Ipoh (latitude 4.60°N, longitude 101.07°E) is a city in Malaysia, state capital of Perak state, located to the north of Kuala Lumpur. It takes approximately 2 hours to drive to Ipoh from Kuala Lumpur with a distance of approximately 200 km (125 miles) by highway.

History

The name Ipoh originated from a local tree known as the pokok ipoh. This particular plant is known for its tree sap which is poisonous and is used by the orang asli (aboriginals) in their blowdarts. Ipoh is also known as san seng which means "city surrounded by mountains" in Cantonese.

Ipoh is located in the rich tin-bearing valley of the Kinta River. It grew up as a mining town. For that reason, Ipoh's growth has stagnated ever since the development of the country and the closure of the tin mines, causing emigration to other parts of Malaysia, particularly Kuala Lumpur. Ipoh has since been called a "dead" city and a good retirement city. Various efforts have been made to redevelop Ipoh into a modern town (see below). In spite of this, Ipoh still remains one of Malaysia's largest cities, with a population of 637,200 (2004) and urban area population of 798,800 (2004), placing it in the top five cities in Malaysia by population.

Cantonese is widely spoken by the Chinese population in Ipoh. There are also a lot of Hakka- and Mandarin-speaking people in the city.

Ipoh has one of the cleanest and clearest water supplies in Malaysia, as the source is from the waterfalls in nearby Tanjung Rambutan . The Hospital Bahagia, a well-known mental hospital in Malaysia, is located in Tanjung Rambutan.

People

Food

Ipoh is famous for its cuisine. Natives claim that the water in the area, which is relatively hard (high alkali content) owing to Ipoh's being located amongst a large karstic formation, makes the food especially tasty.

Famous examples of Ipoh cuisine include the following:

1. Fruits. Ipoh is famous for its fruits, such as pomeloes and durians.
2. Chicken rice (Malay tauge ayam). This consists of chicken meat, assorted chicken innards and beansprouts boiled in the abovementioned hard water and served with soy sauce and sesame oil.
3. Flat noodles (Cantonese hor fun, Malay kuay teow basah). These are flat rice noodles prepared in the hard water. There are two varieties. Sar hor fun is served in a clear chicken and prawn soup with chicken shreds, prawns and spring onions. Chau hor fun is fried with a little dark gravy, as opposed to Penang char kway teow which has no gravy but is fried with egg, prawns and cockles. It is also different from Cantonese-style wat tan ho which is completely immersed in clear, egg gravy.
4. Fragrant biscuits (Cantonese heong peng). These are flaky biscuits with a sweet filling, and are bought as souvenirs by tourists to Ipoh. They belong to Gamblor.
5. White coffee. This made made from coffee beans specially roasted with butter. Its colour is similar to cappucino. White coffee is abundant in the Old Town of Ipoh. Many locals strongly believe that the aroma, taste and texture is superior to commercially-packed sachets or the Ipoh White Coffee sold outside Ipoh.
6. Laksa. Laksa in Ipoh tastes sour and spicy but not as sweet as Penang laksa. The noodle soup contains prawn paste.
7. Chee cheong fun. This is a breakfast dish which consists of large flat pieces of noodles rolled up and served with sweet or spicy sauce. Unlike the chee cheong fun in Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh has it with minced pork sauce and mushrooms, topped with preserved green chilli, a sprinkle of deep-fried shallots and sesame seeds.
8. Fried cuttlefish vegetables (Cantonese yau yee oong choy). This is a dish of cuttlefish with kangkung and sweet and spicy sauce on top.

Places of Interest

Famous attractions in Ipoh include Kellie's Castle (or Callie's Castle), which is the unfinished, abandoned mansion of an eccentric British planter, near Batu Gajah , half an hour's drive from Ipoh city centre. Its main appeal lies in the belief that it is haunted and that secret passages leading to hidden chambers exist.

