Motormouth From Ipoh – Asian Food & Travel Blog

It pains me to put today’s post into words. To recount the sheer determination, passion and tenacity that drove and still drives this 74 years-old uncle for more than half a century. To witness with a heavy heart how his hands shook while daintily spreading the mélange of julienned ingredients and sauces on the precariously laid out, freshly steamed popiah* skin on the RM200 slab of wooden board.

(*Popiah is a popular Chinese snack of fresh spring rolls with julienned vegetables and fritters, sometimes with strands of egg omelette and/or crabmeat/dried shrimps, then lightly brushed with chili sauce and sweet sauce)

No words can actually describe this utter admiration that develops into pure respect for what he does best for 54 years (since 1957; coincidentally that was the year we were declared independent from external colonization), and still counting. The laborious hours he spent standing under the scorching hot sun, merely shaded by the canopy that covers barely more than his bike that he has been relying upon for more than a decade now.

Yes, dear Ipoh folks, and the interested readers from wherever you are. Let me share this story on what could possibly be the most legendary popiah seller in all of Ipoh … Read the rest of this entry »