Lily Lee: December 2018

Ipoh Day 4 Bedrock Hotel

A very warm welcome to Bedrock hotel. Met the most wonderful host Debbie. She gave us some maps and good recommendations on nearby good eateries.

Hubby decided to just grab the food from a food court Restoran Impressive nearby. The fish balls are so soft and good! The reason why I booked Bedrock hotel. Many good food nearby.

Orientation of our room by the staff.

360 views of the room

Noting the unique amenities and provisions by the hotel. The room is so spacious, separate living area and bedroom with a huge bath tub, separate shower and dressing room. However wish the toilet bowl is more enclosed and that a full length mirror is available.

Living area is so comfy. The TV can be flipped over to face the living area or the bedroom

First hotel which we stayed that has 2 bolsters. Really appreciate that

Complimentary tea bags, pop corn and coffee pod for the nespresso machine.

The drinks in the fridge is complimentary. Note the Coway filtered hot and cold water dispenser above the fridge.

Love the double sinks and everything is sparkling Clean. However wish the toilet bowl is more enclosed.

Love the bath tub. Salt provided as well!

Feasting on the salt baked chicken and beancurd now. Delicious and tender chicken from Aun Kheng Lim! Silky tofu with sesame glutinous rice balls from Wong Kee. All from nearby eateries.

Took a nap. Took some photos of the hotel while waiting for grab to Aeon Station 18. Grab makes travelling so easy. The rock displayed are all so unique.

At Aeon station 18. Bought another selfie stick cos I spoilt mine. This one is so portable and can be used as a tripod with detachable Bluetooth remote control!

Grab to Tong Sui Kai (Dessert street) for dinner.
Ordered the dishes from stall 2 which specialises in crabs and prawns.The prawns were so good that I ordered another plate. The sauce is simply irresistable. The fish meat is so soft and the kang Kong got wok hei.

Tong Sui Kai was so crowded.

Packed back to hotel prawn crackers, sotong kang Kong, grilled cuttlefish and century egg from stall 16. Long queue. Must be very tasty. In fact they sold out the prawn cracker (only RM1 each).

Ipoh Day 5 Bedrock Hotel
Simple breakfast in the hotel

Our driver brought us to Lawan Kuda food court

Noodle is nice but not the fried stuff cos the oil taste recycled. The coffee was nice but would not recommend the place. Should have stuck to my itinerary.

Our first stop was Gua Tempurung. Could not climb the very steep flight of stairs so we only took some pictures near the entrance.

Took some durian from a stall by the road. Local durian which is sweet with bitterness like drinking XO. Nice! RM35

2nd stop at Go Peng museum and hubby loved the place.

3rd stop at Gopeng house.

Took our lunch at the food court behind Gopeng house. Very nice chicken porridge or should I say porridge with chicken.

4th stop at Kellie's castle but it started to rain.

Nice place for picture taking. However the place is poorly maintained and seemed more suitable as a place to shoot horror films.

Bought the photos.. all 3 for RM60.

Stop over at Abundance corner coffeeshop and disappointed that the dim sum were sold out. Hubby bought the noodle which was nice and I bought the red bean bread which was so soft and freshly baked.

Last stop at Qin Xin Ling Cultural Village. Weird you have to buy the tickets elsewhere. Like what hubby said it's a beautiful place and a pity it's not converted to a resort. The influx of tourist cause the place to lose its charm. Wanted to take a picture of the type of toilet I used to have in my kampong. Overall hubby don't like the place as too many visitors and he finds the displays not authentic.

Our leg aching all over so went to get a massage before we go for dinner.

Dinner at cafe best Hillview opposite Impressive restorable (little genting) near to our hotel. The cuttlefish kang Kong was so much better than yesterday's. Yummy. Bak kut teh soup was nice but will be better with ribs. The wanton mee was also nice. However the beef satay was too tough. Packed BBQ chicken wing and prawn cracker coated with rojak sauce and peanuts.

Nice rock collections in the hotel.

Ipoh Day 6 Bedrock Hotel

Breakfast at Ah Chow. Special coffee with wine. Love their eggs on toast cos the bread is so fragrant with butter! Hubby took the wanton noodle soup.

On our way to Taiping and mesmerized by the many hills and clouds floating by in the distance. Beautiful landscape. Passed by a cement factory.

We stopped at a rest house and bought water plus kacang which was too hard. A lot of fruits there so bought ciku too.

Matang Mangrove Eco educational centre. Met some university biology students on learning journey and collecting plant specimen. Too bad the place was badly maintained. Need to walk very carefully on the boardwalk as many wooden planks rot and broke off leaving gaps on the broadwalk. Admission fee is presently at RM15. Heard they might increase the fee to increase budget for repair next year.

There are also chalets in the nature reserve. Beautiful view from the jetty at Mangrove Nature reserve near to the chalets.

Chartered a boat for a 2 hour Kuala Sepetang River cruisefor RM250. Highly recommended operator Xin Lee Wee contact Fa at 011-35339492 or 012-4631845 Ms Tan We wanted the whole boat cos it will be more personalised. Otherwise you can actually go the river cruise at RM20 per pax.The guide is a young fellow Ah Heng. He told us the mangrove tree aged 30 is used for charcoal and 15 year old as building materials. Love the visit to the Chinese village and Fisherman village. Eagle Feeding was an eye opener too.

