then, how many cups of coffee can one drinks in a day? I think my limit is 2 normal sized coffee a day. If it's an espresso, well.... that's a different story! I love esperessos!

We also saw this awesome cafe called Chloe, and the dessert caught our attention. We will be back!

Ipoh 2025 - 3D2N Trip to Ipoh from Penang via ETS (Day 1)

 

Since we're on the Ipoh train wagon, I thought I'll just post up my latest 2025 trip to Ipoh as well and get it over with. So this is my 3rd trip to Ipoh since after Covid via train from Penang (I did went with my cousin and aunt via car once, but that's excluded). This trip was actually triggered by my husband who wanted to meet his friend in Ipoh, and since we're headed there, I've also invited one of my friend to join us. So on a cloudy morning, three of us slowly made our way to Butterworth via the Ferry to catch out ETS train to Ipoh. Above is almost a nostalgic photo of Penang island as since from Butterworth. 

The ferry ride view. It was rather gloomy weather since it was kinda raining season up north. My friend had spend a few days in Penang prior to our trip, and it was with awesome luck that we weren't caught up in any heavy rain. Let's hope our luck held up in Ipoh too. Malaysia has been hit my flooding all over due to the rare tropical storm.

At Butterworth, I was surprised to find that I had to go through the old route again to reach the train station. They have closed up the newly built link again for upgrading..... Sometimes, I wonder how they plan infrastructures in Malaysia..... I knew that there were plans to upgrade the train station and Penang Senrtral as a whole, but must they also blocked the newly built facilities as well?

At the KTM Train Station, I saw these super cute poster of Bichi Mao (What a name! Haha), and was wondering what was it about. But I didn't have much time, so I only managed to take some photos and google it when I got back. 

I found more cutout boards of BichiMao, and love the one especially on Butterworth. Super Cute. So apparently there is a Komuter Utara train campaign on where you can get a transport card and a stamp card. You have to visit around 6 north station and get a stamp at each station. After which you can redeem a plushie of BichiMao from KTM. I thought that was rather fun and cute! I would have love to take part of it if I knew about it earlier, or if I was permanently staying in Penang. What a nice way to travel around North Malaysia!

There was some confusion about the platform for our train, and above was what was causing the confusion. The E&O Express was parked at our platform. Luckily our train was just at the opposite side of it. I was trilled to see the E&O train up closed. Would be nicer if I was taking that train too! Sadly the price range is kinda at the ultimate high side, around almost 1k SGD a day on the train. It does include all meals and lodging, and some entertainment? But yeah, at that price, I'll skip it for now. 

But that doesn't stop me from taking a selfie with the train!

Prior to us boarding the train, my travelling companion has opted to have KFC for lunch at Penang Sentral. I did have a small sandwich as well, but I really really wanted to eat inside the train. It's just something that brings me a lot of joy, eating inside a moving train while I watch the world goes by :)

Another cool photo of Perai River bridge as we pull out of the Butterworth Station. Our carriage was just next to the cafe carriage, but they don't start selling food till after the train reaches Bukit Mertajam Station. But seriously, I could already smell the hot spiced rice they were heating up in the microwave.

On the dot, my husband went to the cafe carriage and got us two packet of rice. It cost around 11rm each, not exactly cheap for Malaysian standard, but it's just something I like to do while I can still afford it! (I've already stopped drinking matcha yuzu at Norms!). The food did not disappoint! The spiced rice smells sooooo lovely!

Portion is really small, and sadly there is no vegetables. I recall it used to come with acar (picked vegetables), but this time all I got was rice and chicken meat in sauce. Still, it was so nice. I think I generally like spiced rice.

Enjoying my window seat as we made our way to Ipoh. I love seeing paddy fields! And since it has been raining heavily, everything was kinda flooded. Still, I love the green landscape.

The northern train also go pass a nice lake called Tasik Bukit Merah, and the captain will announced it before going through it so that you can get ready to enjoy the view. It's one of those Ghibli scene train ride, and it looks like the train is travelling on water itself. I guess it would look nicer outside than inside :P

You can also see a lot of Teh Tarik coloured river along the way. Luckily no bank looks like they are going to burst. So moral of the story, don't always believe everything you read in the news. The real situation might not be as bad, or the places that you are actually going to aren't really how they say it would be. Or, we could just be lucky.

