The third largest city in Malaysia Ipoh, also known as the Bougainvillaea City, is the capital of Perak state.
Historically, 'Ipoh' referred to the Old Town and New Town divided by the Kinta River at its heart, from which the city grew. It is approximately 200 km from Kuala Lumpur via the North-South Highway.
The name Ipoh originated from a local tree, pohon epu or now more commonly known as pokok ipoh. This particular plant is known for its tree sap which is poisonous and used by the orang asli in their blowdarts.
In the Cantonese dialect, Ipoh is known as san seng which means "city surrounded by mountains." Ipoh is also known among Chinese Malaysians as 'Pa-loh'. The old nickname for Ipoh is 'City of Millionaires', referring to the vast fortunes made during the tin and rubber days. Located in the rich tin-bearing valley of the Kinta river, Ipoh grew up as a mining town and is one of Malaysia's largest cities, with a population of 637,200 (2004) and urban area population of 798,800 (2004).
Ipoh is famous for its cuisine. Natives claim that Ipoh's water, relatively high in alkali content owing to Ipoh's location on top of a large karstic formation, makes the food especially tasty. Many people, some even from Singapore and other nearby countries, travel to this city just to taste its especially excellent local cuisine.
Also worth a visit are the limestone cave temples on its outskirts, which are the only one of its kind in Southeast Asia.
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