Perak Day Trip #nisaimajalan

Hye! Last week I just went to Ipoh, Perak with Shahima. Banyak-banyak tempat kat Semenanjung ni teringin sangat nak pergi Ipoh. Sebab Ipoh ni bandar klasik-klasik liddat~ Tak berapa bandar sangat, tak berapa kampung sangat jugak. Sekali tengok, bangunan kat Bandar dia lebih kurang dengan Batu Pahat je hehe. So dalam Malaysia ni belum pernah pergi Penang, Langkawi, Kedah, Perlis and Sarawak. Negeri lain dah pernah pergi, but still belum habis explore semuanya lagi. One day, insyaAllah!

And I love day trip, too! Heheh seronok bila dapat day trip ni. Rushing memang rushing tapi rasa motivated nak habiskan semua tempat dalam satu hari. Seharian berjalan sampai sakit pinggang but only God knows how satisfied I am at the end!

Okay, so I planned this trip for my solo trip actually. The reason I chose this place is Ipoh ada banyak tempat yg kita boleh ponder. From nature to oldies, semua tempat ni buat kita lebih banyak menghayati dan berfikir. So, when you are alone, you are busy capturing your new surroundings. You are busy pondering the creation of God. You get lost into a new dimension. Gitu haa.

But sekarang tengah cuti sem so a bit susah sikitlah nak dapat ‘permit’ keluar rumah dengan papa. Apatah lagi solo trip, kirim salam awal-awal! Kalau dekat uia, boleh jadi ‘liar’ sikit. Keluar jalan-jalan pun tak bagitahu. This is my bad habit, jangan ikut! So, I randomly asked Shahima if she wanted to join me sebab masa itu sedang facetime dengan dia. Dia pun bosan duduk rumah. And her kakak said yes! So, ‘permit berjalan’ Shahima lepas.

In my case, tanya papa baik-baik, bagitahu all the itineraries and budget you will spend on later. Kalau dia tanya apa-apa, answer confidently! Hahaha nak kasi parents confident untuk lepas kita, kita sendiri kena confident dulu. Lepastu, tanya masa parents tak stress and tak busy. Contohnya, masa tengah makan or after solat. Lastly, doa banyak-banyak dan zikir ‘Ya-Latif’ banyak-banyak kali. This is my secret weapon untuk lembutkan hati seseorang selama ini. InsyaAllah, nanti your parents akan bagi muehehe.

Okay melalut pulak!

Since Shahima at KL, so I took bus to KL first that afternoon. Sampai TBS petang tu then lepak KLCC sampai malam. Then around 10.30 pm, balik TBS semula dan acah-acah tidur (tapi takboleh tidur). Mungkin sejuk sangat + ramai yg pandang-pandang perempuan tidur tepi lantai macam tu. Ada yang siap tuding jari cakap pasal kitorang. Alahai kalau festive season (raya/cuti), bergelimpangan manusia tidur kat TBS ni :’) Tak pernah tengok agaknya.

Nasib baik ada tiket from TBS to Perak pukul 2.20am. Dalam bas baru dapat tidur. Syukur! Sampai Amanjaya Central, Ipoh, around 5am dan sambung tidur kat surau sampai ke pagi kikiki.

Pagi tu lepas mandi-mandi kerbau kat tandas yang hmm :’) kitorang siap-siap ambil Grab ke Kek Lok Tong Temple. 

Why temple?

Shrines and temples ni got a special place in my heart. I love the art and architecture of the temple. Tak semua faham kot benda ni. Certain people might think ni tempat beribadat cina, tak elok pergi. Yalah, masa dia tengah beribadat, janganlah kita ikut beribadat sekali. Most of the religious places tak kira shrines ke mosque at Malaysia ni open je for tourist attraction. We just need to open our mind ;)

This temple is inside the cave. Sebab tu nampak macam gua batu kapur dalam ni. When you go further inside the cave (takdelah jauh sangat pun) ada taman, Zen Garden. Locals (mostly Chinese) come here to jog and do taichi. Masa kitorang datang haritu, memang dua orang je yang pakai tudung. Tapi all the people here takdelah pandang semacam. Tegur-tegur la uncles and aunties yang tengah jog, ‘Morning!’ ‘Hi!’. Who knows this one word could make someone’s day? And diorang sangat welcoming je sebenarnya J

Next, Sam Poh Tong Temple. Kalau naik Grab, this place is just around RM5 from Kek Lok Tong Temple. Kalau masuk dalam, dia macam scary sikit and bau asap agak kuat. Tapi demi kura-kura kami redahi jua! Boleh beli tomato for RM3 from the aunty yg jaga kaunter depan temple untuk feed the tortoise dalam tu. (Rumah?) tortoise tu takdelah besar sangat tapi tortoise from bapak dia until anak dia semua ada. Banyak gila.

