Alex’s Blog

Last weekend, we made a quick getaway to Ipoh for a short 2D1N vacation cum Wifey’s birthday treat. This is actually the first time baby had an outstation trip, and a funny thing is that his bag of clothes was even bigger than the bag my Wifey and I shared. We also had a backpack full of his “essential” items…milk, hot water, diapers… Needless to say, I don’t have enough hands to carry my dLSR bag, so I ended up bringing my compact (or more precisely, my Canon 860 IS) for the trip.

We started the journey around 5:30am from Penang, taking a slow and relaxing drive. We reached Ipoh around 7:30am, met up with my Wifey’s uncle and aunty, and headed straight to our first “objective”, the famous Foh San restaurant for Dim Sum…

Both my Wifey and my colleagues recommended this place to us when we told them that we were going to Ipoh for a holiday. According to them, this restaurant serves the best Dim Sum and believe it or not, it even has its own website! We arrived at about 8am or so….and U wouldn’t believe the crowd…

We had to wait a good 15 minutes before we were able to get ourselves a table. Finally, we were able to taste “Ipoh’s best Dim Sum”. (Sorry no pics, baby was cranky! :P) So how was it? All of us agreed that it was just OK, our regular Dim Sum place in Ipoh definitely IS better (more on that later). So it was actually quite a let down as this place was recommended by quite a few people. By the way, the restaurant is also selling Mooncakes now as the Lantern Festival / 8th Lunar Month is just round the corner.

With our stomachs full, we were now ready for our next destination. But wait! We don’t have a next destination! It was only about 10am or so, we couldn’t check into our hotel yet, and we had nowhere to go. Then, we remembered about this Hot Springs place in Perak, Sungai Klah Hot Springs to be exact, but we had no idea how to get there or how far away it was from Ipoh. So I decided to whip out my N95, launched Garmin and did a search. Hmm…Sungai Klah Hot Springs, 77km to destination. It was a go then.

We reached the place at about 11am, thanks to the GPS. This was the first time I took a gamble on the N95 GPS and Garmin software, because we had never relied solely on the GPS for any of our previous trips. The entrance to the resort was quite bland, there wasn’t even any signage on the walls or anything like that. Just a gate and a barrier with a policeman. Weired. But it was definitely the right place as it was quite packed, being a weekend and school holidays just started. Entry tickets are RM10 for adults and RM8 for children. Baby (and stroller) is free.

Just right after the entrance, the first attraction was the Hot Springs Pool.

The water was pretty hot at first, but after awhile, we got used to it. Pushed the baby stroller in (oklah, long time didn’t wash the stroller wheels :D), snap snap a few pics, and we were off…

The next pool was about 5 minutes walk away…

This one was more packed compared to the 1st pool. Must be because of the giant Octopus that the kids were attracted to. LOL…

There was also a mini man-made waterfall…BTW, unlike the earlier Hot Springs Pool, this pool uses ordinary water…

Next up…no prizes for guessing what this dude is doing…

No, seriously, the egg boiling place is just next to where to guy is seated, in a separate artificial pond.

The water temperature in this hot spring can reach a scorching 90C I was told. Best not to let the kids put the eggs in or play around the area.

Last on the way out, is the Therapy Park (whatever that is…)

We spent about an hour or so only in the Hot Springs resort. It would have been more worth it if we had at least half a day or so to get wet. BTW, the resort also has some villas for rent if U want to spend the night there, and there is even a campsite for the more adventurous people. We left at about 12:30pm, and headed straight back to Ipoh for lunch…

*TO BE CONTINUED*