Weekend break in Melaka

Couple of months back we took the family to Melaka for the weekend. It was a very lovely little getaway, no hurry, no particular agenda, no stress. 

We went to check in, and walked over to the city center historical site before moving on to Jonkers St for dinner. As it was not so hot that time of the day, it was a pleasant walk and happy to see the crowd around in a holiday mood.

Hubs bought 2 sticks of fried potato in twirls laden with sauce for all of us to share. The kids just devoured it. We walked along the riverside and hubs talked to a local guy for some sightseeing tips. Then we moved on to have our dinner at Jonkers St. It was chicken rice balls again, no less. Kor kept pestering for that and it would be the only way to shut him up.

At the chicken rice shop, I saw these beautiful lanterns hang all over the place. It reminded me of the one we had, the one at my parents' home where it was for years. I think it was thrown out during those turbulent years, what a pity.

 Hard Rock looks so almighty. Everyone just wanted to take a picture with it as the backdrop.

 Jonkers St is so brightly lit up at night. We didn't walk around, but walk back to the riverside as hubs was planning to go for a river sightseeing cruise.

The kids were cranky already there, they kept nagging to go back to the hotel, shower and laze on the bed. I know, they just wanna play the gadgets but mom's not relenting. I told them the night's not over yet and we were heading back to where we were just a couple of hours ago and board a river cruise, how exciting can that be! *groan* was all they muster... :(

While hubs went over to get the tickets, he ordered me to queue up first to the quay. It's pretty weird, 2 lines like that. So I obediently take my place in the Q and the smaller kids hang around with me while korkor always bobbling up and down between hubs and I.

Didi's face was beginning to look rather pale and I was getting worried then. I asked him what was wrong and he told me he was feeling sick in the tummy. Oh dear, I really didn't know what to do.. should we abandon the plan? Should we go home? Should we go find a loo? Argh!!! It was so sudden. Then I told him to sit down at one of the potted plants there and try to see how it goes and offer him some minyak angin to tahan a bit longer.

It was ok for a little while when suddenly he jumped up and jumped around yelling like he was on fire! I was so shocked! Then I realized the potted plants had ants all over it and it's those tiny mean little red ants! OMG! I felt soooo sorry and guilty for that little guy and I quickly helped and tried to brush those mean things off him. He screamed pain all over and cried to go back to our hotel. But hubs was already coming back to us with the tickets in hand.. oh my dear.

Fortunately, I always tug along all the little emergency stuffs in my bag and felt thankful that the tiger balm was still inside. After helped him put on the balm around his legs and body, he felt better and *whew* we did not need to abandon the cruise tickets. I asked him if he was ok, his tummy ok and if it was ok to continue with the plan before going back to hotel, he nodded his head like in surrender. Haha.. pretty cute thinking about it, and yes, felt sorry and wicked too that he had to go through such a nasty experience.

 We boarded the cruise pretty soon and was taken by surprise with the very pretty paintings and lightings along the river. It was a splendid time, me thinks, as the air was cool with a breeze and a lovely song from the 80s being played in the background. Well, later the song was replaced by some Malay songs and a narration to introduce the sights along the way.

Anyway, great experience.

 We came back soon to the hotel and found the lights were off to heed the call of Earth Day. There were many people gathered at the lobby and a projector was up. Then MJ's songs Heal the world, We are the world was played and the lyrics were shown on the projector and it was a big karaoke event at that moment.  The feeling was just awesome.

 We soon head back to the room and quickly wash up and hit the sack. It was after all, a very tiring day.

The next morning, we had breakfast at some nearby local market and went off to the city center again to visit the museums. Hubs had learned from the day before from that local that one ticket allows entries to all 3 museums there and it's pretty cheap. So we hopped from one to another and yet to another.

Well, I think that was all we had done since I can't find any other pictures apart from those museums.

Good time spent on this Melaka trip indeed.