Okay this is the highlight of the temple.

Even though masuk dalam temple tu macam seram sikit + bau asap kuat. Tapi taman dia cantik! Again, you can buy fish pallet from the same aunty tadi to feed the fish (banyak gila) kat kolam depan ni.

Okay, dah bagi binatang makan. Sekarang, ayuh kita makan!

Grab to Kedai Kopi Yong Suan pun around RM5 je. Ini tips daripada abang Grab! Tourist biasa akan beratur panjang-panjang depan untuk ambil nasi tapi sebenarnya kalau nak makan sini hanya perlu duduk dan order macam biasa. Kalau nak take away, baru kena beratur panjang-panjang. Ha terbalik dengan K-Fry Korean Fried Chicken XD

Fyi, makanan kat sini diuruskan oleh mamak. Minuman oleh Chinese. So, makan & minum bayar asing-asing. Tapi kitorang tak minum sebab tak yakin huhu. Harga untuk nasi ganja biasa yang ada ayam merah + bendi + telur asin Cuma RM 5.50 je! Boleh tambah sotong, udang & other lauk ikut preference anda! Aku rasa nasi dia not bad sebab first time makan + takdelah minat sangat nasi ganja,nasi kandar ni. Tapi Shahima yang merupakan anak jati Penang celup kata biasa-biasa je. Locals said that there are other kedai nasi ganja yang lagi sedap  & tak ramai sangat tak jauh pun dari kedai ni. But, we knew that after lunch huhu.

It’s okay next time kalau nak jalan tempat orang kena tanya the locals dulu, google jatuh nombor dua! XD

Again, kitorang naik grab pergi Plan B pula. Katanya, Plan B ni kafe hipster popular & wajib makan kat sini kalau datang Ipoh. Grab harga RM4 (dekat je pun) tapi berpeluh juga la kalau nak jalan kaki. Masuk je kedai nampak dia display arak/wine kat kaunter. Terus macam tak yakin nak makan kat sini tapi ada je Malays kat sini tapi takpelah. Ha banyak tapi kau.

Sebelah Plan B ni ada kedai kecil nama Bits & Bobs jual Ais Kepal Ipoh. Ada banyak perisa. Aiskrim lain pun ada jual. Souvenirs, kedai-kedai comel & baju pun ada dijual kat sekitar kedai di sini tapi kami datang nak berjalan so kureng (takde langsung) shopping.

Seberang jalan tu je ada Milkcow tapi dah tutup! Huwaaaaa sedih gila sebab dah target nak makan gelato thicc thicc chewy chewy (eww) kat sini :’( Okay bye.

Then, jalan straight don’t belok belok je dari Plan B jumpa Time Tunnel Ipoh. Time Tunnel ni ialah galeri barang-barang lama. You can travel back to the oldies if you come here! Dia kat tingkat atas. Kat bawah ada jual barang-barang hiasan rumah daripada kayu. So, you need to buy entrance fee RM6 untuk naik atas. It’s so worth it! Kalau datang Ipoh, wajib datang sini okay! Atas tu boleh duduk lama mana nak, boleh ambil gambar puas-puas. Aku & Shahima dah buat banyak drama atas tu. Just don’t tell the others -.-

Habis jalan kat sini tak puas hati lagi pasal Milkcow sebab tekak tengah teringin gelato T.T So, kitorang dapatkan confirmation daripada kakak yang jual barang hiasan bawah tadi. Dia kata memang dah tutup tapi ada satu ada lagi kedai gelato yang sedap dekat sini. Dia suruh jalan straight ke depan from simpang Time Tunnel Ipoh ni.

Jalan punya jalan terjumpa Concubine Lane. Ha ni memang dah ada dalam itinerary kitorang tapi ingat nak pergi lepas makan aiskrim. Tapi alang-alang dah jumpa jalan je la. Dia macam satu street belakang kedai jual souvenirs comel-comel, ada kedai kopi cina, etc. Ada satu kedai ni yang kalau korang pergi depan tu ada banyak patung berwarna-warni macam ni.

Dekat atas tu ada galeri barangan comel-comel yang kita boleh masuk & basically boleh ambil gambar macam kat Time Tunnel tadilah. Tapi since kitorang dah malas ‘beraksi’ so tak masuk. Ada entrance fee tapi ingat berapa. Supposedly, ada jual Rainbow Cheese Toast depan tu tapi kitorang tak jumpa (atau tak nampak lol) T.T

Dah habis pusing sini teruskan misi ke kedai gelato tadi. Nama kedai ni Bella Zia! Kedai dia kat corner so kalau jalan tu nampak je kat tepi tu. Kedai ni kecik tapi so cozy & cantik <3 Pekerja dia pun friendly. Lepak situ lama sikit nak charge phone tapi dia tak marah pun huhu tak senonoh langsung. Gelato kat sini memang memenuhi kehendak tekakku yang nak thicc thicc chewy chewy liddat. Ada banyak perisa tapi kitorang ambil Hazelnut & Tiramisu. RM7 untuk satu scope. Mahal sikit tapi sedapppp! Boleh tambah dengan waffle & ada jual coffee jugak kalau nak. Awwh I lahv this shop!

