Treasuring Memories of Ipoh continues..

Hi guys! As promised I'm back with my 2nd day story of Ipoh voyage. For me the 2nd day was full of dramas and a bit frustration. This is gonna be a long one I'm warning you beforehand..  

Day 2
8th February 2015

The 2nd day started very early. I was beginning to think sleeping late was a bad idea! But we had a fun night, so keeping the guilty conscious aside I started preparing for the day.
The 1st activity was breakfast and I might as well tell you finding a proper halal shop in Ipoh was a pretty tough job. At least for my appetite. According to my Chinese friends they were in food heaven! (jealous!!!) The Malay Shops were also not that good there. So my only safe choices were KFC and Pizza Hut which were just around the corner of the hotel. But then again who eats oily stuffs for breakfast! Guess where we ended up then? Mamak of course. We ordered Roti Bakar Butter and Telluar, in plain words just a normal English breakfast: Bread, Butter and Egg.

So our actual 1st activity of the day was to walk about and experience the morning flea market. For those who don't know, a flea market is a place where people sell used old stuffs, some of which are still usable and some just artifacts. You can call it a garage sale but in a larger sense. I found the place quite interesting seeing the ancient things for auction in such a reasonable price. 

Here are some of the really cool stuffs from the flea market

This really nice gentleman let me take pics and also shared 

his story which helped me to know more about Ipoh.

 Vintage cars

and Massive Locks!!

 Miniature Sabah House

 Huge Irons!

My Breakfast and Flea market Gang! ^_^

            

After exploring the morning flea market, it was time for us to head back to the hotel and prepare for our next stop which was the long awaited Old Town. At about 10 we boarded on the bus and started for our next adventure.

My Usual Bus Buddies!

After reaching Old Town, the lecturers told us to explore the place and dig out history on our own according to our groups. We did not know where to go or where to start from, and literally felt like orphans!! 

So, my group was basically supposed to gather information about the historical places of Ipoh, in order to help us with the upcoming minor projects like video making and pamphlets. For the first few minutes we were totally blank and was just standing there discussing what to do, when finally Nano found the map of Ipoh Old Town on the wall and together we came up with the plan to go around the historical places starting from the nearest. 

We were just opposite to St. Micheal's Inst and decided to start from there.  

The welcoming St. Micheal's

So we crossed this beautiful huge field in the scorching sun and reached there only to find out that it was closed! And the guard won't open the gate nor would he answer any of our questions. I think we woke him up from a peaceful nap because he was acting all grumpy. 

Actually it was a Sunday morning, and gradually we realized that all the places were closed because its weekend! A very bad day to explore historical places! Eventually we knew that we can't really get much just by going to every single place. But still we managed to go to some which were nearby and for others we relied on people. We interviewed quite a few number of people and I think that was the best way to know the actual Ipoh. Some had seen history happening with their own eyes and for the others they know the story from their parents and grandparents. It was really nice to hear about all the history and the emerging of the places from the Ipoh people. 

Here are some of the places we managed to visit. And I must add that, although the British have left Ipoh way back, they still left their sign through architecture and the moment we step foot on the old town, it was like we have been transported to a different era! 

Ipoh Railway Station

 Dewan Bandaran

Birch Memorial Clock Tower

This particular day was excessive hot and our whole digging history venture was on foot. At one point of time all 5 of us in the group literally sat on the pavement because we couldn't take it anymore. Also there were no refreshment stores nearby. But finally after all the walking we found snacks and shelter inside the railway station. 

After taking 5-10 mins break inside the station, we again started walking and started to find the other groups. We all were hungry as well and looking for a proper place for lunch. Finally we came to a stop to this really interesting looking building. 

I found it so nice that I decided to choose it for my relief model facade for visual communication. Upon going closer to the building we realized that its actually a shop lot with cafes and restaurants inside. We wanted to check out the restaurants and trust me the interior was so nice! It was nothing we had imagined. They actually kept the old building facade and even the wall ruins and just added in the furniture and lightings in a very unusual style.We went to a restaurant called Burps And Giggles, checked their menu and decided to have lunch there!

 unusual Lighting at Burps And Giggles

The table we were sitting on was actually made of a door!!

 I remember seeing this kind of switch in my Grandmas home

Finally the food arrived and it tasted amazing!! First(and probably last) proper food of the day!

smoked lamb rashers and feta cream bagel

After a filling happy tummy we again started walking and just around the corner we found another really cool place, which later I find out was called Kong Heng square. It was a very happening place buzzing with happy people. And soon we found our other friends there too! The spacious square had a marketplace selling handicraft items and also some clothes. There were also benches for the passers by to stop and take rest and also an ancient barber shop, the owner of which shared his life story with us, Later on we found out that this square is an extended arena of the famous Sekeping Kong Heng. I am not going to write anything about the hotel today because the day after next we came to visit the hotel. 

Between all the interview sessions and digging history we had our share of fun too fcourse!

Nano doing what she does best!! 

wall art mural Marilyn Monroe

Finally after a very exhausting day our historical foot trail journey came to an end and it was time to head back to the hotel. 

Everyone was very tired after the whole day foot trail, so that night the lecturers announced as a free night and we were supposed to go see kinta river and enjoy the night. So after having dinner at KFC we again boarded on the bus and headed towards the mighty River Kinta. It was indeed a beautiful sight, with trees adorned with different colors of lights and there shadows on the river creating a dreamy effect. They had cycling activities there, and many of my active friends enjoyed riding bikes and scooties on the bank of the river. Unfortunately of which I do not have any picture of. Me and my other lazy friends were too much tired of all the walking of the whole day and decided to sit and play Dumb Charades instead. Its a game where one group have to act out something and the other group have to guess what it is. We enjoyed a lot while playing this and ended up having many audiences who were laughing at our "acting skills."

The night ended in a good note, But no day ends without a group selfie. As I already mentioned earlier we are known for our selfie love! So here it is!!