Day trip to Melaka

One fine Sunday, we made a day's trip to Melaka. The purpose was to check out some investments opportunities we saw at some exhibition fair.

The drive was smooth, traffic was clear as it wasn't any particular holiday season. 

We reached the Ayer Keroh exit pretty soon and went in to see many tourists attraction around that area. 

Saw something like a dinosaur park coming up, there were some zoo, museum, water theme parks, it seems really happening.

Reached this area which has several big buildings with vast space surrounding. Went in Planetarium to check if we can use the membership card from Petronas Science Center to go in for free.No, the girl behind the counter never heard of such ridiculous question before.

 No idea what the top building is.

 I think this one says something like a bowling center.

Very soon, after checking out the site of the investment that we were there for, we drove over to the city center. Traffic crawl await us.

 Part of my agenda of this trip were to
1. eat chicken rice balls (which was also korkor's agenda too)
2. cendol
3. nyonya food.

 We wanted to look for nyonya food at first, but soon we found out most of the nyonya restaurants were closed by that time. It was after 2pm. So when we bumped into this chicken rice balls shop, we were delighted and quickly went in to satisfy our hunger pangs.

This little boy who looked the same age as korkor were taking our orders and was very pro in his stuffs, can recommend dishes and explain certain things. I don't know what as I wasn't listening but that was what hubs told me after that.

 The shop exterior. It claims it is the best chicken rice balls in Melaka and came out in some food review in some newspaper too. But we all know those crap can't be trusted. And I have to say, the food really is so mediocre and too expensive! I would prefer Ipoh nga-choy-kei anytime!

Right after that, we checked out another investment site and moved on to a mall. Now what mall is that, my memory is definitely failing me.

I heard before that there is a shop selling some kickass cendol in there so we were hunting down for that shop. But that was after ANOTHER site seeing of ANOTHER investment, making it 3 for that day alone. I was getting very tired, so were the kids. It wasn't fun sitting down and listening to all those boring presentations. We just wanted to eat and shop, dammit!

It was a very exhaustive treasure hunt for that precious cendol and we were at the verge of quitting. It didn't help that the mall has BAD, very very bad, layout and no directory were to be seen around the huge place. We walked and walked and walked and the kids were confused why we were walking in circles and kept asking what we were hunting for. I guess they didn't know how important that cendol is.

 Eventually, we found it and happily ordered a bowl to quench my thirst. Since there were some promotions, we also bought another drink which came free of a strawberry smoothie. Didi was so delighted. He was the happiest boy that day.

Hubs asked if I wanted to have dinner before returning home and I thought why not. Though it was only a mere 3-4 hours after our lunch, I reckoned it would be way too late when we reached KL and the kids would need to be tucked in to bed soon as the next day was still a schoolday. Furthermore, I still hadn't have my nyonya cravings fulfilled.

We settled at this Ole Sayang which we had been to before years ago. This time was a bit disappointing coz the food didn't seem too appetizing. Or maybe we were still half full. No complaints though.

We hurriedly rushed back home while the kids slept throughout the journey. It was rather about 10+ when we were home but korkor said, no worries, they already have 2 hours sleep in the car so it will still be all good the next day. I was glad it did.

Melaka. I would like to go back there again one day, this time for a night stay. There are more to see and eat than what we had in that few hours.

A Famosa trip

Gave a holiday treat for the little ones over the school holidays weekend.

High points for the trip... the elephant show and the fireworks display at Cowboy Town.

Low point .... I was still sick and extremely tired from a sleepless night the day before. Nevertheless, it was nice to go for family outings, as always, though I was very pleased to hit the sack back in our home sweet home to our comfortable and softy lurvy bed after the trip.

Sights of Malacca

The town has an impressive number of tourists around. It's the same kind of crowd you can see in the morning, afternoon or evening. I like the atmosphere of it, everyone feeling relaxed and happy, smiles you can see on their faces... it's carefree.