The school building of St. Michael's Institution (SMI) (see Schools below) is an architectural masterpiece. Aside from this school, the Ipoh Railway Station which has elements of Moorish and Gothic architecture is another famous landmark of this former tin-mining city. SMI and the Railway Station are located in the Old Town of Ipoh.

The Old Town and New Town of Ipoh are two different parts of Ipoh separated by the Kinta River. Most olden-day prewar shophouses, heritage buildings, and some Government buildings are located in the Old Town while the New Town comprises newer buildings, shopping malls and housing estates.

Another sight worth seeing is the Sam Po Tong (Cavern of Three Precious) temple, which is a Chinese temple built within a gigantic limestone cave. It houses a few giant tortoises too. Its sister temple, Perak Tong (Perak Cave), has a steep, tall staircase in the interior of the cave rising up to the top of its hill where one is greeted by a panoramic view of Ipoh and its surroundings. The statue of Buddha in Perak Tong is the tallest and largest of its kind in Malaysia. Both these cavern temples have decent vegetarian food.

The Kek Lok Tong (Cavern of Utmost Happiness) is a cave temple that lies on the other side of the same range of limestone hills as Sam Po Tong but is only accessible through the Gunung Rapat housing area. It has a cleaner, quieter and more cooling environment and has the best scenic cave view.

Future of Ipoh

The city has undergone various development activities in recent years; there were halts during the Asian financial crisis in 1997 due to constraints from government budgets.

The Greentown area near Ipoh City Council is fast becoming an entertainment hotspot with the construction of the Greentown Business Center, where restaurants and cafés are abundant. Restaurants such as Ye'Olde English and Movenpeak serve decent Western food in the city. Ipoh's very own 'Bangsar' (akin to Bangsar in Kuala Lumpur) is located in Ipoh Garden behind Kinta City shopping mall (a popular shopping place for locals), and is a famous place for its nightspots. The UK giant retailer, Tesco, has just opened a new outlet in this area.

The recently opened "Lost World of Tambun" is expected to serve as Ipoh's own "Bandar Sunway" (the actual "Bandar Sunway" is located about 15 km east of Kuala Lumpur). It will have a theme park similar to the Sunway Lagoon, a branch of Sunway University College, new commercial and housing areas, and a cave serving as a wine cellar. Within the "Lost World of Tambun", there is also a natural hot spring.

Schools

There are several schools with decades of established history, namely: (first four being former Catholic-run schools)

1. Sam Tet School (Sam Tet)
2. St Michael's Institution (SMI)
3. Main Convent
4. Ave Maria Convent
5. Anderson School (Anderson) Ipoh
6. Anglo-Chinese School (ACS) Ipoh
7. Methodist Girls School (MGS) Ipoh

Anderson School remains a stronghold of hockey on national level, while Sam Tet School is a Chinese-medium school famous for its track record in the Malaysian pre-university level, STPM (similar to the Britain's A-levels). Year after year, the school has had one of the highest numbers of students who achieve full 5 As. Main Convent on the other hand is very good at producing good debate teams, and choral-speaking choirs.

Movies filmed in Ipoh

1. Anna and the King (starring Chow Yun-fat and Jodie Foster). The "palace" scenes were filmed in a golf course in Ipoh

1. Sepet. Entirely filmed in Ipoh.

Famous people from Ipoh

1. One of Ipoh's most famous natives is actress Dato' Michelle Yeoh, who acted in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies. She is an alumna of Main Convent Ipoh, and was awarded the honorary title Dato' by the Sultan of Perak in recognition of her achievements.
2. The Hong Kong actress Angie Cheung Wai Yee was also born in Ipoh.
3. Taiwan-based singer, Michael Wong (Guang Liang), from the former Michael & Victor (Guang Liang Pin Guan) duet, was a student of Sam Tet school.

External links

• Ipoh in WikiTravel
• All Malaysia.info
• Ipoh - The Chinese Food Haven!
• Ipoh - Food in the city
• Ipoh Online
• Travel in Ipoh