Day 1.
Sat on a coach from 10am to almost 6pm. Almost a full day gone. Got picked up by my dad's friend. Checked into Heritage Hotel. Realised that I've actually been to Ipoh before on a school trip; in fact, this was the same hotel that I stayed in on that trip, 4 or 5 years ago. Dumped stuff, went to a little street with roadside hawkers lining the road. Not much of a trip so far, yeah?
Then we ordered food.
Wow.
Smooth wantan mee, with enormous soft meaty wantans. Sourish penang laksa. Crunchy pig innards porridge. Golden fried beancurd. Chewy roasted pig's head. Cheap, delicious. Excellent. Perhaps a bit on the unhygienic side, but then again, a little dirt never hurt anyone. What an experience.
Then we went to the pasar malam. Bought T-shirts.
Then we went to get more food! This time we had beansprout chicken. Lean, juicy kampung chicken, served with fat crunchy beansprouts on the side. Delectable.
Back to the hotel for shower and sleep.
Day 2.
Dim sum for breakfast. Since a picture paints a thousand words...
Yummy.
Then we went up to the Cameron Highlands. Drove up and down.
Late lunch of prawn mee and stewed duck. The prawn mee was very interesting! It came in a big pot, and the soup was a light broth, like
hor fun, but less thick. Totally unlike the local type with dark soup. There were big prawns, too, but most of the flavour in the soup came from the cabbage and other veggies that made it very sweet. The noodles were the skinny yellow type - very smooth, and a joy to slurp down with the soup. Wow. The stewed duck was tender and juicy - a meaty side dish to complement the smooth, light noodles. Great stuff.
Then we went to a shopping center and (what else?) did some shopping. Got more cheap T-shirts.
Had a late dinner at a chinese restaurant. Claypot-braised seafood, steamed fish, butter prawns, ginger chicken, kangkong. Again, friggin good stuff. The seafood came in a thick, rich sauce that soaked up all the flavour of the assorted dried seafood - scallops, abalone, mussels, clams, along with mushrooms and yam. I forget what the fish was called - but it was some type of catfish. Thick white flesh with few bones, with none of the muddy taste that sometimes accompanies freshwater fish. Accompanied with a soya sauce just salty enough to lend flavour without overpowering the palate. Unfortunately, the buttery flavour didn't really penetrate the prawn shells, but the prawns were still thick and meaty, if a little bland. Mopping up the butter sauce with the shelled prawns fixed that, though. Diced chicken stewed in a thick ginger sauce that pleasantly shocked the palate. Kangkong stir-fried with chilli and salt water - fresh, yet with a subtle kick. Another marvelous meal.
Hotel, shower, sleep. You know the drill by now.
Day 3.
Left the hotel at 6am to, uhm, climb a hill. When we got there at about 6:30am, there were already several groups of people on the trail. The sun hadn't even risen. Talk about early risers. Climbed the hill, walking mostly but being forced to run uphill at intervals thanks to my crazy brother dragging me along. Reached the top. Took in the view.
The ethereal fog obscuring the horizon. Past, present, future, they all merge. What were we then? What are we now? What will we be? Does it matter?
Omnia mutantur,
nihil interit. A rare moment of introspection.
Climbed down. Visited the wet market.
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How to skin a live frog:1. Fish out a live frog from the basket.
2. Break its back by gripping its head and flicking your wrist backwards, using the heel of your palm as a pivot.
3. Using a pair of scissors, smack the frog on the forehead.
4. Snip off its feet.
5. Scissor off its head at the throat with a V-shaped cut.
6. Using a pair of pliers, grip the flap of skin at the throat and pull downwards towards the rear feet of the frog. The skin should come off in a single piece, much like removing your hand from a glove.
7. Wash off the blood.
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Breakfast was wantan mee, and glutinous rice with kaya. Yes, kaya. Unfortunately too sweet for my liking, but an interesting idea.
Visited some caves. Ran into a policeman who wouldn't (!!) take a bribe. Dad's friend got a ticket for a faulty brake light.
Lunch - fried fish, pig trotters in vinegar, 2 beancurd dishes, an omelette, kangkong, and a salted veggie soup. Oh, and 5 bowls of rice and drinks. All for 35 ringgit. Woah. Okay, to compare - dinner at the Chinese restaurant was 120 ringgit. Back home, a decent
tze char meal would probably cost something under $100. For those unfamiliar with the currency exchange rates, 35 ringgit works out to under $16. For 5 people. With 7 dishes. Amazing. And, most importantly - the food was good. What a deal.
After lunch, we headed back to the hotel for a nap, then we went out to do some final shopping. Dinner was
bak ku teh. Tender cuts of meat, chewy intestines and stomach, rich thick soup. Satisfying.
Hotel, shower, sleep.
Day 4.
Breakfast of prawn porridge (with 2 different types of prawns!) and frog porridge. Juicy prawns and firm, meaty frog - marvelous.
I did think about the poor frogs, and how I saw them being skinned at the market. But I ate the frog porridge anyway.
And it was really good.
Then it was time to say goodbye and we got on the coach and now, a few hours later, I'm back here. The moral of the story? There's really good eating in Ipoh. Bring an appetite, if you ever find yourself in the area.
