Postcards from Ipoh

Warning: The following post may make you feel very hungry so if you have not eaten, please proceed with caution.

It's been slightly more than a month since my musical group took a trip up to Ipoh to perform our Easter musical. All I heard about Ipoh before I left was that they have really good food. I thought to myself, how can a place have so much good food? Well, they were really right.

We were all split into a few groups to be housed by our hosts in Ipoh. My group was privileged to be hosted by Mervyn and his family, who runs their own travel agency so they know where all the good food is! We constantly had good food for every meal- breakfast, lunch, dinner and supper included- but unfortunately, I didn't manage to get the addresses of these places but I did take a picture of the restaurants itself!

Steam Chicken

Cuttlefish, jellyfish and squid

Char Kway Teow

Soya bean

The best Heong Bing ever! It was crispy on the outside and the goo was so soft inside. This business was a family affair for the house we visited. We saw them in action, making each biscuit by hand. And surprise surprise, a bag of 10 only cost RM7. That puts our cost of living in Singapore in perspective, yes?

Making of the Heong Bings

The finished product

An awesome seafood restaurant! I took a photo of this because I wanted to order the exact menu the next time I went back. It was a lot for 10 people but it was sooo awesome!

The bombdiggity prawns! We ordered rice to mix with the remaining sauce after we were done which was super yummy!

Fried fish

Our hosts!

Supper at this place they called Rainbow. It reminded me of Newton Circus before it was renovated, They'd use portable tables and chairs and place them on the dirt ground.

6 Ice Kachangs that made my camera go woozy

Fruit bowl kachang

Time or Chee Cheong fun for breakfast at the shop on the extreme left, near Persiaran Bijeh Timah

The man in the centre hand makes the Chee chong fun by himself.

Chee Cheong Fun- slippery, pure white noodles. They were so slippery, you could just slurp them down in one breath!

Roasted meats

Urm, a typical breakfast? And the best white coffee which I love so much. If you're buying the instant packs home, buy the 'Home' brand!

We had rehearsal right after our cheong fun breakfast in the church so our hosts cooked lunch for us! Yes, it was like eating Cheong Fun noodles all over again :O

Supper at the Stadium

Rojak. Their sauce is thicker than the one we have here and there's no kang kong or bean sprouts!

Penang Char Kway Teow (yes, in Ipoh)

Going at it with wanton mee

Hello cockles!

Charming streets you don't see anymore in Singapore

Lunch at a restaurant opposite the cheong fun stall!

Old school charm

Because of the limewater in Ipoh, the prawns here are fat and juicy. 

Sweet caramel pudding which tastes something like panna cotta

We had to try the famous Cowan Street Chicken and Tauge!

Steam chicken eaten with slippery kway teow soup

Ipoh's famous tau ge/ bean sprouts. They don't export these babies but ahhhh they were sooo good! Shorter and crunchier than normal, I couldn't stop eating this so...

I ate a whole plate of bean sprouts by myself. The boys didn't believe I could do it and challenged me. I was frankly a bit afraid but whatever, just do it! Best decision of the day.

On a personal non-food note, going up to Ipoh to stage our musical was the best decision of April. Even though it was tiring for a lot of us, but seeing the audience and ourselves get touched and transformed by the musical was absolutely priceless. For the first time, I experienced a true musical, done in excellence and submitted to God for him to use. Practices leading up to the musical were grueling and tiring, especially when they dragged long into the night. But the finished product was beautiful but more than that, it was done with heart. We were a team that not only did things in excellence but did it with so much heart. Our director encouraged us to cry on stage and sing the words like we really meant it, even if it meant that we'd choke on our words and go off key. That is really how Arts should be done- in excellence and with heart.

So thankful Ipoh for leaving me such great memories. Your invitation and hospitality gave me the chance to experience three great days of Arts at work and even changed me as a person and as an artist.

Woof, have a good weekend!