After around 2hours, we reached Ipoh! What a colourful view as we made our way out of the station. So glad it wasn't raining. We parted ways with my friend as we were both staying in different hotels. We will be meeting up for tea at a coffee shop later after we checked in to our hotels.

Here is a wefie of me and my husband inside the train. My friend was seated just in front of us, and the cafe is just behind us! I always try to book the same window seat whenever I'm taking the ETS. 

Ipoh 2023 - Ipoh Train Ride Back to Penang

All too soon our short holiday was over and it was time to go home. I think we managed to visit the weekend market before we left. And did our usual shopping at the New Town before making our way to the train station. Above Kumamon waiting for our train to pull in from Kuala Lumpur, and going back to Penang.

My husband, standing at platform 1 of the station waiting for our train. My bag is filled with biscuits, salt baked chicken, and white coffee. Those were my 3 must buy things whenever I visit Ipoh. 

 

We also bought a box of pastry to eat on our train ride home. Egg tarts of various flavour, and kaya puff which are also famous in Ipoh. Nothing to shout about, but they are a great snack on a train ride. I love eating on the train. 

Kumamon also wants a bite! How cute can he be!

You know you're arriving in Penang Mainland train station soon when you looked out and see something that looked like Penang Bridge. But don't worry, it's not. It's just the Sungai Perai's bridge. Once we reached our destination, it's another ferry ride back to the island, followed by a bus ride home. This time, maybe we can stop by to have some Bak Kut Teh before headed home.  See you soon Ipoh! 

Ipoh 2023 - Ipoh Nostalgic Shops and Tea Merchant

 

More exploration of Ipoh Old Town. I kept saying it's a small town, yet I can write so many post about it. What a contradiction. Here above is near Kong Heng area. I love old buildings like these, with trees overgrowing and becoming apart of the building.

Inside these buildings are actually modern cafes and shops, but outside they retained their old look. Kudos to that. It helps that there is an awesome kopitiam nearby that has one of the best Satay too.

With not much else to do, we just wander around shops, looking at the deco and things for same. Soaking in the old retro vibe. It's kinda nice. 

The old town played it's part as well and indulged it's visitors, milking them as much as possible. I think if I was a foreigner new to all these, I would be delighted. Fortunately I grew up in Penang, a town just as old, so everything just looked staged to me. I prefer authenticity, always. 

But that doesn't stops me from admiring the beautiful display. And how some olden tools and equipments have been updated in style and design to make it more appealing to the newer generations.  

I do love grand old house and it's decoration, but modern life just can't fit all those big pots in!

Old style cosmetic often reminded us of our grandmother, or that one aunty who is always applying these white powder before going out. Or those rose water like perfume....Nostalgic, that's what it was. They were selling you nostalgic feeling. You wanted to purchase a piece so that you too can go back into those simpler time. 

Old furniture that are hard to sit on. Interestingly both my homes don't have modern sofas. I only have wooden hard furnitures. Guess I am old soul :P 

I did managed to stumbled into a Tea Shop and was stuck there for a while trying to pull myself away from all the beautiful things inside of it. Drinking tea is a lifestyle, a state of mine, a statement, a meditation, everything! I drink tea almost daily. And I think I have a life time supply of tea at both my home!

Besides tea, I love the tools of making tea. I love tea cups and kettle, but could never make myself buy an expensive set. But drinking from a beautiful cup, or a simple one do elevate the experience. And every experience only last briefly, before the tea gets cold, before the tea gets too diluted, before you have to stand up and go to the toilet.....

I would love to have a shelves for my different tea cups. I currently collect English Tea Cups and have around 6 sets? For Chinese tea cup, I only have one special one made by my husband's cousin from Melbourne. The rest I just used a Daiso bought cup. 

I always wanted a Japanese iron tea pot, but could never make myself buy one. A good one cost around 100sgd, and some as cheap as 50sgd. But they can rust, so I have a fear of owning one since it will mean I have to maintain them..... Maybe when I am older and have too much time?

I would probably wander into this shop again when I next visit Ipoh if it is still there. It just feels so peaceful there, surrounded by all the things I love so much :)