TEXT and Photos BY JENNEE GRACE U. RUBRICO
It was midmorning and the sun was unforgiving when we sat ourselves down in a dim sum restaurant. As soon as we got to Ipoh, the capital city of Perak in Malaysia, Waran, a teacher in one of the schools in the city and my mom’s former student, whisked us to breakfast.
Ipoh, Waran said, is known for its food, being the birthplace of
Malaysia’s Old Town White Coffee and one of the country’s food meccas.
We had tried to beg off from eating so soon after arriving, as we had
been served pastry and drinks during the two-hour train ride that took
me and my parents to the city from Kuala Lumpur; our host, however,
would not hear of it.
“You can still make space for this,” Waran said, as five kinds of dim sum were served along with glutinous rice, dumplings, tea and white coffee. “This is light.”
I took a piece of prawn dim sum with doubts about finishing what was before us. A bite changed my mind. It was so tasty, with the flavors coming alive as soon as they touched the tongue. The others were just as flavorful.
Even the char siew pao (pork dumpling), which I didn’t think I had space for, was gobbled up. The softness of the bun coupled with the strong flavors of the meat was almost perfection. And while I did have a hard time finishing my portion of the delightfully salty glutinous rice, it was by no means a commentary on its taste. I was simply stuffed.
“It’s impossible to die of starvation in Ipoh,” Waran said. “You can die of overeating, but it’s with a full stomach.”
Ipoh owes its development to a mining boom during the 19th century, when tin was its main product. It has since positioned itself as a cosmopolitan city that is less crowded than the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur.
“Ipoh has everything,” Waran, a native of the city, said when we were back in his well-maintained nine-year-old Proton sedan. It certainly has wide roads, and a lot of one-way streets. The rows of shop houses we passed were reminiscent of the old section of Singapore.
“A river divides the city,” Waran said as we drove over a bridge. “On one side of the Sungai Kinta is the Old Town and on the other is the New Town.”
British influence is embodied by the colonial buildings in the Old Town, bits of which may be familiar; many were used as locations for the Jodie Foster-Chow Yun Fat movie Anna and the King.
At the Ipoh railway station, neoclassical architecture combines with Moorish domes and turrets. Nearby, St. Michael’s Institution, a government-run school that is part of the La Salle community, has stood for 99 years. The heritage building, simpler in design than the rail station, has strong clean lines, gables and arched verandas that open to the school grounds’ lush vegetation. The long hallways feel like ghosts haunt the place.
“Next year, we celebrate our centennial year,” says Waran, who is both an alumnus and a teacher in the school. “The building has not undergone major renovation work. This is the same staircase it had when it was first opened.”
The school was a Kempeitai headquarters during the Japanese occupation. On a marble slab, the names of La Salle brothers who fell victim to the war are listed. Beside a door, a plate marks a room used for interrogating Kempeitai prisoners. Here, Malaysian heroine Sybil Kathigesu “suffered the atrocities of wartime interrogation.”
The former torture room, Waran said, was now being used as a classroom.
Away from the city-center, a mystical Ipoh beckons. Wat Mekprasit (Mek Prasit Buddhist Temple) stands to welcome both the faithful and the curious. Statues of the Buddha -- including one that shows him cutting his hair with a sword meet visitors at the tiny parking lot of the temple, said to be one of the oldest in Ipoh. Two seven-headed snakes frame the way to the place of worship, which is best known for housing a gigantic reclining Buddha. A mural tells his story.
At the main prayer hall, where the giant Buddha lies and a monk was watching TV, a golden Buddha in lotus position sits on a layered altar. Surrounding the hall are graven monks, also in lotus position and with hands crossed in prayer, their faces reflecting the blissful expression of the reclining Gautama.
The silence of the temple was calming, and the cool cement under our bare feet gave some respite from the noonday heat.
After resting at Gunung Lang Taman Rekreasi (Lang Recreational Park), where one could go boating, feed the fish or simply rest tired feet while enjoying a view of canopied islands and a placid lake, we got to visit more unconventional places of worship: temples with limestone walls in the bowels of the earth.
Fronted by a white and red façade that is covered with inscriptions, Perak Tong (Perak Cave) houses a 12-meter high image of a sitting Buddha that greets visitors at the entrance. The Chinese temple houses more than 40 statues of the deity, each one different from the other.
In one corner, a priest was leading some people in worship. They were kneeling before one of the statues and chanting.
Calligraphy and Chinese paintings adorn the cave walls. On a slab of limestone, a pretty Chinese girl in traditional garb looks down on visitors while on another, praying monks kneel before a meditating Buddha. Painted on one of the inner caverns is a traditional Chinese landscape, drawn in black and white. On other walls, Chinese poems are illustrated with flowers and other paintings. The artwork in the cave could rival a museum’s gallery of oriental art.
