Today we have a lot of plans to see mostly cave temples as well as some beautiful natural sights and sites. Most of these are in a very similar area, with 3 temples all being next door to eachother. We took a grab out to the area we wanted to visit, with our first stop being Mirror Lake. Our driver dropped us off near the entrance and we began exploring the area.
We had thought it was free based on what we had seen online, but we found a ticket booth quickly and realized it was a pretty minor fee. We walked around outside the entrance first to see if there was anything else nice to see before sticking it up and paying. After entering the gate, the first area was a long manmade cave going from this outside area to the lake itself.
We walked through and emerged to an absolutely beautiful area with limestone mountains surrounding a deep green lake. We looked in the water and saw plenty of fish, and explored the rest of the area hoping to see maybe some monkeys or something else interesting. We had no such luck so we just enjoyed looking at the lake. There was an offer to get a boat tour ride around the lake, but it was fairly small and it seemed like we could pretty much see the whole thing from where we were standing, so we didn’t do the boat ride.
We left and headed back down the road by foot to get to the next stop. In the way out, we saw a white coffee restaurant and right behind it was an opening that led to another little area surrounded by the limestone mountains (though this time free and without a lake).
We checked this out before heading down to the main road. We walked along it for a little, towards our next destination, before deciding there was a good looking lunch spot across the road. We safely and strategically navigated crossing the road, but it was not an easy task. We found ourselves soon in a shopping center with mostly small restaurants. We walked around it until we found the place we had picked. Hooray Seafood is a Chinese restaurant that was highly reviewed and had a lot of different options so we could try some different foods than the ones we have been used to. While it was a bit on the early side for us to get lunch, there were little to no food options near the other temples, and we were hoping to maximize our ability to walk between spots without backtracking, so we decided to go ahead and eat now.
We were seated by an older woman who spoke very little English. We asked if we could pay by card, to which she indicated that it was okay. We got the spicy mixed seafood hotpot (too tomatoey even for Caitlyn, not great), seafood fried rice (David loved it), and traditional sweet and sour pork (very similar to at home but way better).
We enjoyed our meal and were ready to be on our way. We go up to the counter and there seemed to be some confusion. A younger guy who worked there came over to help and alerted us that you can pay with cash or touch-n-go app. We didn’t have enough cash, so David tried to download the app. After a few minutes of inputting information, we try to input our credit card and it won’t accept it. We tried with every credit and debit card we had, and it still would not accept any of our cards, so we figured it probably needed a local card. We asked if there was an ATM nearby and they said there should be one at 711, not far away. Caitlyn stayed at the table and David walked 5 mins to 711. Inside, he asked the employee and she said they had no ATM. She said that the closest one is at a Shell either 5 min drive 20 min walk. David decided to get a grab to save some time so we can continue our day. Arriving at the Shell, David tried the ATM and, unfortunately, after 4 tries he realized this ATM wasn’t going to work either. Time for another grab call and a 15 minute ride to another bank. David entered the ATM vestibule and gave it a 3rd try. Thankfully, this time it worked!! Money in hand, David headed back to the seafood restaurant.
It had been somewhere between 1 to 1.5 hours and finally David got back and was able to pay. We now were in a time crunch with too many things to do. We decided to keep grabbing instead of walking to make up some time, so we first took a grab to the buddhist temple Ling Sen Tong.
Outside, there were a lot of statues, and the overall vibe was a little quirky and goofy, but it was still pretty. We found the entrance to the temple itself and entered. This is one of the famous cave temples. It did appear to be recessed ito the mountain behind it, but it looked slightly fake inside. We weren’t sure if they just painted over the rock in a poorly done way, or if the rocks themselves were fake.
We finished up and next walked next door to the Taoist temple Nam Thean Tong. This one seemed a little bit less disney-ish, and also had some beautiful gold statues including a GIANT golden statue.
We walked around for a while, eventually entering the cave temple here. It was much larger than the last, and did make us feel a little more confident that it really was in a cave.
