ipoh day 1 - arrival & wedding dinner

i'm so hardworking - blogging about the trip hours after reaching singapore! lols. had quite a lot of fun this trip and was super reluctant to come back. ipoh seems rather slow-paced and relaxing and there's lots of good food around. my kind of place! well, except for the fact that i can't understand melayu. but luckily majority of the locals can speak english, mandarin and cantonese. there's not much shopping or sightseeing around, so i think it's best to go if you're looking a getaway just to nua and relax.

anyway, i was there mainly to attend an ex-kolic's wedding dinner and the rest of the ex-company have invited us to join them on their day tours. so we had a van and a private tourguide to bring us around for these 2 days. definitely better than if we were to stumble around on our own.

departed on friday night on a five star coach bus. better than expected because of the roomy seats and ample leg space. had a little more sleeping time but could have been better if the driver didn't drive so fast. tsk.

after we arrived at the hotel (our coach brought us directly there), met up with the rest of them, completed check-in, and deposited our luggage in our rooms, it was +/- 6am and the bride took us out for breakfast.

富山茶樓 51, jalan leong sin nam, 30300 ipoh

SSD did some research beforehand and foh san was one of the places we were planning to go. what a surprise when we got to visit it right at the beginning of the trip! however, it was quite torturous having dimsum in such a big group of 13. i didn't get to eat much nor what i had wanted to eat. i even took meat! *faints* but majority of the food was not bad though. =)

there's another dimsum restaurant opposite which SSD heard was better, and another one down the street as our tourguide (ah soon) informed. i so wanna go back and try those!! lols. then went back to hotel for a short rest.

woke up for lunch! *pig* ah soon brought us to one of the more famous ngar choi gai (beansprout chicken) stalls, which incidentally was the one we had planned to visit as well! delight number 2. =)

安記  51, jalan yau tet sin, 30300 ipoh

how can plain ipoh hor fun and beansprouts taste so good?!

ok i tried a tiny piece of chicken and didn't like it. but don't take my word for it. =\

crossed back opposite where our van was parked and saw these cute pastries. angry bird spotted! haha. a lot of us starting snapping photos but i think no one actually bought from the shop. oops.

we wanted to buy famous pastries so ah soon brought us to a famous pastry outlet in the outskirts. (they have many outlets but i suppose the outskirts one is cheaper?)

余合 7,9,11, jalan ampang, taman ipoh jaya, 31350 ipoh
 

as you can probably see, there's a DO NOT PHOTOGRAPH sign on the pillar. lmao. we went for coffee next! believe it or not, this was also one of the places recommended by SSD's friend. delight number 3! ^^

新源豐 17, jalan bandar timah, 30000 ipoh

some displays from one of the shops nearby. is this even legal?!

went back to rest and prepare for the dinner. love my new teal backless dress! $10 only from mamatiam!

and with the pretty bride!

guess where we went after the dinner? dessert. -_- i think it's one of those food streets that open only at night. no idea the address. =X they have lots of cheap food!! *drools*

our rainbow lolo with yam toppings!

and finally back to the hotel to rest for the night. our combined loots! crazy amount of white coffee. lols.

andddd done with day 1! i have a lot more photos for day 2 so do check back! =D

happy belated birthday~!

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cannot remember when was the last time we met. must have been like, at least a year and a half? was supposed to meet last last week but somehow it ended up today (yesterday) instead. =)

she chose chiso zanmai for her belated birthday treat - a japanese buffet restaurant i never knew existed in clarke quay central. lol.

the variety of food available was pretty good; majority of it was edible to me (pescetarian remember?) and i was actually very eager to start making the rounds. they have the sushi section, salmon section, tempura section, cold and hot foods sections, and of cos, the drinks and dessert sections. more on that later.

it was rather crowded for a weekday dinner, so if you're going weekends, better make that reservation.

anyway, i think it was somewhat a waste for us to be having buffet cos we're both on a diet and have too much to talk about that we weren't really eating a lot. at least for me.

it was either eat or chat, and i chose the latter. i had a lovely evening. it was one of those rare times i could be myself and not worrying how the other person's gonna judge me. i can never understand how we can not talk for years and still not be awkward when we finally meet. we need to meet more often!! =\ cheers to a decade+ of friendship! ^^

and now for the food. didn't get to try all of them, but those that i took were pretty yummy.

especially the ebi tempura, cha soba, and salmon sashimi! lol i took so much of it i'm almost embarrassed to say. and i had dessert! i almost never have dessert at buffets, so that's saying something. lols. the bill added up to about $32 per pax. quite reasonable i must say, IF you have the time to eat your fill. =)

last but not least, haolian-ing pretty cherry blossoms again.

 head is spinning. good night!

pasar malam and mee!

heard about the pasar malam (night market) at hougang from i-forgot-who, and since i had to drop by to fix my eyebrows, i we decided to have pasar malam food for dinner!

smelly tofu 臭豆腐

the one and only smelly tofu stall there. this is by far the only pasar malam i know that has a smelly tofu stall.  not as nice as the ones in shilin taiwan (obviously), but still, enough to curb my craving for now. i bought it twice; once when we arrived and once more before we left. would have bought more if it weren't so expensive. each box is $3! madness cann?! :(

ice popsicle

another ripper - ice popsicle! i took the sarsi-flavored one. each stick is a dollar. can you imagine how much they're earning?! oh wells. at least it was pretty welcoming in the stifling heat inside. boo.

kuey tutu

been such a long time since i ate this! they have coconut, peanut and chocolate fillings. we got the peanut one. would have preferred coconut but SSD wants peanut. BO BIAN! lol. this stall's kuey tutu isn't very nice i must say. =\

ramly burger

don't laugh, but this is my first time eating ramly's. i've always assumed they only have meat, and it was only until yesterday did i find out - THEY HAVE FISH TOO!! ^^

for those like me who have never eaten ramly's before, here's how they do it. crack an egg, put the meat on it, add mayo and bbq sauce, wrap it up, and place it between buns with chilli sauce. oh did i mention the buns are buttered too.

IT IS SO @)$&#! GOOD!!! though it's a bit too big to bite through so i had to eat it layer by layer. i love the buns and the bbq sauce! and everything else! why nobody tell me earlier that ramly is so yummilicious?! >.<

otak-otak

we tried the crab, prawn, sotong, and fish ones. all sucked. 'nuff said. lols.

we also had taiwan sausage, bandung, and sugarcane. that's a whopping 22 bucks spent on finger-food dinner alone. expensive? yes. fun? yes. regret? nope! i miss 臭豆腐 and ramly's already. =(