Facing the cave is a garden with a statue of a lady gazing at the temple. “That is a goddess that is said to be protecting the temple,” said Waran.
Another cave temple, Sam Poh Tong, stands beside Perak Tong. Built in 1912, the Buddhist temple sports a more intricate façade than its neighbor’s, but the centerpiece is the Chinese garden of bonsai trees and the pond that hosts turtles and koi. The garden features stone pillars and a grotto of a goddess. With the limestone mountain as its backdrop, it is breathtaking. In 1993, it was named the best landscaped garden in Malaysia.
A walk through the cave -- which is decorated with images of Buddha carved on marble -- brought us to the tortoise pond behind the premises. There must have been a hundred sleeping in the gated pools under the afternoon sun. Waran said feeding the tortoises was allowed, but we contented ourselves with watching them adjust to the heat.
Across from the tortoise pond is a traditional Chinese building. The gates were locked, and no one seemed to be stirring inside. The white building with a red roof rises five storeys high. Like many ancient Chinese buildings, the awnings host animal sculptures on their edges. The only western mark we could see from outside the compound was a fountain that had a sculpture of a naked boy.
Our last cave was Kek Look Tong, which sits on a 12-acre site in Guning Rapat. It was the simplest among the three cave temples, containing 13 statues of Buddhist and Taoist deities and none of the murals of Perak Tong. But it surpasses Perak Tong and Sam Poh Tong in two aspects: first, the stalactite and stalagmite formations of the cave have remained intact.
Its second edge is not as easily seen -- one would have to walk all the way to the rear mouth of the cave to see a stunningly beautiful garden.
Shangri-la, my dad said.
Waran calls the place Garden of Eden.
The Web site of Kek Look Tong says that the award-winning landscape garden features a jogging path that circles two man-made lakes and hosts one of the longest reflexology footpaths in Ipoh. Bordered by mountains on three sides, the garden is a safe haven for endemic flora and fauna as well as migratory birds.
“The lakes are populated with carp, turtles and cichlids, while monkeys, lizards, and even the occasional mountain goat are sighted within, roaming the grounds,” it adds.
As we admired the view, a breeze blew from the garden and through the cave, enveloping us in a coolness that not only refreshed, but also comforted.
“No wonder the first man lived in caves,” Waran commented.
Thoughts of Ipoh filled my head on the trip back to KL that night. The city is many things: a food haven, a spiritual sanctuary, and an architectural treasure.
Ipoh is a city with charms that know no bounds.
“You can still make space for this,” Waran said, as five kinds of dim sum were served along with glutinous rice, dumplings, tea and white coffee. “This is light.”
I took a piece of prawn dim sum with doubts about finishing what was before us. A bite changed my mind. It was so tasty, with the flavors coming alive as soon as they touched the tongue. The others were just as flavorful.
Even the char siew pao (pork dumpling), which I didn’t think I had space for, was gobbled up. The softness of the bun coupled with the strong flavors of the meat was almost perfection. And while I did have a hard time finishing my portion of the delightfully salty glutinous rice, it was by no means a commentary on its taste. I was simply stuffed.
“It’s impossible to die of starvation in Ipoh,” Waran said. “You can die of overeating, but it’s with a full stomach.”
Ipoh owes its development to a mining boom during the 19th century, when tin was its main product. It has since positioned itself as a cosmopolitan city that is less crowded than the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur.
“Ipoh has everything,” Waran, a native of the city, said when we were back in his well-maintained nine-year-old Proton sedan. It certainly has wide roads, and a lot of one-way streets. The rows of shop houses we passed were reminiscent of the old section of Singapore.
“A river divides the city,” Waran said as we drove over a bridge. “On one side of the Sungai Kinta is the Old Town and on the other is the New Town.”
British influence is embodied by the colonial buildings in the Old Town, bits of which may be familiar; many were used as locations for the Jodie Foster-Chow Yun Fat movie Anna and the King.
At the Ipoh railway station, neoclassical architecture combines with Moorish domes and turrets. Nearby, St. Michael’s Institution, a government-run school that is part of the La Salle community, has stood for 99 years. The heritage building, simpler in design than the rail station, has strong clean lines, gables and arched verandas that open to the school grounds’ lush vegetation. The long hallways feel like ghosts haunt the place.
“Next year, we celebrate our centennial year,” says Waran, who is both an alumnus and a teacher in the school. “The building has not undergone major renovation work. This is the same staircase it had when it was first opened.”