We walked back outside eventually and noticed a lot of commotion up near the wall of the cliff towards the roof of the temple. Suddenly we notice dozens and dozens of monkeys climbing in a tree just above the temple. They jumped around for a while before climbing off the tree and onto the roof of the temple! We watched them and tried to get close, but they eventually climbed over the wall and into the first temple. We ran back over to the other temple, climbed the exterior stairs, and caught the tail end of the monkeys. David saw a few of them fighting eachother and Caitlyn saw a few climbing around the roof. Some monkeys are better than none!
We then walked back past the second temple to the end of road to Sam Poh Tong temple. This is supposed to be the nicest and most beautiful one of the three. We got to a gate and noticed it seemed shut and locked. We peaked through the bars and it looked totally empty. We kept walking, hoping there was another gate. We did end up finding 2 more gates but both were shut and we saw no one inside. Though Google maps indicated that it was supposed to be open, it was clearly closed today.
The next stop was pretty far away, so we ordered a grab. We took the ride out to Kek Look Tong temple. We arrived at a big parking lot at the entrance of the complex. There was a beautiful mountain directly ahead with a large staircase leading up to a big cave entrance. We started walking towards the staircase when we noticed a fairly large monkey less than 20 feet away! We felt so lucky to see one this close after trying so hard at the last temples to get a good view. We walked towards it and to our surprise, we saw DOZENS of monkeys everywhere. They were climbing on the walls, swinging from vines, and digging through the trash. It cannot be overstated how many monkeys there were and how comfortable they seemed going towards humans. We walked to the right towards a fountain where many were sitting and watched them for a while.
We eventually got a can of sprite to share to cool off. David sat near the fountain to have a picture taken, so Caitlyn put her can of sprite down on a further area of the fountain to take the photo. In the 5 seconds we were taking the photo, a monkey came running over and grabbed the can. It started sniffing the can then directly bit into the aluminum, tearing right into the metal. David was concerned that the monkey would hurt its mouth, so he walked towards it to try and scare it away from the can. This worked, however the monkey screamed at David and showed all of its teeth before eventually dropping the can. We noticed that there was now a huge hole in the can and a large piece of the can had been totally sheared off and was on the ground. David went to throw this away in the furthest trashcan possible from the congregation of monkeys so he didn’t contribute to the litter and the monkeys eating the trash. This didn’t seem to matter much, as many of the monkeys were walking around holding plastic bottles or plastic bags. We also saw a man deliberately ignoring the signs saying “DO NOT FEED MONKEYS”, as he had brought a bag of small food with him that he used to attract the monkeys and get close enough to touch them. We got our fill of the monkeys and decided to enter the temple.
Up the stairs and into the cave we went. This temple left no doubt in our minds that it was authentic. There were stalactites and stalagmites everywhere, and water dripping from the ceiling above. Beautiful statues had been built, and multiple staircases took you up into different sections.
We walked around a little before noticing there was a separate entryway (or exit) on the other side. Walking out, we had the most unbelievable view. It felt like a piece of paradise in nature had been plucked from some distant area and placed right at the mouth of this cave. There was a park of sorts, with a beautiful pond and limestone cliffs as far as the eye could see. We walked down another huge staircase and explored this area, taking in the peace and nature.
After an hour or so, the clouds started rolling in. They were looking pretty ominous, so we finished up and ordered a grab to the Qing Xin Ling Leisure & Cultural Village. This was supposed to be similar to the other culture villages we have seen, so we were excited to see what it had to offer. Our grab driver was a little too interested in talking, and distracted, ignored his maps and got a little lost. After alerting him of multiple missed turns, we did make it to the village. Right as we got out of the car, it started pouring. Thankfully we were under cover, but we noticed there was a ticket booth and a gated entrance. There wasn’t much information showing what the village had to offer, and what we could see didn’t excite us very much. Additionally, I can’t recall the entrance fee, but it was pretty high. We decided that it wasn’t worth it and we called another driver to take us to our last stop.
