After checking into the hostel and taking a break, I decided not to waste my time in the room even though the air con was very comforting and I had the room all to myself. Around 5pm, I decided to venture out to explore the old town and to hunt for some mural. I will do the mural post as a separate post as I realised there were just so many murals to be found in town! And those are only the 1st day's find! I will also do another one on my 2nd day's mural hunt too. Anyway, Ipoh being an old town, as a lot of small alleys everywhere that has not been decorated and hyped up to look very instagram-able as you can see from the first photo above.
Some of the famous alleys are the concubine lanes. As Ipoh is a town full of very rich chinese tin mines owner, they tend to have many wives. And each lane belongs to a wife, or concubine. The rental from the shops and buildings were meant as allowance for the wives maintenance. Above is the 1st wife's lane. Being the first wife, it was a rather boring lane as everyone knows that it is the mistresses that gets all the attention.
Not surprisingly the most famous lane is the 2nd wife's lane, generally known as just Concubine Lane. It is getting more and more touristy, and always crowded on holidays and weekends. It would have been great if the old shops are preserved instead of being rented out as souvenir shopping outlets and food stall. So much history has now become commercialised with an empty shell. Still, tourist flock to it cause it's one of the must visit places in Ipoh.
The 2nd wife's alley is also rather quiet. But unlike the 1st wife, it is filled with murals, and also some small cafe and restaurant and small business and old residence. It is a nice lane for photo taking without the crowd.
Here again above is the shops from 2nd wife's lane. At certain angle, it looks like an old village town. But there are just too many modern stalls around. Ipoh is also filled with modern cafe, which although is nice to some, it's not very Ipoh authentic. I avoided them in all my visits, sticking more to traditional coffee shops and eateries.
Another unique thing you can find in old town is the hand painted blinds of shops. Above are just three of those I came across. I recall there is a few other nicer ones I came across in 2023. I will blog those when I reach 2023 posting :P I guess you can also find these in Georgetown Penang, but I just think the ones in Ipoh looks more colourful and pretty.
There are also old eateries around, and the temporary tables are placed on the road as the sun sets. It's so nostalgic. Again, you can find scenes like these in Penang, but in Ipoh, you get better Cantonese food!
Above are also some old metal sign boards that can be found around town. It is a rather charming town to hunt for relics from the past!
As said early, there are also modern eateries around town, and Plan b. is one of them at Khong Heng Square. Will have more photos of this artistic place in upcoming post. The place looks lovely, like a modern day cafe with open space concept. But I've never tried the food there. Places like these are quite overprice for a budget traveller like me, plus they either serve western food, or fusion food. Even if they serve local food, there aren't any history backing it up. I rather eat at a run down restaurant that has a 100 year old history!
Above is one of the famous salted baked chicken shop. It's located slightly further from Gerbang Malam cluster of shops, but the building looks like a fire brigade that it's hard to miss it! Never tried it before though. I think there is a similar shop in Macalister Road Penang too. But for some reason, I would never buy a salted baked chicken in Penang. It's just a thing one does only in Ipoh!
Walking further along, there is also a lots of shops that looks lovely at Tin Alley. This row is before you cross back a different bridge to the new town. I've never been inside any of the shops here even though they look very interesting. It is never clear to me what these shops are. Are they selling things? Are they art gallery? It's very confusing. I was hoping they were chinese tea houses, but they don't seem to look like it. It's quite a pity really. Cause it's on a good location, with beautiful deco, yet not many tourist enter the buildings here cause maybe there were also equally confused like me.
After having a brief look at the old town, I found another bridge that heads back to the new town. The architecture of the bridge looks cool, like some stone bridge from ancient european time. Again, there are steps going down to the Kinta River, and you can walk there. It's supposed to connect to Kinta River Walk. Lot's of fishing going on here as well by the locals.
There is a park opposite which I've walked past but never enter. I heard there is a Chang Jiang White Coffee cafe inside. But it always look rather deserted that I never actually ventured in. In Malaysia, you can never tell whether it is safe or not to go to desert places on your own. Just saying.....
On the way rounding back to the hostel, I saw this beautiful building of Ruby Cinema. The shape of it is so nostalgic! Sadly, it's now no longer functioning, and act as a shop. Gone are the says that Lat is so famous illustrating the town of Ipoh.
I've covered both the old town and the new town in half a day on my first day in Ipoh! All on foot too! Since it was still early, I decided to walk to Ipoh Parade to look for dinner. All the local eateries were packed, so I though I might have some luck at the mall without resorting to some fast food. Luckily there was a food court at the top floor, and many local chinese were buying from a herbal soup shop. I did the same, and bought my self a herbal prawn and fish soup, a dish I've never imagine existed before. To my surprise, it was super delicious! Very hearty soup full of herbs that I love! I'm glad I didn't settle for fast food! With my tummy full, I did some window shopping before taking a Grab back to the hostel. The ride only cost me around 6rm. Grab is rather affordable in Ipoh!
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