ROADTRIP- DESTINATION IPOH: PART TWO

Second day in Ipoh. After having breakfast at the hotel, we continued our food hunting fest. Other than finding out from our friends what is famous in Ipoh, we did some research through the net. There must be more than Bean sprout chicken and white coffee here in Ipoh.
First stop: House of Mirrors (Thean Chun)
Location: Jalan Bandar Timah, Ipoh Old Town. Open mornings and afternoons only.
The creme caramel here is very famous among the locals. Sadly, by the time i got there it is all sold out! Even during lunch time. I was dissapointed i couldn't get to try it out as i am a fan of sweet desserts!

The lunch hour crowd


The other famous food here in Thean Chun is the Ipoh Kuey teow or 'sah hor fun'. Tried it out but it seems lacking in taste.


One thing you can get here that is not available in KL is the pork satay! It taste ok but was a bit stiff. The pork satay next door is more famous, Kong Heng.


Thean Chun


Next, we hop over to Sin Lean Lee, which is further up Thean Chun. It is situated at the road junction, a corner coffee shop.


The petite sized char kuay teow is famous here. It is slightly a different style with a whole egg on top. The portion is small and tasted blant. I find KL serves better char kuay teow.




After the not so satisfying meal here, we crossed over to Sin Seng Fatt Curry Noodle shop to savour some famous Curry noodle. The curry noodle here tasted delicious, much better than those normally found in hawker centres.


Th boss here is very up to date with gadgets too! He uses a PDA to key in our orders and it is automatically routed to the kitchen!




The boss here is friendly and cool, poking away the orders on his PDA. Kinda cool uncle eh! After the much more satisfying lunch here, we headed towards Kellie's Castle which is a very famous castle here build by foreigners. The place is a bit hard to find but we managed to find it thanks to a GPRS borrowed from one of our good friend.

I hope one day Garmin will sponsor me one of this cool pink gadget to find good foods around Malaysia!

Kellie's Castle (sometimes also called Kellie's Folly) is located near Batu Gajah, and is about 20 minutes' drive from Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia. The unfinished, ruined mansion, was built by a Scottish planter called William Kellie Smith. According to differing accounts, it was either a gift for his wife or a home for his son.
Because of his fascination with the Hindu religion and the Indian culture, Smith's plan was for this house to share similar architecture to those of Madras, with all its bricks and tiles imported from India. He even employed a big group of Indian labourers to build his dream house, to keep the Kellas House authentically Indian. The mansion is accessible from the main road through a bridge running across a stream.

But it was not only the cost of importing material and labourers from abroad that made the house so fascinating to locals and travellers alike. Among the many amazing things about Kellie's Castle are an elevator (it was the first in Malaya) which connects right up to the top floor, and the existence of two tunnels that run under the river nearby. One of these tunnels connects to the Hindu temple some distance away from the main house. On the second floor, Smith planned to build an indoor tennis court — an ambitious project even by today's standards. On the highest floor, there is a rooftop courtyard for parties. This castle was to be the hub for entertaining wealthy colonial planters who had settled in Malaya. His house was so unique that it was even mentioned in the London Financier newspaper on 15 September 1911.
Source: Wikipedia.

This castle also has many secret passageway and escape routes that are undertunnel. It also has an underground wine cellar. The feeling one can get when touring this castle is awe, fascination but at the same time, it can get pretty scary with its many clausophopic staircase and narrow passageway. The spirit of Sir Smith is also rumoured to be roaming along the corridors.

The magnificient view of Kellie's Castle.





ME at the bridge that links to the castle. I already feel an air of mystery!


This mysterious tree has an image of a bear inprinted on its trunk. It is even featured in local magazines for its unusualness.




A sign warning visitors that the soul of Sir Smith still HAUNTS this corridor!




ME along the scaryyy corridor.


The FIRST evelator



The Guest Room




The scary view from the top.


The rooftop view where Sir Smith views his estate.


There are many ghosts storie looming around this castles. Some parts of the castle really sends chills down my spine. I was too afraid to go down the wine cellar. Shortly after the visit, it started to rain. Our tour ended here in Kellie's Castle where we headed back to KL.
Overall, Ipoh has its own charms, good food and mystery. Definately a weekend with a twist!