The beca flers enjoy a good income for cycling the tourists around with a charge of Rm40 an hour. It was stated on a signboard, if you find any quotations any different from that, you can make a complaint to the authorities, and they would do the necessary charges.

Flowers everywhere. It's nice to be greeted by these brightening colors of flowers everywhere.

There's even a windmill here! No need to go to Europe to see one. How nice!

The river wasn't kept in good condition though.

Snakes on a beca! Big one on that too. It's making money by allowing you to hug it and snap a picture with it. No guarantee it won't bite, ok?

Nite time on JOnker Walk. There was this pub along the road, which was playing good music from the 70's and 80's and the ambience was quite good. I was tempted to sit down and order a drink.

St Paul's Church and Historical Garden

This was the hotel where we stayed, the same place where my friend held his wedding reception. See the rooftop? That was where the BBQ buffet supposedly be held, but wonder if somebody up there was playing a joke on the new couple; signals showed clearly it wanted to pour when the reception was about to begin, making the hotel workers frantically moving everything to the ground floor. Guests were seated in the crowded space, and the sky cleared up when the dinner started. Hmm... anyway, that's not the main story here.




On top of St. Paul's Hill is the St. Paul's Church, once the prayer house of the Portuguese Catholics, then turned into burial ground for their noble dead by the Dutch. The tombstones have Latin and Portuguese inscriptions on them. St. Francis Xavier was buried here in 1553 before his body was moved to Goa in India.

Guitarist singing "Twinkle twinkle little star" to these 2, who were paying all their attention to him. Wonder if the song or the interesting instrument he was playing with held their undivided attention?

It was windy and comfortable in that shady place, a refreshing change from the terribly scorchingly hot hot weather.

Then, we headed straight back to the hotel to quench our thirst, and chill down in cool watertub. After a short rest, we went out again in search of chendol. Didn't find any, but came to this "Historical Garden".

There's this children's playground just next to our hotel. Undoubtedly, the children's all time favorite place!

And then we went back to our rooms, shower yet again and changed to our dinner wear.

Jonker Walk Malacca

Overall, Malacca looks pretty neat and tidy. The roads are wider than normal roads we see in towns, and trees are grown alongside providing the whole place a very greenery and calm feel. I noticed a zoo, a crocodile farm, and other touristy places from the PLUS exit at Ayer Keroh to the town center. Nice, but we didn't have much time to visit all those places though. 2 half days and 1 night were all we had.

We reached the town center around noon, the journey from KL unexpectedly faster than I anticipated. After checking in to our 3-star hotel located right at the heart of the tourist spot, we had our lunch at Jonker Walk, just a stone throw away.



Fancy eating golf balls? This little balls which look like fishballs which look like golf balls are famous all over Malacca. The difference is some places have people Q-ing up to get a seat, some places have only flies as customers. Jonker Walk itself has about 10 restaurants which serve them, I think.



Chloe practically ate 4 balls only. We had about 5 each, with one whole steamed chicken, all sapu up. Then again, the chicken taste and texture was only mediocre, so we thought.





After lunch, it's only natural we take a little walk, as some form of little exercising. Jonker Walk is said to be famous for its uniqueness blend of buildings, and the antiques which are sold there.





We didn't buy anything much, as we found out most of the items are "Made in China" or "Made in Thailand". Nothing fancy. The real antiques probably costs a bomb. We didn't bother to really find out as well.



Halfway through, we U-turn back. It was much too hot, and the things weren't pretty interesting for us.



We then proceeded to visit the famous landmark of Malacca.


Nothing better than a cone of ice-cream for each of us first. Grandma's treat.


The Stadthuys (1650) was the official residence of the Dutch Governor. It now houses the Historic Museum and Ethnography Museum which has many traditional bridal costumes and relics on display. Nearby, one will also find the Christ Church built in 1753, another fine example of the Dutch architecture.






More pictures at St. Paul's Church later.