Ipoh-Cherating Day 2-3: Cameron Highlands Boh Tea & Ipoh Parade

Day 2: 

After breakfast that morning, we started our journey at around 10.30am to Boh Tea Centre (Sungei Palas) on Cameron Highlands.

Although we would be visiting the Sungei Palas part of the large Boh Tea Estate for this trip, the roads to get there were just as narrow and complex as the last time we visited Boh Tea in 2016! Be warned, you'd require above-average driving skills to navigate these roads!

Winding roads to Boh Tea Centre

Case in point, the photo below taken by the sister-in-law demonstrates just how tight the space between our car and the oncoming full-sized bus was! 

Not for the faint-hearted! 😅

We arrived at a packed carpark and somehow managed to find lots to park our cars. We then followed the throng of visitors to a flight of stairs that will eventually lead us to the restaurant.

It's quite a climb as you can see

You can even spot the carpark from the top!

Boh Tea Centre Sungei Palas address:
Brinchang, 39100 Brinchang, Pahang, Malaysia

Super crowded restaurant!

It was so crowded that we almost couldn't find a table to fit all 12 of us, much less a table with a view. We finally found a table for 10, just in time for the food! 😋

Cakes, macarons and pastries

The pastries and soups were good but the big winner to me was the teh (milk tea)! I loved it so much that I finished mine rather quickly and gladly helped my Mum-in-law finish hers! 😝

After our meal, we headed to the lookout to take photos with the lovely scenery.

Group photo by a fellow visitor

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My only gripe was having to endure the horribly dirty toilets due to the crowds! Thankfully I managed to find one relatively clean toilet to use! 😖

Otherwise it was a good experience! We left the same way we came, through the narrow winding roads!

We headed to Cameron Highlands Organic Produce Steamboat Restaurant for lunch. We last visited in 2022 and loved it so much that we're back! It's one of the reasons we keep going back to Cameron Highlands! 😄

Cameron Highlands Steamboat

Farm to table fresh! Super delicious 😋 

After lunch, we checked Google Maps for improvements to the traffic congestion that we had observed on the opposite side of the road when we drove to our lunch venue. Google Map estimated a minimum 2-hour jam on the sole road back to Ipoh (the same road that we took this morning)! 😖

We originally planned to visit the new Hobbiton Village but were forced to give it a miss as it was located on the congested route. Instead, we drove in the opposite direction towards Tapah. It was a longer route but at least we wouldn't be stuck in traffic.

The journey was extremely winding (even more than the route to Ipoh)! Many family members experienced motion sickness as a result! 😵‍💫 Thankfully, the Littlest and I don't suffer from kinetosis! 😶

After more than an hour of cornering sharp bends, we finally reached the bottom of the mountain! By now, I needed to go to the toilet urgently but had to wait until the next R&R, which was at least 15 minutes away! 🥴

To make matters worse, it started to rain cats and dogs! I had to wear my raincoat to exit the car because the wind was too strong for an umbrella! In fact, the wind was so strong that when I entered one of the toilet cubicles, I saw a fallen tile (presumably from the ceiling) sticking out from the toilet bowl! I couldn't believe my eyes! 😲😱 

Despite feeling the rain on my body, I did what I had to do, while fervently praying that no other tiles would fall off and hit someone! It was a crazy experience I'd never forget! 

By the time we arrived at Mad Ramen, the rain had stopped and we were famished.

Mad Ramen Bar address:
3, Jalan Panglima, 30000 Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia

We couldn't wait to tuck into a nice warm bowl of ramen 🍜 yum! 😋 

We ended the day with a warm shower and a good night's sleep. It was a long day! 😴 

Day 3: 

We woke up late this morning as it was our chill day in Ipoh. We had a simple breakfast while the little kids swim in the pool.

At lunch time, we headed back to Tuck Kee Restaurant because we loved it when we ate it 2 days ago!

This fried omelette looked deceivingly ordinary but was so amazing that all that was left of it was an empty plate! 

We ordered a lot more food this time because it was our last roast meat meal in Ipoh!

After lunch, we headed to Ipoh Parade for shopping and a movie. The Hubby and I decided to bring all the kids to watch Garfield The Movie at Golden Screens Cinema (GSC).

Excited for the movie 🍿

Before other movie goers streamed into the theatre

The movie was so boring that the Hubby and I fell asleep! Lucky the ticket was cheap (around $3-4 per person) so we didn't lugi much. It's too bad that Insight Out 2 wasn't out then.

When it was time for dinner, we headed to Durbar at FMS (stands for Federated Malay States). Located in Ipoh Old Town, the restaurant is believed to be the oldest bar in Malaysia!

Durbar at FMS address:
2, Jalan Sultan Idris Shah, 30000 Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia

The staff led us to a private room at the top of the stairs because of our large group. 

Mushroom soup and fried rice

Chicken cutlet and steak

Fish

One of the staff who was older than my Mum-in-law shared with us about the history of the restaurant and details of the food. We enjoyed the fantastic service and food! 

We ended the night with a final swim in our private pool!

