Ipoh

We wander around for a bit and then head into Ipoh. Ipoh is a pretty big town, but nowhere near as overdeveloped as Kuala Lumpur – and it’s nice that the original 1930/1950s buildings are all still here, albeit looking a little bit unloved in parts. There is some renovation going on around the place, which will restore some of the buildings to their former glory.

As we haven’t eaten for at least 2 hours it’s time for lunch (!) at this chicken rice place in town. Unfortunately, it’s so busy (clearly popular) that we can’t get a seat – and judging by the crowds of people hanging about, it would have been hours before we actually got to sit, so we head to another one instead, Nasi Ayam Pak Kong. You didn’t need a GPS to find this place: all you needed to do was listen out for a waitress yelling orders from the tables to the front desk. 

She was Scary!

roast or steamed?

It was worth sitting in there listening to her: the chicken was great (roast and steamed) and we had some of those beans called petai (I’d had them in Melaka, but forgot their names). They have got a really weird flavour, which is nice after a while, and a texture of hard broad beans. They are supposed to be really good for you with a load of medicinal properties.

They also make your breath and piss stink too. Lovely.

Lunch over we get back into the car and drive for a whistle-stop tour of the town, with my guides pointing out the local spots of interest, schools, civic buildings, train station, mosque, etc. 

Moving on, we make a brief stop at the Taman Rekreasi Gunung Lang to feed the (very hungry) catfish and Koi carp but unfortunately it looked really thunderous in the Highlands area, so we decide that we ought to move onward really, otherwise we'd be driving up these treacherous roads to get to the Highlands in the pissing rain, so we got a lift back to the car to continue on our journey.