visiting malacca: episode I : cheaper by the dozen hits the historical city

So, after the drama "The Adventure of the Superblurs", here comes another new drama:

"What Happens in Malacca Stays in Malacca"

Starring:

Ben

Moi

Jino

Ah Lian

Laushu
Mel

Phon

Malau

Kianti

Wooying

Val

Chicken/Phakkai

The Map of Malacca and our hotel

DAY 1 ~18/12/2007~

Mom dropped Suz C and me at Pudu Bus Station in the morning after breakfast. When we reached Platform 7, at first we thought no one is there yet because we reached quite early until Suz C spotted Ben sitting at one of the benches. My gawd, that boy dyed his hair! Ben looks so Chinese. Haha.

Pictures of all our luggages - Kian Ti won for bringing the least amount of stuff and Phak Hoe with the largest luggage bag

Here we all are waiting for Jino, the last one, who ironically is the one having all our tickets; Later, Ben with his dyed hair and our bus tickets

Boarding the bus, which left on time, as usual. LOL.
Everyone is off to slumberland as the bus make its journey to Melaka Bandar Bersejarah (Clockwise L-R) WY sleeping under her hoodie; Jino as usual; Phon posing with the sleeping PhakHoe; PhakHoe with his hat and sunglasses looking like a "Kam Yu Lo"

Ben looking endearingly at the sleeping Jino (above); Phon, Len Yi, Tsu Wern and Val (below)

We reached Melaka after over 2 hours. Went to Melaka Sentral to buy our return tickets and then later split into 3 taxis to take us to our accomodation in Malacca, Aldy Hotel. Taxi fare is RM15. I was in the same taxi as Jino, Ben and Mel (the tall ones. *Sigh*).

The boys were all wearing white except Phon. Ben asked Suz C to be inside the pic as the colourful spectrum of the whites. Haha.

Our hotel - A boutique hotel - One-of-a-kind place

After much discussion, we decided to split the room into girls' and guys'. The boys have an advantage because there were only 5 of them but we have 7 girls all crammed into one room.

We booked the family suite rooms, which were RM621 each for 2 nights (breakfast inclusive).

Girls' room - (Clockwise L-R) - Cupboard (really small!), chairs and TV; bathroom/toilet; and our combined beds

So after getting our luggages into the rooms, we hit the streets of Malacca to have our lunch. Lucky thing is that Aldy Hotel is located in the heart of Malacca tourist spots so we only have to walk a little before reaching all those food restaurants

WY posing with Ben's Malacca Map, which was reminiscence of her own Perak Map

Our hotel is very near to the Stadhuys

Ben, being the veteran here, since he travels to Malacca often, takes us into Jonker Street, which was filled with many many many cute souvenir shops and all kinds of shopper's items.

You have to go to Jonker Walk/Street!

What a far cry this place was compared to my trip to Perak. Truly a shopper's paradise. Many old historical buildings also line this road but what captivates me more are all the trinkets sold here, symbolising Malacca's rich culture in handicrafts

Do not miss this huge souvenir shop called Banyan Gallery at Jonker Street; WY trying on a cowboy hat; Ah Len and Laushu with gardening hats; and Suz C with cowboy hat

We intially wanted to eat the famous Malacca cuisine - Chicken Rice Balls at a famous place, as recommended by Ben but it was overcrowded with people so we went to look elsewhere. Then we stumble upon No.88, Jonker Street.

The night before, Suz C and I stumbled upon Keeshoore who recommended this place which has great ice kacang. But they also have other dishes so we decided to have our first Malacca meal here.

The restaurant has a very historical feel to it, with antiques and artifacts, as well as old pictures and photographs; No 88, Jonker St; We split into 2 tables - Here is Ben's table

I shared a set meal with Suz C, which comprises of Nasi Lemak with curry chicken and lemak sayur (yummy!) but the best is definitely the ice kacang - we ordered 3 for our table - the sago (my fave!), mango and sea coconut

Yummy-licious!

After lunch, our tour guide, Ben, brought us to walk around to all the heritage sites and landmarks at Malacca Old Town.

Some of the sights in Malacca, which is very much preserved to be a heritage old town; The giant foot at a reflexology place was so eye-catching!

Ah Len says that pineapple tarts in Malacca is nice. But I am not a big fan of them so I did not go looking for any.

The largest pineapple tart I have ever seen

Then, we came across a shop selling these miniature shoes that was used back in those ancient China days when women used to bound their feet to look elegant. The owner of the shop is a really nice man, explaining to us about the shoes and their origins.

Suz C posing with one - She has the smallest feet size among us
Phon in one of the many temples/surname houses we saw

Cheng Hoon Teng Temple
=> Built around 1646 with authentic building materials from China, this temple is the oldest Chinese temple in M'sia. It houses the statue of The Goddess of Mercy (Kuan Yin), thus being named Abode of The Green (merciful) cloud.

The oldest temple around

Kampung Kling Mosque

=> As one of the oldest mosque in the country, the Sumatran architecture is still intact and well-preserved until today. Unlike other typical domes, it has a three-tiered roof shape like a pyramid. Designed like a pagoda, the moorish style minaret is a true picture of the East-West architectural influence.

Hang Jebat Mausoleum
=> Where Hang Jebat is buried

The roads in Malacca Old Town; Kampung Kling mosque; Laushu and pH posing with an old trishaw; Terrible spelling - Mausoleum becomes Mouse-leum?; Suz C at Sri Poyyatha Vinayagar Indian Temple

There were many shops selling T-shirts, boho clothes and accessories and other accessories. Copped a necklace and anklet at a cool accessories shop. There is also a very eye-catching shop called "The Orang Utan House" which houses the works of artist Charles Cham. he designs all these beautiful artworks onto T-shirts.

You will not miss this shop which has super cool artistic interior - They have many freaking awesome T-shirts!

Along the way, we also passed by a place called Admiral Cheng Ho Museum. We did not go in but just snapped some pics at the entrance. I think they charge an entrance fee but I don't know how much.

This place was visited by our own Malaysian PM before; Jino striking a pose in front of the museum and the giant Chinese ship inside

The lady who owns the museum is a nice lady. Eventhough we did not go and tour the museum, she chatted with us and asked where we all were from. Later, she recommended a restaurant down the street which sells delicious dumplings and cendol.

This is the place where we had our break - Most of us had the durian cendol - Yummy!!!!

We were all so exhausted so we decided to head back to our rooms. Along the way, we passed by Sungai Melaka. This place is in history books (well, partially anyway) because the famous Melaka tree is along the banks of Melaka River. Parameswara named his first kingdom after the tree he rested on.

The gang (minus me!) and the river which is nearby our hotel

TO BE CONTINUED

~21/12/2007~

Went to watch a movie with Mom today. We watched National Treasure 2: Book Of Secrets. The movie was not bad. Treasure hunting with lots of US history embedded in it. You won't want to keep your eyes of the movie. I liked the characters Abigail (Diane Kruger is so preeeety) and Riley Poole (gorgeous captivating blue-green eyes) but I really dislike Nicholas Cage as Benjamin Franklin Gates. I just don't think he suits the role very well.

Well, just like every Disney movie, this one has every ingredient of one - adventure, romance, morals, etc. and most importantly, an happy ending.

After that, we had dinner at Vietnam Kitchen. I had Vietnamese Fried Rice with Sesame Chicken as side dish and Six-treasure Tau foo fah for dessert. Not bad but the chicken was too salty.

Went to check out the clothes at Genada. Not bad-looking dresses at affordable prices but not in shopping mood today. Probably still tired from the trip. Maybe I will dropped by Genada again soon.