Day 11 - Ipoh

It was another big day touring today. We went with John again and he took us to old town Ipoh first which had all sorts of interesting nooks and crannies. The old buildings covered in vines were very beautiful. We went to the tea museum which showed the journey of a man from China to Malaysia to create a herbal tea empire. It didn't taste very good 😝
We then went to visit some temples built in caves which were very beautiful and unique. One temple was inside a small open space surrounded by rocky mountains and the only way to get there was through a cave, it was very serene. Lunch was at a local restaurant and it was one of the best meals we've had.
The next stop was Kelly's Castle which was odd to see in Malaysia. It was being built by a Scottish man in early 1900's but he died before it was completed and it was left to ruin until WW2 when it was bombed by Japan who then took over the castle and supposedly tortured people in the cellar underground so they believe it is haunted. This is the kind of historical stuff I like 😉 After that we went to a pomelo farm which wasn't much fun cos we got smashed by mosquitoes.
We finally checked in to our hotel, Lost World Hotel, at 5pm and chilled down. The had dinner at maccas tonight and we had dinner at a little restaurant down the road. On the walk back we stopped into the giant supermarket and bought some snacks and beer. I love looking at all the different foods in supermarkets around the world, you'll never know what you'll find! 🙂

Day 10 - Ipoh

Today was a relaxing day and this was just the right hotel for it. It is surrounded by rocky cliffs and has the most amazing infinity pool with spa sections and all. We pretty much spent the day eating, swimming and getting massages, it was awesome 😊

Day 9 - Penang to Taiping to Ipoh

So the Easter bunny came last night which made Charlie very happy. When Charlie handed Lockie his eggs he shoved them under his blanket and then rolled over and went back to sleep 🤣
We were picked up from our hotel at 10am by John from Ipoh Secrets and he drove us 1.5hrs south to the Bukit Merah Orang Utan Sanctuary. It was small but interesting. They have 16 orang utans at the moment and 2 are babies. They have bred 13 since the sanctuary started.
We then drove to Taiping which is the old capital of Malaysia. It was very old and dilapidated and poor. It would certainly be a good place for a ghost tour! We had lunch in a local food court, some of the food was good, some of it not so good 😉 After that we went to the botanic gardens and museum which we didn't really enjoy because it is hard for us to absorb history that goes so far back, and it was incredibly hot in there! We then went to an old coffee factory and tasted the local coffees, most of which were pretty sweet, and then we went to the josstick factory which is where they make these massive decorative incense sticks for festivals which was pretty cool, and then to the charcoal factory where they ship in mangrove wood on little old boats and make charcoal in these huge igloo looking things, that was pretty interesting too. By late afternoon we visited the fisherman's village which was really interesting but so dirty and poor. Its hard to believe how hard these people work for such little money and state of living. There was rubbish everywhere and even their toilet houses empty into the water. After that we had dinner at a local seafood restaurant and were pleased to find the food very tasty 😉 We had a feast of seafood and beer for $50 AUD. Even the kids ate little fried crabs!
We were supposed to do a firefly cruise but the weather turned bad so we drove 1.5hrs to our hotel in Ipoh, The Haven Resort and arrived at 9.30pm.

Day 8 - Penang

We all had a sleep in this morn which was good. Lockie is always the last one to wake and grumbles at everyone for making too much noise, ah teenagers 😉
We went for a leisurely swim this morn and then ate some more food and relaxed in the room. In the afternoon we took a car to the Batik Craft centre and watched them making batik pieces, it's such a beautiful art. After that we went to the Entopia butterfly farm which I think has been the best attraction in Penang. It has not only butterflies but spiders and bugs of all sorts, and lots of interactive kids exhibits. I could have spent hours there but the boys were hanging to get back to the pool.
After another swim we headed out to our favorite little Chinese family run restaurant Guan Guan for dinner and had spring rolls, noodles, satay sticks, omelette, beer and soft drinks for $26 AUD. Steve and Lockie went back to the room then and Charlie and I did some shopping and rode a trishaw back to the hotel.