Lepas charge phone, singgah Masjid Darul Ridzuan untuk solat zuhur jamak asar. Plan seterusnya nak cari street art tapi baru kitorang discover yang street art kat Ipoh ni bukan satu jalan macam Shah Alam tu. Satu lukisan kat satu wall, another lukisan pulak kat wall jalan lain. Ha gitu (tapi kitorang dah malas nak cari satu-satu)

Jalan straight from masjid tadi jumpa la JWW Memorial Clock Tower. Kat sini ada kedai makan berderet-deret, jadi kalau belum lunch boleh datang sini. Selain ambil gambar, boleh isi perut kosong juga!

So, off to Greentown Dimsum Café!

We only ate a few dimsum je sebab memang niat nak rasa. For me, isi ayam dia banyak & rasa dia not bad la. I ordered pau because I am huge fan of pau but sadly the inti is not as good as I expected :’( Inti ayam bbq but manis sangat and this killed my appetite lol tapi kena habiskan juga taknak membazir. Many people recommend this place but for me it is so-so je. I believe there more kedai dimsum yang lagi sedap. Ikutlah tekak masing-masing, selera masing-masing.

Tengah-tengah makan tu tiba-tiba hujan. We planned to go to Taman Rekreasi Gunung Lang after that but how leh hujan-hujan macam ni???? So, we waited for a while sementara makan pau ‘manis’ tadi lambat-lambat. I googled another places too in case the rain doesn’t stop. But tengah google tu, some bloggers said that even tengah hujan sikit-sikit you can still naik the boat and jalan-jalan kat sini. So, let’s go!

When we arrived here, the rain already stopped but still gerimis sikit. The boat ticket is only RM3. I thought this boat only pusing-pusing around the lake but actually there are other hidden park beside the lake. So, uncle boat ni dropped us kat situ & we can pusing-pusing around the park. The next boat will come every 30minutes. You can stay here as long as you want but the last boat will take you at 6.30 p.m. Make sure jangan tertinggal pulak XD

This park actually got mini zoo! You know how much I love animal heeeeee. But mostly ada burung je. And the sangkar actually scattered around the park. So, sambil jalan boleh la cuci mata tengok burung kat sini. I actually kind of sad watching them. Even though sangkar dia besar, they might be jealous of other birds who were flying above them kan :’( K tetiba.

Jalan punya jalan. There are other animals too! And their cage actually side by side je. Ada burung emu, ostrich, (kijang or kancil I’m not sure lol) & lembu bali. Lembu bali badan macam kerbau, tapi dia lembu. K.

Okay time to go home. But baru pukul 6 and Shahima’s bus is at 8.30. So, we went to Bulatan Amanjaya. This park macam recreational park for family nak bawa anak jalan-jalan petang-petang gittewh. They actually sewa basikal, motor elektrik and all sort of kind. Tapi harga pun boleh tahan :’) Ada taman permainan but only for kids.

And for the first time in my life, I saw penjaga taman??? They have their own uniform too! I mean there are few of them diri tepi-tepi taman. If there are adults yang nak main swing ke apa, they will blow their whistle like whattttttttt? Where are the justice for adults? We are just children who trapped in the body of an adult T.T

So, kecewa dengan harga mahal dan tak dapat main swings, kitorang pun duduk je kat taman tu sambil tengok sunset. Lol what a sad ending after one whole day of happiness :’)

Ipoh actually have a lot of nice people. When we asked for direction, bersungguh-sungguh diorang tunjuk. When we asked for a recommended places, they came with a list and siap cerita satu satu lagi tempat tu. Alhamdulillah, we met a very nice people today! Malays, Chinese or Indian, they are all so welcoming, friendly and helpful! We are Malaysian, anyway. Who cares about the race?

Actually, we want to go the Kellie’s Castle, too. But this one is a bit far from the other landmarks. Hence, the price for grab also melambung la. So the total budget for our Grab + makan + entrance ticket tak sampai RM100 pun. You can save even more if you come in a group and just rent a car for one whole day. But still, both travelling alone and with friends is joyful! Go travel whenever you have the chance. Tak keluar Malaysia pun takpe, Malaysia still have a lot of great places to go!

Thanks Shahima teman jalan for the whole day. Next destination? Penang, maybe hahaha!

So, this mark the end of our Ipoh day trip. Thanks for reading!