We arrived at the Perak Guanyin Cave Buddhist temple soon after. It was really pretty, but honestly kind of similar to all of the other cave temples. Inside the temple itself was a nice koi pond amongst other things.
One thing that did stick out was there were a ton of dogs here, including a few that look like they had just given birth. Some of the dogs had really thick coats and do not seem like the type of dog that should be in this climate.
One of the men who worked here was super friendly and excited that we were Americans, quickly finding a Canadian and an American guest that were visiting to introduce them to us. There wasn’t too much to see so we grabbed back to the city and went to go try the famous white coffee in Ipoh.
The description seemed to be similar to Vietnamese coffee, supposedly called white coffee as they use sweetened condensed milk. David ordered an iced white coffee, and caitlyn a hot one as well as their cheese tart set. The white coffees came out, and interestingly, were not white. They tasted fine but didn’t live upto the hype. Caitlyn enjoyed the tarts, but greatly enjoyed her white coffee. She felt that it was very smooth and creamy with very little bitterness.. While we sat we watched a video that the restaurant had produced explaining about its bird’s nest drinks that it makes and sells. We found this interesting and pretty gross.
With such a long day, we felt it was a good idea to find a bar and grab a beer. Ipoh is a pretty small town and many bars don’t open until later. We found one that was opened, called “Sinhalese Bar”. The reviews were really positive and described it as stepping back into a time machine. We walked towards the bar, eventually finding it. We walked in through the saloon-style doors in the front and were greeted by a middle-aged Indian man. We sat down at a large table and noticed a few other groups of people all sitting together at a few tables.
We sat and enjoyed our beer for a while and eventually a younger guy at another tables asks us where we were from. When we said “America” his face lit up. He told us he is so excited because he loves America but has never met an American. He said he loves the freedom, the movies, and absolutely everything. He keeps up with American affairs and politics. He was a very big Trump fan as well and said his father is even more of a Trump fan than he is. We learned that his name is Amrick. We started talking about a million topics and he introduced us to a man in his 40’s next to him as “Dave” and said that he works at the law office where Amrick practices law. Dave was very hard to understand with the tone of his voice and how far away he was, but the younger lawyer jokingly said “I am sorry my friend is inebriated.” We did learn that his wife is from Bangkok and while he loves Thailand, his heart is in Ipoh and he loves to show new people what the beautiful town has to offer. We eventually go sit down over Amrick and Dave’s table to hear better and we talked for quite a while about guns, OJ Simpson, and his plans to eventually visit America. He taught us some about cricket as there was a big game on, and informed us that cricket games can last 8 hours! Eventually, more people from other tables at the bar start coming up to introduce themselves, including a sikh man named Raj who is an anesthesiologist at the local hospital (Amrick and Raj were both Sikh, though Raj kept his hair and beard uncut and wore a dastar).
Raj was wearing a Metallica shirt, and we started chatting with him about metal music, bands we liked, concerts we have been to, and our new found love of vinyl. As we chatted more with the bar patrons, the topic of conversation changed to our travels throughout East and other parts of Southeast Asia. As we were discussing our time in Japan, a Chinese-Malaysian man sitting with Raj asked us about our experience as Americans being in Japan in the aftermath of the atomic bomb. We talked about how solemn and heavy the experience was to spend time in Hiroshima. Amrick interrupted us saying “the Americans dropping the bombs was one of the best things that happened to Malaysia. It gave us our freedom.” We hadn’t learned much about Malaysias history so far, so it was very interesting hearing people expressing such a positive opinion about a devastating event. The Japanese had occupied Malaysia during the 40’s and after the atomic bomb was dropped and Japan surrendered, it started the process of removing Japanese troops from parts of SE Asia. While Malaysia didn’t fully gain their independence immediately after WWII, it was just over a decade later that they did.
