THE KEK LOK TONG CAVE TEMPLE IS A TOURIST ATTRACTION. THE CAVE TEMPLE SITS ON A 12 ACRE SITE AND WAS USED AS EARLY AS 1920 AS A PLACE OF WORSHIP. IN 1960, THE CAVE BECAME PART OF AN IRON MINING SITE, THIS TEMPLE IS SET IN A HUGE CAVE IN THE LIMESTONE OUTCROPS BEHIND GUNUNG RAPAT. THE KEK LOK TONG COMPLEX COMPRISES A CENTRAL ALTAR FEATURING A NUMBER OF BUDDHIST FIGURES AS WELL AS VARIOUS DEITIES OF THE CHINESE PANTHEON. THE MOST UNIQUE ABOUT THE CAVES IS THERE ARE ANOTHER GREAT GARDEN VIEW ONCE YOU GET INSIDE THE CAVES. THE LIMESTONE HILL IS MADE UP OF LIGHT GREY TO WHITE CRYSTALLINE KINTA LIMESTONE INTER BEDDED WITH ABOUT 5 MM TO 1 CM THINK ARGILLACEOUS MATERIAL BANDS. PRIMARY IRON CAN STILL BE SEEN WITHIN THE LIMESTONE. THE AWARD WINNING LANDSCAPE GARDEN FEATURES A JOGGING PATH CIRCLING TWO LAKES AND ONE OF THE LONGEST REFLEXOLOGY FOOTPATHS IN IPOH.

KELLIE’S CASTLE IN PERAK’S BATU GAJAH NEAR IPOH COMBINES ROMANCE, TRAGEDY AND MYSTERY. YOUNG SCOTSMAN WILLIAM KELLIE SMITH MOVED TO BRITISH MALAYA, NOW MALAYSIA, MADE AND LOST HIS FORTUNE AND LEFT AN UNFINISHED MANSION TO BE RECLAIMED BY THE JUNGLE.

IPOH OLD TOWN WAS SUCH A QUIET TOWN THAT TRAVELLERS WOULD CALL IT A LAID-BACK TOWN WITH CAFES, TRADITIONAL COFFEES AND FOOD AND FLOURISHING STREET ARTS. NOT MUCH WAS HEARD OF THE THREE CONCUBINE LANES. IN JULY 2016, LONELY PLANET LISTED IPOH AS ONE OF THE BEST ASIAN DESTINATIONS TO VISIT. PHOTOS OF THE CONCUBINE LANES STARTED APPEARING IN NEWS ARTICLES.

THE IPOH RAILWAY STATION WAS INITIALLY MEANT TO BE A HOSPITAL AND USED BEFORE THE 20TH CENTURY AS SUCH BEFORE BEING TURNED INTO A STATION. THE ORIGINAL COMPLETION YEAR OF 1917 WAS DELAYED FOR THREE YEARS DUE TO LACK OF CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS AS WELL AS HIGH COSTS DURING WORLD WAR I.

IPOH TOWN HALL IS ONE OF THREE COLONIAL ERA BUILDINGS IN IPOH DESIGNED BY WELL KNOWN BRITISH ARCHITECT ARTHUR BENISON HUBBACK. THE OTHER TWO, IPOH HIGH COURT AND IPOH RAILWAY STATION, ARE A SHORT DISTANCE APART. IPOH RAILWAY STATION IS ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE ROAD AND IPOH HIGH COURT IS THE BUILDING NEXT DOOR.

IPOH STATE MOSQUE, OR SULTAN IDRIS SHAH II MOSQUE BY ITS OFFICIAL NAME, OPENED IN 1968. NAMED AFTER THE THEN SULTAN, THE RELIGIOUS LANDMARK OPPOSITE THE RAILWAY STATION HAS BECOME A SYMBOL OF THE CITY. THE WHITE-WASHED TWO-STORIED MOSQUE WITH A MODERN STYLE OF ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE HAS 44 DOMES AND A 38 METRE- (125 FEET-) TALL MINARET. TINY MOSAIC TILES DECORATE THIS MUST-VISIT ATTRACTION IN IPOH THAT GLISTENS UNDER THE SUN.

ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL COLONIAL LEGACIES REMAINS AS A CLOCK TOWER. IPOH’S BIRCH MEMORIAL CLOCK TOWER IN FRONT OF IPOH STATE MOSQUE OFFICIALLY OPENED IN 1909. THE WHITE-WASHED STRUCTURE ACTS AS A MEMORIAL TO JAMES BIRCH, THE FIRST BRITISH RESIDENT OF PERAK.

THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL TEMPLES TO VISIT IN IPOH. OUTSIDE OF PRAYER TIMES, THE AREA BECOMES QUIET AND DESERTED, OFFERING A SERENE SPOT FOR QUIET REFLECTION AND TO SOAK UP THE VIEWS. WHILE THERE ISN’T MUCH THAT DISTINGUISHES THIS TEMPLE, THE HIGHLIGHT IS THE SETTING AGAINST THE CLIFFS. THE GUAN YIN DAN BA XIAN TONG BUDDHIST CAVE TEMPLE INSIDE A CAVE SITS NEXT DOOR. SOME MIGHT NOT SEE THESE TEMPLES AS MUST-VISIT ATTRACTIONS IN IPOH, BUT ANYONE WITH A PASSION FOR PHOTOGRAPHY WILL APPRECIATE THE VIEW.

POH IS NAMED AFTER THE IPOH TREE, FAMOUS AS THE SOURCE OF BLOWPIPE POISON. WHEN THE PORTUGUESE ATTACKED MALACCA IN 1511, THE NATIVE WEAPON THEY MOST FEARED WAS THE BLOWPIPE WITH ITS POISONED DARTS. IT WAS REPORTED THAT EVERY PORTUGUESE SOLDIER HIT BY DARTS DIED EXCEPT ONE.

ONE OF THE "OLDEST" CLUB IN MALAYSIA. WITH ITS HISTORY DATING BACK EARLIER THAN 1895, THE ROYAL IPOH CLUB IS CENTRALLY LOCATED IN IPOH AMIDST THE LUSCIOUS GREEN PLAYING FIELDS OF THE IPOH PADANG. FROM ITS HUMBLE BEGINNING AS A LAUNDRY HOUSE BY THE JAPANESE IMPERIAL ARMY FOR THE OFFICERS LIVING AT THE NEARBY ST. MICHAEL’S INSTITUTION, THE ROYAL IPOH CLUB HAS EVOLVED THROUGH THE YEARS TO BECOME ONE OF THE OLDEST ELITE CLUB IN IPOH.

THE KINTA RIVER DIVIDES THE HISTORIC CENTRE OF IPOH INTO TWO PARTS: OLD TOWN AND NEW TOWN. THE HISTORY OF IPOH BEGINS WITH THE OLD TOWN DURING THE TIN RUSH. “DURING THE ERA OF THE MALAY RAJAS, IPOH WAS ONLY A SMALL VILLAGE. WHEN THE BRITISH COLONIAL GOVERNMENT RULED PERAK THAT IS AROUND 1877, IPOH WAS TRANSFORMED INTO A TOWN AND CAME IN DROVES, ESPECIALLY THE CHINESE WHO CAME TO SEEK THEIR FORTUNE SO MANY CHINESE SUBJECTS CAME HERE FROM PENANG.”