Two weeks after my weekend trip to Ipoh with my high school band girl friends, our stay at Sekeping Kong Heng remained the top highlight of the trip. We were in awe. We were in the moment.
This impromptu weekend trip started when one of us announced a job move to Singapore. It happened exactly a year back too but it took us months to organize that trip. This one took us just two weeks! #progress
But to be fair, we didn’t have much time to contemplate and ended up going in a smaller group.
Anyway, the free-and-easy trip incidentally started with discovery of Sekeping Kong Heng. “Incidentally” because we decided to eat lunch at House of Mirrors. But when we arrived, we realized our hotel was nearby. We later discovered our hotel was next door of House of Mirror 😅.
Sekeping Kong Heng in Ipoh is located at the upper floors of old shoplots of Kong Heng Square. I’d say it’s kinda secluded because there’s no big signage or whatnot to mark the entrance. We only managed to find the reception counter after reading blogs and referring to photos.
Imagine this. GPS kept telling us we have arrived when we reached a kopitiam. Little did we notice that the kopitiam was named Kong Heng too.
But fret not. It’s the right location. The reception counter of Sekeping Kong Heng is located in the midst of Kong Heng Square Artisan Market; you’d have to walk through the alley between Kong Heng Kopitiam and Kong Heng Square. Then if you’re not distracted by all the pretty artisan stalls, you’d notice a counter behind a wall, opposite a few stalls next to the entrance of Plan B.
They checked us in very seamlessly. Then the receptionist walked us to the entrance to our room at another alley. Honestly, I didn’t expect the entrance to our room block to be some random black caged staircase in an alley 😅.
But behold. The staircase led us to a sanctuary. The quiet lush architecture of Sekeping Kong Heng immediately presented a stark difference to the busy artisan market on the streets below us. Seriously, who would have thought you can have a totally secluded staycation above one of the top attractions in Ipoh?
We were absolutely thrilled to take photos at every corner of the room and complex.
For the record, we also ate around and shopped around. My new favorites in Ipoh would be having tau fu fah with toppings at Big Mom Beancurd and tearing off salted chicken with gloves in the room for supper.
All in all, it was a good weekend stay with friends. It was relaxing. We fed ourselves with yummy food within easy reach. We enjoyed having real conversations and silly chats. The accommodation was refreshing. And we kept the entire trip at about RM200 per pax. That’s great bargain for a good trip I’d say!