ipoh lai la!

My original theory of road trip was to do an economical outing somewhere on weekends to shoot and hunt for food. Eka came up with the idea of going for a photography trip and El suggested ‘Ipoh!’. I jumped up and down waiting for the big Sunday to come.

We planned it two weeks back.
First, it got cancelled.
Secondly, four people out of six bailed out due to work.

Nonetheless, my (now) faithful traveling companion agreed (if not pushed after got pinched miserably) to go ahead with the ipoh trip. We struggled to get out of bed and hit the road mid afternoon. We were terribly late but was too excited to worry about anything. Grabbed some burgers, we had lunch in the car to save time and with magic ball in hand, our concern on getting lost in ipoh suddenly became less. Hehe. The drive was pretty smooth without any traffic so I guess we were fortunate enough this time. We arrived in two hours time without much hassle.

Upon arrival, I nearly shoot myself in the head as I totally forgot about one thing: twas election month! Now now the colorful town of Ipoh was mottled with ugly BN and rocket banners and flags and signages.
I didn’t find it as a good opportunity for photography documentation, however. I don’t like politics, so. Anyhoo, we managed to find our way around for some good photography spots. For two really clueless road tripper with zero navigation, we did pretty well.


sometimes i can be utterly clueless. you know why?

Ipoh is pretty much a quiet town on Sunday with less traffic and people. Its not a popular tourist spot but for those who wanna go for a short trip, even tough I found this place a tad bit boring, I would certainly recommend Ipoh. My second time here, my early memories of this place is the beautiful colorful temples, greeny hills and the edgy looking hospital. I love the main street leading up to places. Could be confusing for a first timer but its totally hypnotic too! There is not much of high rise building around but there’s lots of terrace shoplots with beautiful colors and wooden doors which reminds me of Muar. Finding a place to park would be a breeze if not for MN kept on terbabas for one. We strolled around the street (me in my short and gold flat looking like a tourist bitch) and discovered that most of the shops here looked as if they have not been opened for a few hundred years. Very deadly!

The first big hint was to find interesting places as railways or temples and ipoh has a few great ones. First stop was the DR Senivasagam park but we didn’t last long as the mosquitoes attacked us like a plague. We headed to the Ipoh Railway Station and I found the architectural very cool! A combination of super gothic and Moorish design with a few extra modern superfluities attached to it. The compound compromises of the famous Ipoh tree, very welcoming. Opposite the railway building is a neocolonial style building of the City Hall. It’s a bad-ass white and I totally love it! Of course we managed to get a few snaps but twas only unlucky for us that by the time our lenses started to get the groove, it drizzled and the sky brewed us some heavy downpour.





(more pictures can be found in my flickr)

Ipoh is certainly on the tip of everyone’s tongue when food is the subject concern. We decided to have a quick dinner afterwards. Eateries are just everywhere so you can just picked. But then again, make sure you picked well. Right, my bad that I chose to eat a local malay food stall (because of the lovely chairs?) when I surely know I should find that famous Hor Fun, char kuey tiao and coffee! Warg. Okay lets not write more on that. Ze food is totally out out out!

I would like to go back to Ipoh again someday. I surely wanna stroll down the street yet again for more heritage buildings, the lost world of tambun for the climbing, and churches and temples! MN kept on saying ‘you’re wearing this so we cant really go in the temples’ so I think he was pretty mad about me wearing my spandex short.

Here’s a few things I’ve learnt so far:

Ib's happy tips:

Tip no 1- if you are bad with navigation like *cough* me, don’t be shy to stop at the local gas station to ask for directions.
Tip no 2- one of the best way to find great makan spot is to ask the locals. They sure know better. You can stop by at any local convenient store and ask the people at the counter. Be friendly and they will surely spill you the beans. One of the friendly girl I met told me to go to a place called Boloh where they serve great laksa but we didn’t manage to find it.
Tip no 3- I didn’t tell MN this when he suggested to head up to the museum but I do not know why I don’t fancy ‘em. Here’s what I thought: its better to be out there looking at the real world, chatting up with local folks and listen closely to what the surroundings wants to tell you than to get your education learnt inside a stuffy building. I can google up history and learn Socrates anytime. Okay, maybe I am not THAT intelligently educated so mind me, ya?
Tip no 4- you cant afford to fret your whole journey should there be any major or minor obstacles or else you wont have fun at all. So stay positive! You’ll miss the chance to discover things that might surprise you if you keep on frowning!
Tip no 5- bring along your sketches to doodle, some playing cards or chalks so you wont get bored. Chalks is MN’s fav thing; he wanted to conteng road with it. My fav is of course, my playing cards.
Tip no 6- I hate to say this but its true; always plan ahead and plan well. Unless you’re a crazy stinky mad road tripper like me who just don’t care much about anything.
Tip no 7- don’t go out traveling on an election month.

I’m moving on to either Muar or Penang for my next road trip. FOOOOD! I cant wait! Woooh!

For my travelogue project, I foresee myself not having a home. Well, I don’t have one for the past few years so its not bothering me to not have one right now. A great number of people, including the police who nearly gave me a ticket, had been pointing their fingers to my car in horror and yell a big OMG. Those who knows me personally, knows that I’ve been practically living inside my car. I am totally comfy with the idea that my teddy and luggage bag are my number one companion.

I have a few more little projects in hand to keep myself busy, so I need all the time in the world to get everything done. Travel, as I had mentioned earlier, is my biggest thing for 2008. Finding money comes second and I hope the small little jobs I got each month can help to fund my traveling trips. Helping MN with his photography work, my design jobs, website and what not are up on the list as well.

Travel, so far, has been incidental to lots of creative ideas that came on rolling like a snowball. I guess, fate has forced me out the door to see the world in a bigger perspective. Its easier to find your way out of a strange land then out of your own mind. No, I did not google this quote. Its my own. <--shit this could be a quote too. Hah.

Thursday, a few days back in KL and already I’m driving myself nuts with everyone here plus work. Gah! I realized that Malays love drama a lot, ey? I don’t know. I have a lot of other things to settle than to entertain any stupid messages. The last one came two days ago telling me some shyte to not disturb her life and that I could have his ex back.

I’m sorry but do I look like I give a crap?
God bless you people.

I just want to keep out of fights that is not mine. Not worth my time dealing with it.

Its nearing 2pm and I need to send my ride for service. I seriously need to change the cellophane that secured my side mirror from dangling. It made some happy little noise of late, ticking an indication that its gonna fall off soon. I don’t want to change it. It makes my ride looks so bad-ass and I *giggle* love when people question me about it.

‘Yo! Whats with the black cellophane tape on your side mirror?’

ha ha.