Ipoh 2023 - Ipoh Han Chin Pet Soo Hakka Museum

 

The first museum we visited was a Hakka Museum, because my husband's dialect is Hakka. I thought it would be good for him to learn a bit about his dialect group, seeing how he can't even speak his own language, lol. This was a guided tour or the museum. It is free, but they encourage a small donation, and you have to reserved in advance to visit the place. So I did lah.

The tour started with everyone gathering at a Tok Panjang table, or at least that's what the Peranakan calls it. I forgot what it was called here. But I love the tiled floor and the wooden furniture. The table top was of grey marble. And the mirror hanging there, those are infinity mirrors. We have the same concept in a Peranakan house too.

The hakka came to Ipoh mainly as merchants and miners. So it was interesting to learn about the mining community from the guided tour. Before this tour, I've always thought that Ipoh was mainly a Cantonese town since everyone here seems to speak Cantonese. How wrong I was.

After a brief introduction, we were brought into the building itself. Every room, every hallway, a reflection of the past. Love the cowboy style door swing there. You can still find these in some restaurants or old hotels in Penang. They used to be more common. 

The tour guide talked about miners, and also opium smoker from the old days. 

An old retro walk way. I think the building was 3 storey tall, with very old staircase.

On the upper floor it show case old day's social activities, like gambling house. Chinese loves gambling. You usually see a lot of Mahjong in old Hong Kong movies. Interestingly you don't see that much of gambling in China.....  

Domino was also part of the game table. I always thought this game was so classy. I love the sound they make. I love the sound of Mahjong tiles too. Now that my usual Mahjong Kaki in Penang is no more (one passed away, the other is now bed ridden in an old folk's home), I wonder if I'll ever play Mahjong again.

The display of the game room was pretty nice, actually. Pretty realistic. You could almost feel the vibe of the place.

Second floor was also where you would see the semi round shaped partition of the building which it was very notable for in the front from the road side view. I guess this was advance architecture during those days. 

Here is a closed up look. Love the tiles. Love the windows letting in all the light. 

Hostess service was also very popular among the taukey in the old days. They can be Chinese, or even Japanese. 

Old living quarters. I guess you could always find a place to stay in a dialect association building, since in theory you were of the same clan and supposed to help each other out? I think that's nice, but I doubt that still exist today? I heard that if you ever need a place to stay, you can always go to a mosque to seek shelter. I wonder how true is that. Is it true for temples and churches too?

Frankly I think this room is too big for a common visitor. Maybe it's more for a wealthy guest?

The tour lasted around one hour, and soon we were back at the long table. Here there are more information about the Hakka's on the board around the wall.

And this was my favourite wall information, Hakka food! I do love some of the dishes, mainly the meat dishes. Recently I've also learned to love Lei Char, or Thunder Tea Rice. Luckily for me, there are more Hakkas in Singapore and Johor than in Penang, so I can still get good Hakka food at my home in Singapore :) 

A selfie with the floor tiles. 

Ipoh 2023 - Ipoh Morning Walk

 

Breakfast in Ipoh is always fun. On this day, I went in search of beef noodles. I found an old shop, but I didn't quite know how to order it. I just knew I wanted mixed beef soup. I remember it tasted so good and hearty. Paired it with Ipoh Coffee, and it hits all the spot. I'm gonna go search for this soup again for my breakfast. 

After a heavy breakfast, we took a slow walk around Ipoh Old Town. It was going to be museum day for us on this day, but we were still too early before the museum open. Above is Arlene Building. I am not sure what it was used for, or what it was used now, but it was one of the better maintained building in Ipoh. 

We also walked back to the Ipoh Train Station and took this lovely photo of the blue skies and low mountains behind it. Pretty nice. And it's nice that all around the station there aren't any other buildings nearby. It's like it just stood alone there, on it's own timezone or something. 

We also walked by Birch Clock Tower. I think it looked really nice and grand. It also overlooked a giant mosque nearby. There is also a Malay foodcourt nearby. I don't know why, but I've never ate at the food court even though it's very convenient, and the walk up there is quite exhausting.

A nice shot of the clock tower. The art and figurines surrounding it is actually very European. 

Walking back to town, there are government buildings around, and I spotted this nice graffiti outside one of those buildings too. On weekend, there are actually craft markets held around this area. 

The whole place was pretty arty-faty, but more of the higher budget type. Probably these were government sponsored display.

Even a simple red postbox with greens surrounding it seems a work of beauty to me :P

Lovely old style blinds along the road side of bright orange shop houses. 

Old rustic looking road side cafe. I think this cafe is opposite Book Xcess.

And soon we arrived near the first museums that I wanted to visit. But since it was still early, we wander around the area and saw this mural. 

