MALAYSIABook your stay at lonelyplanet.com/hotels PENINSULAR MALAYSIA – WEST COAST •• Ipoh
costs RM25 per hour, or you can go up to
Gunung Brinchang and back for RM80.
While we never recommend hitch- hiking,
many travellers do so here to get between
Tanah Rata and Brinchang and the tea
plantations beyond.
IPOH
%05 / pop 710,800
Ipoh (ee-po) is chock full of faded tropical
mansions and a few green lungs. The Old
Town showcases elegant colonial architecture
and the magnificent train station (known lo-
cally as the ‘Taj Mahal’), but it’s also where
you’ll find the local bus stations. The elegant
layout and design of the town comes from
the prosperity once generated from tin min-
ing; this was once one of the wealthiest cit-
ies in Southeast Asia. Traffic-clogged New
Town east of the river is home to most of
the hotels and restaurants.
For most, the town is a transit link to
the Cameron Highlands, Pulau Pangkor
and beyond but it merits a day if you have
the time. The tourist information centre (% 241
2959, 529 0894; Jln Tun Sambathan; h8am-5pm Mon-Fri)
is near the padang and HSBC (Jln Tun Sambathan)
bank is near the clocktower.
Sleeping & Eating
Ipoh’s culinary specialities include kway
teow (rice-noodle soup) and Ipoh white
coffee, made with palm-oil margarine and
served with condensed milk.
Steer clear of some of the city’s cheap
dingy ‘hotels’ that are actually brothels. The
following are respectable:
Embassy (%254 9496; 19 Jln CM Yusuf; r from 25 a)
This is as cheap and cheerful as Ipoh gets
(it does get cheaper, but definitely not more
cheery). Not a lot of character, but rooms
are clean.
Sun Golden Inn (%243 6255; 17 Jln Che Tak; r RM40-
80; a) One of Ipoh’s better budget choices,
the Sun Golden Inn is a clean and friendly
Chinese hotel, with good management who
is used to dealing with Westerners.
MBI Terrace (off Jln Sultan Abdul Jalil; h7pm-
midnight) Essentially attached to the city’s mu-
nicipal sports complex, many Ipoh residents
will tell you the best kway teow in town is
served here.
Medan Selera Dato Tawhil Azar (Jln Raja Musa
Aziz; hdinner) This large open-air food stall
around a small square is a good spot for a
Malay meal.Getting There & Away
The long-distance bus station (Medan Gopeng) is
south of the train station and the city centre;
frequent shuttle buses to the city bus station
cost RM1.30.
Destinations include: Alor Setar (RM17,
four hours, two daily), Butterworth (RM15,
three hours, five daily), Hat Yai in Thailand
(RM65, nine hours, one daily), Johor Bahru
(RM37, eight hours, two daily), Kota Bharu
(RM25, seven hours, one daily), KL (RM14,
three hours, hourly), Lumut (RM7, two
hours, frequent) and Melaka (RM23, five
hours, three daily).
The local bus station is northwest of the
long-distance station on the other side of the
roundabout. Local buses depart from here
for outlying regions close to Ipoh, such as
Kuala Kangsar (RM6) and Tanah Rata in the
Cameron Highlands (RM10).
Ipoh’s train station (%254 0481; Jln
Panglima Bukit Gantang Wahab) is on the main
Singapore–Butterworth line. There are daily
trains to both KL (RM12, 4½ hours) and
Butterworth (RM17, five hours), the latter
continuing to Hat Yai in Thailand (RM30,
10 hours).LUMUT
%^05
Lumut is the departure point for Pulau
Pangkor. Tourism Malaysia (%683 4057; Jln
Sultan Idris Shah; h9am-5pm Mon-Fri, 9am-1.45pm
Sat) is midway between the jetty and the
bus station. Next door you’ll find a money
changer offering better rates than on Pulau
Pangkor, and Maybank further down the
street.CAVE TEMPLES
Ipoh’s jungle-clad limestone hills are rid-
dled with caves that locals believe to be a
great source of spiritual power. There are
Buddhist cave-temples on the outskirts of
town, including the beautiful mural-heavy
Perak Tong (h8am-5pm), 6km north on the
road to Kuala Kangsar, and Sam Poh Tong
(h8am-5pm), a few kilometres to the south,
which is the largest cave temple in Malaysia
and has an ornamental garden in front. Both
are easily accessible by local bus.459