The school was a Kempeitai headquarters during the Japanese occupation. On a marble slab, the names of La Salle brothers who fell victim to the war are listed. Beside a door, a plate marks a room used for interrogating Kempeitai prisoners. Here, Malaysian heroine Sybil Kathigesu “suffered the atrocities of wartime interrogation.”
The former torture room, Waran said, was now being used as a classroom.
Away from the city-center, a mystical Ipoh beckons. Wat Mekprasit (Mek Prasit Buddhist Temple) stands to welcome both the faithful and the curious. Statues of the Buddha -- including one that shows him cutting his hair with a sword meet visitors at the tiny parking lot of the temple, said to be one of the oldest in Ipoh. Two seven-headed snakes frame the way to the place of worship, which is best known for housing a gigantic reclining Buddha. A mural tells his story.
At the main prayer hall, where the giant Buddha lies and a monk was watching TV, a golden Buddha in lotus position sits on a layered altar. Surrounding the hall are graven monks, also in lotus position and with hands crossed in prayer, their faces reflecting the blissful expression of the reclining Gautama.
The silence of the temple was calming, and the cool cement under our bare feet gave some respite from the noonday heat.
After resting at Gunung Lang Taman Rekreasi (Lang Recreational Park), where one could go boating, feed the fish or simply rest tired feet while enjoying a view of canopied islands and a placid lake, we got to visit more unconventional places of worship: temples with limestone walls in the bowels of the earth.
Fronted by a white and red façade that is covered with inscriptions, Perak Tong (Perak Cave) houses a 12-meter high image of a sitting Buddha that greets visitors at the entrance. The Chinese temple houses more than 40 statues of the deity, each one different from the other.
In one corner, a priest was leading some people in worship. They were kneeling before one of the statues and chanting.
Calligraphy and Chinese paintings adorn the cave walls. On a slab of limestone, a pretty Chinese girl in traditional garb looks down on visitors while on another, praying monks kneel before a meditating Buddha. Painted on one of the inner caverns is a traditional Chinese landscape, drawn in black and white. On other walls, Chinese poems are illustrated with flowers and other paintings. The artwork in the cave could rival a museum’s gallery of oriental art.
Facing the cave is a garden with a statue of a lady gazing at the temple. “That is a goddess that is said to be protecting the temple,” said Waran.
Another cave temple, Sam Poh Tong, stands beside Perak Tong. Built in 1912, the Buddhist temple sports a more intricate façade than its neighbor’s, but the centerpiece is the Chinese garden of bonsai trees and the pond that hosts turtles and koi. The garden features stone pillars and a grotto of a goddess. With the limestone mountain as its backdrop, it is breathtaking. In 1993, it was named the best landscaped garden in Malaysia.
A walk through the cave -- which is decorated with images of Buddha carved on marble -- brought us to the tortoise pond behind the premises. There must have been a hundred sleeping in the gated pools under the afternoon sun. Waran said feeding the tortoises was allowed, but we contented ourselves with watching them adjust to the heat.
Across from the tortoise pond is a traditional Chinese building. The gates were locked, and no one seemed to be stirring inside. The white building with a red roof rises five storeys high. Like many ancient Chinese buildings, the awnings host animal sculptures on their edges. The only western mark we could see from outside the compound was a fountain that had a sculpture of a naked boy.
Our last cave was Kek Look Tong, which sits on a 12-acre site in Guning Rapat. It was the simplest among the three cave temples, containing 13 statues of Buddhist and Taoist deities and none of the murals of Perak Tong. But it surpasses Perak Tong and Sam Poh Tong in two aspects: first, the stalactite and stalagmite formations of the cave have remained intact.
Its second edge is not as easily seen -- one would have to walk all the way to the rear mouth of the cave to see a stunningly beautiful garden.
Shangri-la, my dad said.
Waran calls the place Garden of Eden.
The Web site of Kek Look Tong says that the award-winning landscape garden features a jogging path that circles two man-made lakes and hosts one of the longest reflexology footpaths in Ipoh. Bordered by mountains on three sides, the garden is a safe haven for endemic flora and fauna as well as migratory birds.
“The lakes are populated with carp, turtles and cichlids, while monkeys, lizards, and even the occasional mountain goat are sighted within, roaming the grounds,” it adds.
As we admired the view, a breeze blew from the garden and through the cave, enveloping us in a coolness that not only refreshed, but also comforted.
“No wonder the first man lived in caves,” Waran commented.
Thoughts of Ipoh filled my head on the trip back to KL that night. The city is many things: a food haven, a spiritual sanctuary, and an architectural treasure.
Ipoh is a city with charms that know no bounds.
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