Private pools are meant for night swims! 😄

Check out other attractions in Ipoh:

• Lost World of Tambun
• Gua Tempurang
• Kellie's Castle
• Concubine Lane

Can't believe this was our last night in Ipoh! Thanks for everything! 🩷

Continue to >> Ipoh-Cherating Day 4: Club Med Cherating Beach

<< Back to Ipoh-Cherating Day 1: Arrival at Ipoh Homestay

~~~~~~

Visit MADPSYCHMUM TRAVELS for the rest of my posts on road trips in Malaysia 
as well as other travel itineraries! 

Do also check out my recommendations on kid-friendly activities in Malaysia!

You can also follow my travel adventures on Instagram via the hashtag #madpsychmumtravels! =)

Ipoh-Cherating Day 1: Arrival at Ipoh Homestay

Our family of 5 adults, 3 teens and 4 kids love going on road trips in Malaysia together! We went to Ipoh, Genting, Port Dickson & Melaka in 2022 and Kuala Lumpur in 2023!

This year, our 10D9N itinerary was as follows:

Singapore >> Ipoh (Cameron Highlands day trip) >> Club Med Cherating Beach >> Desaru >> Johor Bahru >> Singapore

We agreed to meet at 5.30am so that we can cross the causeway early. However, I barely slept the night before as the Littlest had woken me up at 1am and I had trouble returning to sleep after waking up. By the time I was finally in dreamland, it was time to wake up! I was so exhausted! 🐼😵

We loaded our boot with all our luggage and piled into the car. Thankfully, we managed to clear customs very quickly as there was no queue at the Tuas Checkpoint!

We headed straight to Restoran Dim Sum Jinbo for breakfast. The journey there was surprisingly fast as there were no road works or traffic jams! We arrived at around 8.30am 😁

Restoran Dim Sum Jinbo address:
89 & 88, Jln MPK 2, Taman Bukit Kepayang, 70200 Seremban, Negeri Sembilan

Menu

We ordered a variety of dim sum to try and enjoyed the food! 😋

Full spread!

We finished our breakfast and continued our journey. Seremban was a good pitstop as it was the halfway point of our route to Ipoh and Jinbo was located right next to the expressway (for easy exit and entry)!

Traffic to Ipoh was smoother than expected and we arrived at 1.30pm, earlier than planned! We had lunch at our favourite Tuck Kee Restaurant.

Tuck Kee Restaurant address:
1-3, Jalan King, Jalan Pasir Pinji, 31650 Ipoh, Perak

As we were not that hungry, we only ordered the restaurant's famous dishes!

Famous Ipoh bean sprouts

Roast duck

Crispy melt-in-your-mouth roast pork belly! Yum 😋 

During lunch, our accommodation host, VERVE management, Whatsapp me with the details of our check-in. As we could only check in at 3pm but we had finished lunch early, we stopped by Jaya Grocer at Ipoh Parade for groceries.

After shopping, we headed to the 5-bedroom landed house we had booked via Agoda because our previous accommodation at Octagon (also managed by VERVE) was not available. The 1-storey, 2000 square metres house cost about $240 per night, which was value-for-money!

We arrived at a white house with grey trimmings and classy black gates. The huge front yard could easily fit both our MPVs, with room to spare! Having ample parking space for both cars was a key consideration for choosing this accommodation.

Our home in Ipoh

The check-in process was easy as VERVE provided clear instructions on how to retrieve the remote for the gate and unlock/lock the main door's automatic lock.

The sofa in the living room was huge and comfortable; it was extremely popular with the kids every evening.

Living and dining

There were 3 bedrooms in the main house and 2 bedrooms in the annex next to the courtyard. Each room had at least 1 queen bed and some had additional mattresses to accommodate more people.

Main house bedroom 2

Main house bedroom 3

The 3 rooms in the main house had sheets that didn't feel clean to us. Some of us resorted to covering the sheets with our own clothes/towels in order to sleep.

The main house also had 2 toilets side by side, which was unique and really useful for our large family!

Side by side toilets

The full-sized pool table was placed outside the 2 toilets, next to sliding doors that led out to the courtyard.

Pool table and courtyard

The 2 bedrooms at the annex in the courtyard were accessed through sliding doors. Both rooms shared 1 toilet, which can be convenient or inconvenient, depending on how you look at it.

Annex bedroom 1

Annex bedroom 2

Surprisingly, the bedsheets in both Annex rooms were clean and we generally had no issues, other than the loud whishing from the airconditioners (thankfully it didn't bother us). 

The kitchen was not as well-stocked as the house in Blue Mountain, and the utensils and sponges were very old. We were prepared for this as seasoned travellers, and brought our own sponges, cloths and rubbish bags! 😀 The saving grace of the kitchen was the water dispenser and working washing machine (which we used every night to wash our clothes)!

Kitchen

The key highlight of this house was definitely the relatively large private pool in the courtyard!

Private pool overlooking the mountains

After we had settled in, the adults headed out to buy dinner back for the family. I stayed behind to watch the little kids swim while the Eldest Girl took a nap.

Playing in the pool

Took me forever to blow up the unicorn float

The kids were extra rowdy that day and I had to shout more than usual to ensure their safety. I had to constantly separate fights or make sure no one did anything dangerous like running on wet tiles. By the end of the afternoon, it became clear that I have lost my voice from all the yelling! 😭😖😫

It was so hot that I soon joined the little kids in the pool while my older nephews played at the pool table!

Pool table was a hit with the Dads and teens!
They played every morning and night! 🤭

The other adults finally returned after getting our dinner from Ipoh Restoran Tuck Kee (address: 61, Jalan Yau Tet Shin, Taman Jubilee, 30300 Ipoh, Perak) and Funny Mountain Soya Beancurd. We had dinner and chatted about our plans for the next day.

I was so sure that I would retire early for the night after I got my Littlest to sleep. However, I ended up sleeping later than expected as I had to hang the laundry! 😅

When my head finally hit my pillow, I slept soundly 😴 It had been a long day!

Continue to >> Ipoh-Cherating Day 2-3: Cameron Highlands Boh Tea & Ipoh Parade

~~~~~~

Visit MADPSYCHMUM TRAVELS for the rest of my posts on road trips in Malaysia 

as well as other travel itineraries! 

Do also check out my recommendations on kid-friendly activities in Malaysia!

You can also follow my travel adventures on Instagram via the hashtag #madpsychmumtravels! =)