Places to eat in Ipoh

Here are some of the so-called famous food outlets to visit when you are in Ipoh.

Kong Heng Coffee Shop in Jalan Bandar Timah in the 'old town' of Ipoh. I tried the meatball noodle soup and it was the best meatball noodle soup I have ever tasted. There are also other food in there like the pork satay, wan tan mee, popiah and many many other food.

Woolley Food City is a foodcourt located in Lengkok Canning. This foodcourt is open during lunchtime and also dinnertime.

Kam Wan Food Court is located just next to Woolley Food City. Between the two, Kam Wan has more variety. There are more stalls in here. Kam Wan opens only at night. I tried the popiah in Kam Wan and it is one of the best popiah I have ever tasted. It is quite different from the popiah we have in Penang.

Golden Point Food Court is located in Persiaran Bercham Selatan 20. It is located on the other side of the PLUS highway. This is the foodcourt with the Langkap Pau. If you have not tried the Langkap Pau, you should try it. The char siew pau is quite different from the one we have in Penang. They also have all sorts of flavours. Chocolate Pau, Strawberry Pau....you name it.

This is the over-rated taugeh chicken rice restaurant. Lou Wong is located in Jalan Yau Tet Shin in the 'new town' of Ipoh. It is always extremely crowded to the extent of seeing customers sitting on tables along the road. Come early if you want to have seats. Anyway, nothing is impressive about the chicken rice. I felt the chickren rice just taste normal. Even the taugeh chicken rice in my neighbourhood in Penang taste better.

World TB Day 24 March

Today is World TB Day.

Our Health Minister, Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai just announced today that the total number of TB (Tuberculosis) cases in Malaysia in 2011 is 20,666 cases, which was a 7% increase from the previous year.

This is not a good news.

In conjunction with World TB Day, we as individuals can help to stop the spread of TB by raising the awareness of TB.

Stay away from people who don't cover their mouth when they cough/sneeze. And if you cough/sneeze, please practise cough/sneeze etiquette. Also, seek immediate treatment if your cough persists over more than 2 weeks. That's the most important rule - two weeks!

The only cure for TB is by taking antibiotics. It won't go away by itself. Chinese herbs won't cure it either. Be a responsible citizen by going to a medical doctor and not chinese sinseh.

Lost World of Tambun - Water Theme Park

The facade of the Lost World of Tambun is similar to those typical ancient building you will see in 'Indiana Jones' movies. In fact, the Lost World of Tambun is akin to a fort complete with a moat surrounding the entire theme park. The fort looks centuries-old. Yea, even the water in the moat looks nasty and dirty.

But thankfully, the water theme park is clean and pristine, unlike the moat.

Welcome to Lost World of Tambun.

Adult = RM45 per entrance

Children = RM35 per entrance (if I'm not mistaken)

Fortunately, I bought the ticket from Groupon at only RM34 for the adult ticket.

The ticket entitles you to gain entry to every single area in the Lost World of Tambun. There are no other tickets for you to buy.

Dirty moat

The building looks ancient

Entrance to the wave pool

Gathering area

This is the slow river. Look at the pristine water.

This is the Lost World Hot Springs and Spa. The temperature at this pool is about 40 degrees Celcius. I dipped my leg into this pool and I can tell you it is really hot.

The Lost World Hot Springs and Spa is also opened at night everyday. The only difference is that there are fancy lights at the surrounding pools.

Lost World Hotel

About two weeks ago, I saw something interesting from Groupon. There was a Groupon voucher for a night stay at Lost World Hotel for just RM120. Immediately, I decided to buy the voucher.

So, I went to Lost World of Tambun on 1 March 2012 and I stayed at Lost World Hotel. I paid RM120 per night instead of RM200. It also came with 2 free passes to the Lost World of Tambun Hot Springs & Spa by Night and buffet breakfast.

The voucher is for the Exotic room. The view I got is overlooking some housing estate. If you want to have the theme park view, you will have to go for the Classic room. For the classic room, you have to fork out additional RM20.

What I like about this hotel:

- Everything is new inside the hotel because it just opened last April 2011.

- The room and toilet is new and clean.

- The staff are friendly.

- Lots of parking spaces available.

What I don't like about this hotel:

- The sound barrier is bad. You can hear people talking and walking in the corridor and it is rather loud. I believe it is because the room and the corridor are not carpeted.

- You have to slam your door to lock your door if you are leaving your room. After we left the room, we tried closing our door but it couldn't lock by itself. Later, we figured that we have to slam our door hard to ensure that it is locked.

- Since the sound barrier is already bad, imagine hearing everyone slamming their doors. Yes, I could hear that clearly the entire night from the room.

- No covered car park is available.

Nice bed. Notice that the floor is not carpeted.

There is an additional bed by the side of the window.

The toilet is new and clean.

The view overlooking a housing estate.