Where is Ipoh, Malaysia?

Ipoh (/ˈiːpoʊ/) is the capital city of the Malaysian state of Perak. Located by the Kinta River, it is nearly 180 km (110 mi) north of Kuala Lumpur and 123 km (76 mi) southeast of George Town in neighbouring Penang. As of 2010, Ipoh contained a population of 657,892, making it the third largest city in Malaysia by population.^[2]

Originally a village, Ipoh began to grow rapidly in the 1880s after huge deposits of tin were discovered within its vicinity.^[3] By 1895, it was the second largest town within the Federated Malay States, which also consisted of Selangor, Negeri Sembilan and Pahang.^[4]Ipoh was declared a city in 1988.^[3][4] However, following the depletion of its tin deposits and the collapse of tin prices in the 1970s, the city suffered decades of decline and neglect.^[5][6][7][8]

In recent years, Ipoh's popularity as a tourist destination has been significantly boosted by efforts to conserve its British colonial-era architecture.^[7][8] The city is also well known for its cuisine and natural attractions, such as its limestone hills and caves within which Buddhist temples were built.^[9] In addition, Ipoh has managed to maintain its reputation as one of the cleanest cities in Malaysia.^[10]

Ipoh's location between Kuala Lumpur and George Town has made it a major land transportation hub within West Malaysia, with both the Malayan Railway's West Coast Line and the North-South Expressway cutting through the city. Aside from the land transportation links, Ipoh is also served by the Sultan Azlan Shah Airport.

Ipoh is known as the Hipster Capital of Malaysia by various tourism rating and official agencies.

There is one English-speaking branch in Ipoh.

Some beautiful thoughts from Josh for his mom before the transfer --

This week was really good. Elder Anglin and I are continuing to have fun together, and I have been focusing a lot on improving my Chinese this week. Right now, I am about halfway done studying the HSK 5 vocabulary words (1300 words), and so my goal is to be done with HSK 6 (2500 new words) by my 1 year mark, and then I can review and practice. So, I think that it would be best to sign up for the HSK6 test. But, we can talk more when we are closer...we can also talk about where to do it. I definitely could do it in Morgantown, that would be a fun excuse to go out there and see the girls!

Also, we found out about the new mission presidents this week and I am so excited! We know that they are named Leonard and Rita Woo, which is exciting because it sounds like they are Chinese! Are they from Singapore, or did he just work there? Do you know anything else about them? It is so crazy that President Rowley will be going home so soon...and when he goes home, I will be halfway done with my mission. It goes by so slowly and so quickly all at the same time!

As usual, this week had some moments where I got nervous (we definitely share that gene) about little things. Like sometimes I would get nervous about not seeing myself as a good enough missionary, or nervous about what I want to do after my mission, or things like that. But, throughout the week were moments of immense love and joy that helped me to pull through. I imagine that God's plan for us involves us growing and growing until those moments become more and more, until the day that those moments become our entire life.