Ipoh

Ipoh (latitude 4.60°N, longitude 101.07°E) is a city in Malaysia located to the north of Kuala Lumpur. It is the state capital of Perak states. It is approximately 200 km (125 miles)from Kuala Lumpur by the North-South highway.

Today, "Ipoh" usually refers to the territory under administration of Ipoh City Council or Majlis Bandaraya Ipoh, which absorbs the smaller towns adjacent to the city including Chemor, Jelapang, Falim, Menglembu and Tanjong Rambutan. Historically, "Ipoh" referred to the old town and new town divided by the Kinta River at its heart, from which the city grew.

Movies filmed in Ipoh include:

1. Anna and the King (starring Chow Yun-fat and Jodie Foster). The "palace" scenes were filmed at an Ipoh golf course.
2. Sepet directed by Yasmin Ahmad.

Contents

1 History 2 People 3 Food 4 Places of Interest 5 Ipoh's Development 6 External links

History

The name Ipoh originated from a local tree, pohon epu or now more commonly known as pokok ipoh. This particular plant is used for the extraction of poisonous tree sap. The extract is used by the Orang Asli in their blowdarts. Ipoh is also known as san seng which means "hill city" in the Cantonese dialect. Ipoh is also know among Chinese Malaysian as "Pa-loh". The old nickname for Ipoh is "City of Millionaires", referring to the vast fortunes made during the tin and rubber days.

Ipoh is located in the rich tin-bearing valley of the Kinta River. It grew rapidly as a mining town, especially in 1920s and 1930s. With the collapse of tin prices and the closure of the tin mines in the late 1950s, Ipoh's growth had stagnated and resulted in the migration of many young and bright talents to other parts of Malaysia, particularly Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. Ipoh has since been known as a "dead" city and a good retirement location. Various efforts have been made to redevelop Ipoh into a modern town (see below). 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.

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

The majority of the residents in Ipoh (approx. 69%) are of Chinese descent. Although Cantonese and Mandarin are widely spoken, the early settlers were mostly Hakka who came to mine the rich tin deposits. They worked mostly on "Palong" (Chinese: unrivalled dragon sprout) while the hardy Hakka women used the back-breaking "dulang" method for tin mining.

Ipoh has its share of prominent people who are known regionally or internationally, especially in business and entertainment:

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 alumnus of Main Convent Ipoh, and was awarded the honorary title Dato' by the Sultan of Perak in recognition of her achievements.
2. Cartoonist Mohd Nor Khalid, better known as Lat, spent his schooling days in Ipoh as a student of Anderson School.
3. Hong Kong actress Angie Cheung Wai Yee was born in Ipoh.
4. Taiwan-based singer, Michael Wong (Guang Liang), from the former Michael & Victor (Guang Liang Pin Guan) duet, was a student of Sam Tet school.

Food

Ipoh is famous for its cuisine. Natives claim that Ipoh's water, which is relatively hard (high alkali content) owing to Ipoh's location on top of a large karstic formation, makes the food especially tasty. Ipoh is a famous production hub for tasty light soya sauce and dark soya sauce.

Famous examples of Ipoh cuisine include the following:

1. Fruits. Ipoh is famous for its fruits, such as seedless guava, 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 or Ipoh "Hor Fun" (from Cantonese hor fun, Malay/Hokkien kuay teow). 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 (kuay teow basah) 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-starch 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. 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) is an architectural masterpiece. Aside from this school, the Ipoh Train station|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.

Schools

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

1. Sam Tet School (Sam Tet) - Chinese-medium school famous for its track record in the Malaysian pre-university level, STPM (similar to the Britain's A-levels)
2. St Michael's Institution (SMI)
3. Main Convent - famous for debate teams, and choral-speaking choirs
4. Ave Maria Convent
5. Anderson School (Anderson) Ipoh - stronghold of hockey on national level
6. Anglo-Chinese School (ACS) Ipoh
7. Methodist Girls School (MGS) Ipoh
8. Ipoh International School - only school in Ipoh for the children of expatriates

Ipoh's Development

Various development activities has been mooted and revived in the city recently, including the revitalisation of projects halted during the Asian financial crisis in 1997.

The Greentown area near Ipoh City Council Building is fast becoming an entertainment hotspot. The coming online of Greentown Business Center is giving new life to the city centre. The general activities in the new development consists mostly of restaurants, food outlet and cafés.

Medan Ipoh (formerly known as Metro Ipoh Baru) is a favourite for many younger people. The residents of the city likened the area as Ipoh's very own 'Bangsar' (akin to the hip Bangsar area in Kuala Lumpur). It is located adjacent to Ipoh Garden East and Kinta City Mall (a popular shopping place for locals, owned by the giant Jusco departmental store chain from Japan). The place is famous for its cluster of nightspots, cafes, entertainment outlets and F&B joints. The UK giant retailer, Tesco, has recently just opened a new outlet in this area.

The recently opened "Lost World of Tambun" is expected to gain a certain following as Ipoh's own "Sunway City" (mirroring the actual "Sunway City" which is located about 15 km east of Kuala Lumpur). Within the "Lost World of Tambun", is the upgraded and revived natural hot spring, which was very popular in the 1960s and 1970s.

External links

• Ipoh in WikiTravel (http://wikitravel.org/en/Ipoh)
• All Malaysia.info (http://allmalaysia.info/news/attraction.asp?id=563&pt=4)
• Ipoh Online (http://www.ipoh.com.my)
• Travel in Ipoh (http://www.asiatravelling.net/malaysia/ipoh/ipoh_history.htm)

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