MALAYSIA – IPOH

JANUARY 6-9, 2026

Ipoh used to have the nickname “City of Millionaires” from its tin mining heyday. There is evidence of the affluence it once had; but sadly, we found the city to be a shadow of what it once was. The former grand buildings now had paint peeling and many were covered in vines.

There were buildings that maintained a semblance of days gone by.

Some buildings were brightly painted.

We arrived in the early afternoon, so we head out to check out what we could. We started at the CITY HALL.

Walked past the BIRCH MEMORIAL CLOCK TOWER.

Then on to CONCUBINE LANE. The name comes from the early 1900s, during the tin mining boom. Chinese tycoons housed their concubines along this secluded area, away from their wives.

Today it still has the well-preserved shop houses but has been transformed into a lively tourist spot for souvenirs, eateries and some traditional shops, as well.

Across the street was the HO YAN HOR MUSEUM. Dr. Ho Kai Cheong was a humble man from humble beginnings. With only $4 he began selling a herbal tea for 5 cents per glass on the roadside. He sold out in one hour. His business quickly grew and he was soon making $40-$60 a day ($700-$900 in todays dollars) He only sold his tea in the evening, between 5:00 and 10:00 pm.

In 1947 he decided to package his herbal teas and sell the packets in coffee and medicine shops. He bicycled around Malaysia promoting his own product. In 1948 he bought his first car, making deliveries faster and easier. In 1951 he bought 3 acres of land and built a factory on it. His business grew from drying herbs on ratan trays to a full blown modern factory. His humble tea grew into the foundation of Hovid, a major pharmaceutical company. It all started from this location.

At the end of the tour we were given free samples of the teas. We bought the sample pack.

Ipoh is known for its wall murals. We found the MURAL ARTS LANE.

It was rather dingy, as were the murals. There were lots of murals, but most of them were old and nearly worn off.

Some of the murals were bright, lively and new.

The next day we took a GRAB to KELLIE’S CASTLE. It was about a half hour out of the city.  Scottish planter William Kellie-Smith came to Malaysia as a civil engineer. A business venture proved profitable and he started to plant rubber trees and even dabbled in the tin mining industry. He starting building the castle around 1910 for his wife and children. When he started building this 14 room mansion, there was no cement in Malaysia. The bricks were made of duck egg whites, sand, chalk, brown sugar and honey. WWI caused delays in shipping materials. The Spanish Flu killed most of his workers. In 1926 William was in Portugal on a mission to finalize some planting concessions. He had just bought the elevator to install in his mansion. It would have been the first in Malaysia. He caught a chill and died of pneumonia. He was 56 years old. Upon his death, his family moved back to Scotland and abandoned the castle. His son died in WWII. There are rumours that the place is haunted.

What remains is magnificent! The architecture is a mixture of Moorish, Indian and European.

He was a bit paranoid regarding the safety of his family and guests. Every bedroom had an escape route, complete with underground tunnels. (the tunnels were closed for safety reasons)

There was even a tennis court on the roof.

There were also gardens and a stable. It’s a shame he never finished it, and even a greater shame that his family abandoned it. Seriously? Scotland over Malaysia??? I don’t get it.

SIDE STORY: We decided to eat breakfast at the castle. We ordered waffles. It took them 25 minutes to make 2 waffles in a proper waffle iron. I don’t know how its possible to be that slow.

From Kellie’s Castle we went to TASIK CERMIN (MIRROR LAKE). It is not a natural lake. It is a side effect of mining. We had to pass through a 90 metre (295 ft) hand hewn tunnel, made by Chinese miners digging for iron ore, to reach the lake. Once the mine was abandoned, tunnels filled with water creating the lake.

The lake is surrounded by limestone cliffs, which was also once a quarry. Because there is no wind, the lake is calm and reflects the scene around it – like a mirror. Turn the picture up side down and it looks the same. We went on a small electric dingy around the lake to capture the full experience. It was a quiet boat ride. All we could hear was a bit of water and the call of birds. SO tranquil!! The guide said the lake is as deep as the cliffs around it.

The next day we went to SAM POH TONG TEMPLE. The temple is right next to Mirror Lake, but closes at 2:00 pm so we had to return. We had to go through a cave tunnel to reach the back garden where the temple actually was. There are lots of caves in Ipoh.

The Temple is tucked up against a cliff. The contrasting red building in front of the bright green trees and jagged cliffs made for an awesome sight.

It was not the temple that kept us there for nearly an hour, though. It was the turtles. We bought a small bowl of cherry tomatoes to feed them, and ended up buying two more bowls because it was so much fun to watch them. I called it “The Great Turtle Race”. They were ‘running’ to chase the tomatoes. The bigger ones would literally run over the smaller turtles. We could hear their shells clacking together when they hit one another and even slapping on the ground as they ran. When a smaller turtle got a tomato it would run for the water and jump in. Never assume every temple is the same. You could wind up feeding turtles for an hour!

There was a side alley from the temple. We discovered a crematorium and columbarium. There were huge sand filled trays for burning incense in front of a lotus pond.

I took that picture from the second floor of the columbarium. It reminded me of a library. There were hundreds of rows of shelves with thousands of niches of urns.

Behind the big blue building were the actual crematories. Stacks of wood were nearby.

Leaving the temple area, we wandered through the gardens. They had a pond with stone sculptures and a lovely little bridge to cross over the water.

On the other side was a small pagoda.

A building in the middle of the pond had huge dragon heads.

On the cliff face outside the temple was a rock formation that looked like Buddha’s face.

Next door was NAM THEAN TONG TEMPLE is a Taoist temple. It had a brightly coloured exterior and was also built into the side of a cliff.

At the entrance were brightly coloured, comical statues.

The railings and banisters were beautifully etched, but reminded me of tombstones.

The deities were covered in soot from years of incense and candles burning at their feet.

There were more turtles here, but they were not as amusing. They were in a tiny pool and not able to get away. There was, however, a white turtle.

ENVIRONMENT vs ECONOMICS

The lumpy, bumpy hills around Ipoh are limestone. It was hard to get a proper picture of how lumpy, bumpy and beautiful they are.

The industry in the area is a huge economic; but, also, an environmental concern. Companies, government & environmentalists struggle to find a balance between the economic benefits and the threat to endemic biodiversity and the landscape. While some abandoned mines have been turned into tourist attractions, like Taskik Cermin, others are just big ugly scars in the landscape. The limestone in this area is 400 million years old. Cutting into them is also destroying centuries old cave systems.

We took a bus back to Kuala Lumpur to catch a flight to Borneo, the Malaysian part.