Everything Malaysian about it, the Wau Bulan kite, the old Chinese uncle with white singlet and pajamas shorts sitting on a rattan chair, pomelo as Ipoh is famous for their pomelo, lanterns with even one of Merlion to applease the big spender tourist from the far south.

And here is the front of the two museum I wanted to visit. One was the Hakka Association, and the other was Hor Yan Ho Herbal Tea Museum. 

Ipoh 2023 - Ipoh Dinner at Durbar

Visiting the caves only took about half a day, and then we took a taxi ride backed to the old town. I can't remember if we went to the mall after that, but due to the rain, I think we also took a break at our hotel in the afternoon before venturing out in the evening for dinner. I wanted to try an old high end restaurant called Durbar at Old Town. It was more of a historical place to dine in than the food, although it helped that they served Hainanese Chicken Chop. It was just a short walk from our hotel, I think opposite the big Ipoh Padang. Above is the corridor walkway outside the restaurant/bar.

The main door of the place. It looked like a typical restaurant in old town Penang. 

Upon entering, it looked like E&O Penang Hotel but with less budget, lol. What I meant to say is, it's decor was of the same era. We were early for dinner, as we always do. I tend to eat dinner at 5pm if I can help it. I hate crowds, and it aids with digestion. I'm a natural intermittent faster even before that concept became popular. 

I love the tiles, the marble tables, the stained glasses, the old lamp design etc. I love it very much.

The restaurant was quite large, but empty on this rainy afternoon. 

Here is what I ordered, a Teh Tarik, and a Hainanese Chicken Chop. The food wasn't anything to shout about, and the price was more on the high side, but still affordable. More like a casual lunch out at Swenson in Singapore price range. But I guess it was the experience that I was looking for, and I don't have any regret at all dining here :) Just like I have no regret every having a staycation at E&O Hotel Penang. That remained one of the best staycation of my life. 

Ipoh 2023 - Ipoh Cave Temples Ling Sen Tong (Part 2)

As usual, after darkness, we wander into the light, the grounds of Ling Sen Tong temple. It was still a lovely morning with such blue skies, and us surrounded by limestone greens.

One notable thing about this temple was, there were so many different types of dragons all around. Even before walking in, we saw this gigantic gold dragon just hanging there at the top looking so majestic. 

Around the temple corridor, there were some pound area, and dragon head water holes on the wall. Are these dragon well? Long Jing? Hahahaha. Ouch, my mosquito bite hurts. 

At the entrance, two red pillar with two dragons crawling up them. Above is just one of the dragons. They have red eyes too, but not as spooky as the one from the previous temple. These ones actually looked good. 

Dragon Head, frighteningly littered around the new corner temple. I know they are still under construction, but must they let these heavenly creature's head just lying around like some market meat. 

I saw some cute water dragons inside the pond as well, with some Chinese poetry written on top of it. Something about Dragons being king of the water, and something about visitor's fortune arriving from the dragon's mouth? Feel free to correct me if my Chinese translation is crap, lol.

Different smaller temples at the side of the main cave area.

 

Saw a Wukong monkey god standing with a red flag up on the limestone. I thought it was pretty cool they put him there, a monkey god among all the monkeys that were actually living there. And so I leave you here with Wukong looking out for you. Come visit them if you're ever in Ipoh ya!

Ipoh 2023 - Ipoh Cave Temples Ling Sen Tong (Part 1)

 

Last cave temple along the same road is called Ling Sen Tong, which translate too Efficient Spirit Cave? Just my humble guess. Above is the entrance to the temple ground. The wordings on the yellow flag says: As prosperous as the East Sea", lol. 

Upon going into the ground, we were met by these 4 characters from Journey to the West. Life size too! Compared to the other two temple, this one looked even more chaotic with a lot going on!

Further down was a separate hall outside of the cave area. We weren't sure what this hall was, so we went in to take a look.

There was just a hundred hands Goddess of Mercy inside. Everything inside looked pretty modern and clean too. Very new.

Going back outside, I really like the ring incense that they have at the temple here. I read once that even the giant dragon incense that Penang temple uses for prayers and event are made to order from artisans in Ipoh as they are no more artisans in Penang. I didn't know that those incense were such a big deal until some of my American friends requested to specifically see them in Penang. 

Moving on into the cave temple, this one was the smallest among the three. It was basically just a big hall area, not even considered inside a cave. It was just a wide cave opening, but without really going anywhere deep within the cave. And all around the area where just Gods and Icons, and lots of people offering up prayers to them. 

This God above seems to be the main deity here. Perhaps it was also the oldest since the whole figurine is almost black from incense smoke. Or maybe this was the efficient spirit that many have come to pray to?

Just slightly at the entrance area, I saw a familiar sight, a JiKong monk figurine. He is one of my favourite character in Chinese culture :P  I used to read stories about him, in Chinese too!

Taking some selfie along our visit. Husband with his name :P

Me with  my friends from Journey To The West!