Ipoh mali! From food hunting to nature walk amidst lush greenery and lounging around in our beautiful-comfortable resort, check out our little exploration in Ipoh.
Live spontaneously, that’s what everyone says! So hubs (Ikmal), our close friends (Liza and Zack) and I, did just that! The next thing we know, we were in Ipoh and having the best of time together there.
Day 1 – The grand arrival
Once we arrived Ipoh, our tummies were growling. Okay yes, I meant me! So we went straight to New Hollywood restaurant to try out the local‘s authentic food. A corner-lot restaurant situated around a housing area. It is basically famous for its variety of stalls available there. From light savories to the heavier ones, you will never run out of option.
How does it work? To order, you need to walk to the specific stall and pay there beforehand. Drinks can be ordered from the table otherwise. We tasted their signature white coffee, dim sum, chee cheong fun, chicken rice, and laksa. Our verdicts? Not disappointing at all! Everything was so good! I will definitely come back for that chee cheong fun and laksa. So simple and flavourful! You will love it too! Unfortunately, there is no picture taken of the laksa as I didn’t stop for anything else after my first taste. If you are into spicy food, you might want to ask the hawker to level up the spiciness for the laksa.
Then it was time to check-in. Ikmal and Liza managed to book our 3 days 2 nights stay at The Haven Resort Hotel in Ipoh regardless of our last-minute plan. Lucky for us, the hotel was so kind to secure us a suite with one of the best views in honoring my birthday and my 1st year anniversary with Ikmal. Our suite features 3 rooms, 1 kitchen, a dining table, a television in each room, and a big balcony overlooking lush greenery and limestones. Picture perfect, indeed!
For dinner, we drove around Ipoh city until we found a classic design chicken rice restaurant. We ordered fried tofu, lemon chicken, and beansprouts to complement our chicken rice sets. It was definitely worth it! Zack and I ordered ourselves another fried tofu to bring back to the hotel coz it was just too delicious. But guess what? It was left uneaten overnight because we forgot all about it after watching a horror movie. To be honest, by 10.00 pm, the town was already dead. Most shops were closed. That’s why we went back to the hotel earlier than we expected.
Also, another thing to highlight about Ipoh, is the town’s vintage architecture and interior design. Most of the shops looks so cool and old school so I just had to take an #ootn. Ikmal did it for me, by forced lol. Not so much of an #Instahub, this one.
But our night adventure in Ipoh doesn’t stop just there. If you must know, the lush greenery and limestones around The Haven Resort came to life with colorful lights at night. Of course, I just had to witness it myself. It felt surreal! As much as I was excited to go for a night walk, my suggestion was not supported by the rest of the crew. So all we did was snap a few pictures amidst the beautiful surrounding before heading back to our suite. What a bummer!
So here’s a suggestion though. If you choose to stay here one day, make sure that the ones you are going with are quite adventurous too. Coz it would be a waste of time to not be exploring the whole area. You will regret it as I do now.
Day 2 – Great view, 90’s flashback, and everything nice!
We loved waking up to the stunning landscape during our stay. Just what we needed from the hustle and bustle of Selangor city life. And no filter needed for all our postings lol! The best part was that we get to experience nature walk every morning to get to the coffee house for breakfast. Imagine that!
After our big breakfast, we chilled for a bit in our suite then went to Ipoh town to get our nasi ganja craving fixed. Honestly, we were quite disappointed with the situation. We wanted to eat at the famous Nasi Ganja Kedai Kopi Yong Suan but it was too packed, so we were told to takeaway instead. As we exited, one of the waiters directed us to another restaurant nearby where we can actually eat our takeaway there. By the time we settled down to eat, I lost my appetite already.
To cheer up ourselves, Zack drove us to a cheap candy shop in the town as recommended by Liza’s mum. What makes it so special? From Haw Flakes to Kino Toras and Apollo Chocolate Wafers, the shop only sells local junk food since ancient ago. As a 90’s kid, this shop visit was like a flashback to my childhood.
To continue our little adventure, we went to the street art of Ipoh. I wanted to take some cool shots in the alley. Lovely artwork that captures the essence of Ipoh’s culture. Unfortunately, the weather was scorching hot so we didn’t manage to discover all of the streets.
By 6.30 pm, we were already back in our hotel and on to the Netflix marathon again. It was just too comfortable being there. We even ordered Grabfood for dinner.
I can honestly say that we loved every bit of our suite and the resort. Suitable for family, friends, and couples, you should really consider to check-in here too.
Day 3 – Tau fu fa drive-through and the final goodbye
Not ready to say goodbye, Zack took us to a tau fu fa drive-through corner in Ipoh town. Sounds interesting, isn’t it? The place is called Funny Mountain. We ordered 2 Tau fu fa with brown sugar syrup and white sugar syrup for the other 2. The soya was so soft! And as we mixed it together with the syrups, the taste was just incredible! Should you go there too? YES YES YES!
One of the best trips ever for me! Sometimes, not everything needs to be planned out ahead. A little adventure from time to time is kind of exciting.
For more recommendations of where to stay in Ipoh, check out our list of hip & chic hotels’ designs to your liking!
