Previously: Part 2 – Ipoh (Banjaran Hot Springs Retreat)

Getting there

Rames picked us up from the Banjaran and we continued our tour of Ipoh sights whilst killing time before our flight. We’d originally planned to head for lunch, but the huge BBQ put paid to that, so we mostly just visited temples that had been built around caves.

Ipoh airport is pretty small and unsophisticated. But that also meant not having to go too far to get everything done.

The flight was on Scoot, Singapore’s low cost carrier, which I’d compare (favourably) to Easyjet. No frills, but a nice modern A320 with comfy enough seats. We were given a ‘snack pack’ with a can of (full sugar) Coke and various food items.

Hotel

We picked The Clan for its location (and good reviews), and on that count it certainly didn’t disappoint.

I was a little worried about squeezing into a (not huge) room after the suite in KL and villa in the Banjaran, but it was fine, partly because we were lucky enough to get an upgrade, and partly due to really thoughtful design.

Ratings:

✓ Accessible HDMI (and Chromecast)
✓ Good WiFi [1]
✓ Bedside power
✗ Human interaction free Room Service
✓ Tea making apparatus

For 4 Bodils

White Lotus potential: nope

Food

Breakfast at The Clan wasn’t included, which meant an opportunity for lie ins followed by brunch in various local places.

On our first evening we just had beer and pizza at The Good Beer Company, but we noticed Ikigai Omakase next door, which we returned to a few days later for some of the best sushi I’ve ever tasted. It was also a pleasure to watch the sushi chef in action, as he was a true artist.

For our second evening we checked out Amoy Street across the road from the hotel, and whilst enjoying some dumplings at Dumpling Darlings we noticed the line out of the door for GO! K – BBQ. Returning there the following evening we were treated to some of the best beef I’ve ever tasted. The ribeye was just amazing :)

The final hurrah before heading home was a Cable Car Dinner. I was expecting it to be a fun experience with great views, but the food was also really good.

The booking site suggested that we’d only get the main course in the cable car, with other courses served in the bistro. But that’s not what happened on the night. It was a bit weird getting the arrival cocktail whilst standing in line to board, but extra good to have three trips around the loop as each course was served.

Well… not quite the final thing. We returned to our regular haunt of Blu Jaz for some last cocktails.

Attractions

We’d visited Clarke Quay on our last trip, so it was high on our list for a return. Wandering there during the day we found it pretty dead; but returning at night (via Robertson Quay) it was vibrant and buzzing.

The Art Science Museum gave us an excuse to visit Marina Bay, and the Future World exhibition was a lot of fun.

Similarly the Van Gough Immersive Experience gave us an excuse to visit Sentosa and walk across the boardwalk from HarbourFront. It took us hours to take the whole thing in, and there was a great variety of ways that the artist’s prodigious work was shown off.

On our trip to Marina Bay we tried (and failed) to find our way to the Gardens by the Bay, so after a rather dismal walk up and down Orchard Road we gave it another go by taking the SMRT to the Gardens by the Bay stop then walking through to Bayfront for the hop back to the hotel. That worked much better, but as it was raining a little I neglected to take any photos :(

Getting around

We used Grab again for airport transfers, and for one trip over to Robertson Quay, but mostly got around on the Singapore MRT.

Note

[1] Though I was shocked to note that the (rather aggressive) filtering blocked TripAdvisor (but only on the main SSID, not the Chromecast network ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ).