One of the authentic place you must visit in Ipoh Perak is “Pasar Karat Loken” that located in the center of the city, near the Kinta River.
In this article, we will share about our experience on our visit to this market and this market was recommended to visit by one of our relatives here. Kongsi Lah! visited this place couple days ago during our visit to hometown for family gathering.
Pasar Loken
Pasar Karat or preferred known as Pasar Loken Ipoh is located exactly nearby Kinta Riverside, this market open every Sunday at 7:00AM to 12:00PM. The concept almost the same as normal night markets around Malaysia.
Pasar Loken is quite famous among the locals for the antique collections that easily can be found here and the transactions was also easy nowdays since some sellers already offer the online transaction and some of them shows the QR codes for cashless payment.
Here they have 3 major segments as per Kongsi Lah! experience visit into the place a couple days ago in August 2024
The Attire
The first segment at Pasar Loken Ipoh Perak if you visit here you will see the business attire shops welcoming you at the opening entrance of this market.
There are many small shops offers you with many decoration clothes starting from the old days bundle, sport wears, and casual attires are available in this Pasar Karat Loken Ipoh Perak.
“Bundle Clothing” in Malaysia always referred to the “secondhand clothes” or even shoes that on re-sales by the local seller.
The bundle clothes section make Kongsi Lah! admin crews feel this place is unique. In normal night markets we visited around KL and Selangor, the bundle sections was not as big as in Pasar Karat Loken Ipoh Perak. We can choose many designs and options because in this area, almost 5-6 vendors from same and different bundle clothes suppliers are all in at the same place together.
The prices are almost 10% cheaper if compared to the one we visited in KL and Selangor. For your info, the living cost in Perak was 10-20% more cheaper than Selangor and 30% cheaper compared to Kuala Lumpur! Hence you may enjoy more time here. It is more relax, not too crowd and busy as you may experience in Kuala Lumpur or Singapore.
Antique collections
Apart form bundle attires and shoes, here at Pasar Karat Loken Ipoh Perak is famous with their antiques collections for sales in the second segment. After the attire sections, you will find a lot of antiques collections on both left and right side.
Starting from the old coins collections, radio, toys, mugs, and many more that you will need to come here and experience it by yourself. The price for this antique collections were vary, from the cheapest until the most expensive that you can find in this Pasar Karat Loken Ipoh Perak.
For the old coins, the price as low as RM10 for 1-5cents old coins depending of the currency. Not only Ringgit Malaysia, but Kongsi Lah! crews able to spotted in the Chinese and Hong Kong currencies as well for the old coins that available for sale there!
During Kongsi Lah! crew visit, there are 2-3 vintage radios were found. Not only that, the old and gold cassettes to play the vintage radio is on sale together.
You may ask the seller to play any cassettes available for you to confirm that the vintage radio. The prices was a quite surprised us. Want to know? Then we recommend you to come and experience it by yourself.
Foods & Drinks
As many night markets in Malaysia, foods and drinks section is mandatory in any markets. I am pretty sure you agreed on this statement otherwise, you are not human.
After spending a lot of time and energy walking to see every section in Pasar Karat Loken Ipoh Perak, you might be exhausted and need some foods or drinks to relax for a while before return to the hotel/home.
In here, you no need to worry about because the foods and drinks section located at the last section in this market and you surely will grab one or two cups of soft drinks or juices to relieve your thirst.
Local Traditional Foods
One of the unique thing you may experience in this market is they also selling their local traditional foods you might never found in Kuala Lumpur. Nasi Lemak and Putu Perak were one of the dishes we tried here and it worth it. While Nasi Lemak is too mainstream for us, we enjoy the sweetness of Putu Perak here.
Back to the early 20th century, born from the ingenuity of communities residing along Perak’s riverbanks, Putu Perak was created. Rice, a staple crop, was transformed into a delightful treat using simple bamboo steamers and locally sourced ingredients. The name itself is a delightful play on words. “Putu” meaning “cake” or “steamed”, and “Perak” denoting its state of origin.
A blend of rice flour, grated coconut, and palm sugar is steamed to perfection, producing a soft, pillow texture with a subtle sweetness. The filling, traditionally grated brown sugar and shredded coconut.
How to go Pasar Karat Loken Ipoh Perak
For those who will visit Ipoh Perak and plan to visit here, Kongsi Lah! will suggest you to get here to avoid any destructions. Here we suggest you two ways.
Grab
From your hotels, you can use Grab car to this place. The reasons why because the public transport in Ipoh Perak was not as good as in Kuala Lumpur or Singapore. Moreover, if you bring your own cars here, you need to come early due to lack of parking spaces. First come first serve concept.
Motorcycle
Kongsi Lah! found that travels at Ipoh Perak was quite easy with motorcycle if compared to bus. Hence, the second way on how to can travel Pasar Karat Loken Ipoh Perak easily is for sure by using a motorcycle.
Ipoh old town is not that big and the roads in the Ipoh town also not as wide as you can see in Kuala Lumpur or Singapore.
You may rent a motorcycle from local peoples who permitted to do so. Or you rent them from a rental company with the price might be expensive but it covers you from any unwanted things to happened because they do have the insurance for you.
Also read : Three Doable Strategies You Can Try To Save Money
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