Feeling my way round Ipoh

The obvious places for me to shop for my family's needs were, of course, the all-familiar Jaya Jusco and Tesco. The Jusco in Kinta City is not bad, really. The supermarket section is huge - even larger than the one in One Utama in Bandar Utama, PJ. Tesco in Ipoh looks like....Tesco in Mutiara Damansara.

Then on to the wet markets. My "fabulous" sis-in-law obliged, on command of my MIL, and took me to 2 wet markets. The central market in town and another market in Pasir Pinji. The central market is big, clean but one can get lost there because of the multi levels, twists and turns, and split levels. It's also a bit farther for me. So I settled on the Pasir Pinji market. You can get everything there - pork, chicken, fish and other seafood, fruits, veges, soya bean produce, cooked foods, delicious "acar", assortment of local kuih, roast pork, drief stuff like onions, dried prawns etc., even clothes, pet fish, kitchen ware. Oh, it doesn't have any beef vendors, though. Neither does it sell any "tempeh" (made from soya and is a Malay favourite) which my daughter and I have grown to like - my maid makes delicious tempeh ikan bilis with chilly.

Ipoh Garden South is quite an established township, with lots of shops providing most of one's usual needs. There are pharmacies, hair salons, Chinese medicine halls, a dance centre (or two?), tuition centres, fruiterers, even a Pizza Hut. Speaking of fruiterers, back in PJ, there were not many shops selling only fruits but here in Ipoh, it looks like big business. There are fruit shops everywhere. But they are not cheap though. Quality of fruits sold in the Ipoh Garden South shop which I go to is pretty good. So I have to pay for that.

Ipoh Garden is of course THE established neighbourhood in Ipoh. Lots of shops, lots of banks, restaurants, mamak shops (my favourite is Bukit Merah) and the old style Indian barbers.

Another little township I found useful is Taman Cempaka. It has a small wet market, mini post office (great tiny mini Pos Malaysia, which I highly recommend if you are around this side of Ipoh), petrol station, 7-Eleven and lots of photocopy services. Must be a student population nearby.