Ah Heng explained to us the wooden poles sticking out of the water is where they farm cockles. The 2004 tsunamis destroyed 70% of the cockles.

Our first stop was a Chinese teochew village Kuala Sangga 老港 which has only 20 households. There is no electricity supply and piped water so the villagers are using collected water from rain. They are using power from solar and generator.

The jetty was built in 2008. Before that the villagers just use the area at the back of their house.

The only school at the village with only 6 students and 4 teachers.

We saw the dried shrimp production. It looked so good I bought one pack for my mum.

The only church without worshippers since 1956. Some of the villagers claimed to see mother Mary save the fire by sprinkling water from above. The people here maintained it they sought advice from the datok Kong temple and was told that the church cannot be demolished though worshippers moved out in the 60s.

Feeding the wild boars in the village with bread. You just called out "pig pig" and they will ran towards you. A little girl from the village came to help us.

It started to rain heavily so we took a break and hubby took the special drink Tiger bite lion which is coffee with Milo, a speciality of the village. All made with rainwater. Also took the bun which was so soft and fluffy. So popular in Tai ping that it's opened at 11am and sold out by 2pm. That's why the boss of the eco tour went to buy for us and also gotten some bottles of drink for us too.

It started to rain heavily and when the rain was not as heavy, we moved on to eagles feeding. The eagles are smaller in size compared to those we saw in Langkawi but there are more in greater numbers. Interesting to learn that their lifespan is 70 and that when they are 30 years old, they will fly to the mountain, break their beaks and pluck off all their feathers to be reborn.

Fed the fishes at the fish farm and looked at the horseshoe crab and puffer fish. There is a sea snake too.

Moved on to the last stop to see the fisherman village. Ah Heng, our 15 year old guide, is so good in explaining the area to us! He mentioned that we would be able to see the place on tricycle if not for the rain. Boats labelled A is the smallest for harvesting cockles and crabs. B is for catching prawns. C is the big trawlers which cannot move into the river and will be out in the seas for 10 days. B1 is upgraded from prawns to fishes. Also passed by a ship repair factory and some buildings built for birds to harvest bird nests.

Charcoal factory. Drying takes 28 days of burning in the kiln and sealed for another 8 days. There steam is collected in the pipe and condenses back into the container next to the kiln to make into vinegar. The wood were transported to the factory by the river behind the factory.

The vinegar made into insert repellent. The charcoal is not only useful for BBQ but also as dehumidifier and absorb odours.

Very scenic Taiping lake. Saw 4 couples taking their wedding pictures there. Look at how the clouds float below the hill and cast reflection on the lake.

Disappointed at the dinner at Sungai Siput. Maybe not to my taste. The braised wild boar knuckle taste weird as well as steamed fish ball and sotong. The fish so many bones.The vegetable too strong in ginger. 😥

The tour today could have finished better.
Our driver is good in bringing us around but I think must rely on Google search for good food. Another disappointment again after the breakfast place he brought us yesterday. So would not recommend him.

Packed fried rice with the sotong kang kong and fried rice from the cafe best hillview nearby. So good. Worth the queue. I think they use duck egg.

Wow the Tao sa biscuit taste so good! Bought from the van outside the charcoal factory. Bought the shrimp version for my mum.

Ipoh Day 7 Bedrock Hotel

Breakfast at Big Tree Foot Yong Tau fu. Overrated as the fried items are cold and very oily. Think the one in Singapore better. The chee cheong fun, porridge and roasted meat are good as the skin is so crunchy and the meat tender. Hubby love the traditional chee cheong fun without sauce which was so good. Overall he feels that JB food is better esp the Big Tree Foot kway teow tang but you have to be early as it will be sold out before 12. Should have gone to the Chong Ji next door. Very crowded and seem better with the crowd. Should have gone to Chong Ji.

At Sam Poh Tong. Bought the tomatoes to feed the tortoise.

Grab over to Kek Lok Tong temple. Such a beautiful place. Wonder whether the deities will be angry cos they found this heavenly cave first.

Went over to Aeon midtown falim and ate at the food court. My Goodness hubby ordered one person set of Tom yum seafood w noodle and so many ingredients at only RM16! No wonder such a long queue. Added scallops, prawns and fish ball with shrimp egg for another RM23. Yummy! The dessert ABC is like our ice kachang w chendol. Also nice.

Heavy rain so went to Palace foot reflexology for massage again. RM100 for 2 hour body massage. RM40 for 1 hour foot massage.

Dinner at Kenny Roger Roaster at Aron Kinda Valley

Supper from the Cafe Best hillview. Finally they have kambing (mutton) Satay. Hubby say the fried Kway Teow at Impressive restoran is better.

Ipoh Day 8 Bedrock Hotel

Went to Ming court bit too crowded so we went over to Foh San. Better ambience

More food at Chong Yang restoran next to Ming Court. Very good coffee and Chee Cheong fun.

Went to the miniature world and gotten engravings of a rice! Gotten the luminous one which is RM15. The non luminous one is at RM10. There are two floors of exhibit. Ground floor is free and admission to 2nd floor is RM5. Very impressed how they can make miniatures inside a walnut. Need a Magnifier to see it.

Lunch at impressive restoran again. The pork chop is so tender... So good. Chicken rice with roast meat wasvery good too. The dried scallop shark fin soup is so rich with so many ingredients. Portion so big at RM18 soup is nice Best food ever.