After spending much time having open discussions amongst multiple tables, side conversations started to break out. David and Amrick went back to discussing how much Amrick wants to visit the US, while Caitlyn joined the table with Raj and the Chinese-Malaysian (sadly we did not ever catch his name but we will call him Bob from here out) and talked about Malaysian culture and music. Raj ended up buying some bar snacks for us to try, telling us about the delicious Indian lamb curry that the owner’s wife makes. Instead of using utensils to eat it, you tear off a piece of white bread and use it to scoop up the meat and sauce. It was absolutely delicious, and made us want more.
Caitlyn’s bladder was close to exploding, so she was guided to the back kitchen area for her to use the restroom. When she came out of the bathroom she was greeted by the owner’s wife, who she started chatting with. Caitlyn completed her on the amazing food and wonderful atmosphere of the bar. They also chatted about Caitlyn and David’s travels, and what they thought of Ipoh. Suddenly, a cage behind caitlyn started shaking which started her. The owner’s wife started laughing and said that she has two cats that she locks away when the bar gets busy. She pulled out the now black cat, telling caitlyn about how she rescued him and how he listens to her so well when she calls for him. It definitely made Caitlyn miss her two black cats at home! They talked for a bit longer before Caitlyn got a message from David asking if she was okay, which prompted her to say her goodbye and head back to the bar area. While she greatly enjoyed chatting with the wife of the owner, she was glad that she didn’t see the state of the kitchen until AFTER she had already tasted the food…
After enjoying some more conversation, and having a few beers purchased for us from varying people at the bar, our stomachs started to rumble. We told our new friends that we hadn’t yet eaten and they told us that Ipoh is famous for its Chinese food and that they knew a great spot and asked if we would like to get dinner with them. We were so happy to continue to spend time with these kind people, and left with Raj, Amrick, and Bob. We arrived at Yin Fai Kee just before closing time and all took a table outside.
Our new friends did the ordering, and soon enough a vegetable clay pot dish, a noodle dish, a pork dish, an egg soup, and a side of veggies (and of course some more beers) came out.
At one point David and Raj went to walk to an ATM as David was low on cash. David had to pee at one point and Raj told him that the Ipoh was was to find a tree and to let it rip. David was reluctant at first, but they both found a nice couple of trees and did the deed. Back at the table, the conversation started to get a little too heated as Amrick was a bit of a COVID denier while Raj spent the covid years helping run an ICU. Amrick was more hot headed than Raj, but we all eventually got the conversation back to baseline. It was time to pay and they would not hear it. Raj paid for everything and wouldn’t accept a dime.
They then wanted to take us to try some local beer. They took us to Kafe Yoon Wah to try “todi beer”. They ordered basically one of everything so we could try a few kinds. They explained that todi is made from fermented coconut. Amrick was particularly proud, as his grandfather was a very poor farmer and that this is the type of drink that he would have made. In the past, this drink was considered to be only for the poor people, but now everyone enjoys it. Again, once finished, Raj would not let us pay and paid the entire bill.
Raj was a big metal fan. We first noticed this earlier as he was wearing a Metallica shirt tonight, but after talking to him we discussed our mutual love for metal music and talked about seeing Iron Maiden live. Raj was very proud of his music collection and his stereo. We really wanted to show us his music at his house, but it was almost 2 and we were pretty tired so we declined. We tried to give him some money as he paid for so much tonight and was so generous, but he wouldn’t have it. He said “I’m already offended you wouldn’t come by to see my music, so don’t offend me more by giving me money! If you want to pay me back, give the money to someone who needs it.” We finally accepted this and said our goodbyes, heading back to our hotel and to get a few short hours of sleep.
David’s thoughts of the day: This was one of the best, if not the best experience we have had on this trip. The whole bar, but especially the three people we hung out all night with were so generous. We felt like we had known them all forever. We had such incredible and genuine conversations the entire night and could not believe how welcomed we felt.
Caitlyn’s thoughts of the day: we have experienced a lot of highs throughout our trip, but getting an opportunity to have such a genuine interaction with so many locals and to be welcomed in with open arms was such an amazing experience. I will cherish today for a very long time.
Steps walked: 14,469
Miles walked: 6.92
Bluming Travelers 