I stopped for lunch at Sungai Buloh rest area after around 2 hour-driving. I like Sungai Buloh rest area because it has many choices of food/fast food inside the bridge across the North-South highway, such as Burger King, A&W, and some local food restaurants. So, you can enjoy your food while looking down the cars passing the highway. The restrooms are clean and very big with many rooms for ladies and gents. There is a separate surau for male and female. The baby room is quite complete too. It provides powder, soap, and moisturizer for free to freshen up your baby.
After having lunch, I continued the journey to Malacca from Sungai Buloh by taking the highway that leads to KLIA/Seremban/Johor Bahru (E6), then in Dengkil, I had to take highway E2 to Johor Bahru.
About 1.5hour later, I got out of high way at Simpang Ampat to take road 19 that leads to Malacca Town.
After about half an hour later, I arrived in Malacca town. Geez...many of the roads are 1 way road, so if I want to go to a specific road, I have to make a big loop to get there. But driving in Malacca town is pretty easy because not many cars on the road.
Finally I arrived in the hotel at around 4pm. I checked in and had a rest for an hour then went out to see Malacca town before the sun set.
Malacca town is such a historical town. The city has a very heavy influence of Portuguese/Dutch and Chinese peranakan cultures. All the historical buildings are preserved and are accessible for tourists.
I parked my car in front of St. Xavier's church (was built in 1840 and is still used until now) and paid a parking coupon. Then I walked down to enter the historical zone. At the entrance of the zone, it's written "Selamat Datang. Anda kini memasuki zon warisan sejarah negara (Welcome, you are now entering national heritage zone)".
The city is literally painted in red. All historical buildings/houses are painted in red. It's magnificent! It's just beautiful. My hand just couldn't stop taking pictures.
There is Melaka Art Gallery, Christ Church, and Stadthuys. These buildings were very old and they are painted in red. There is a small windmill too.
Then I went up to St. Paul Church to see the sunset and also to see this oldest church in Melaka (was built in 1541). After that, I quickly went down to see the most famous fortress gate in Melaka, the A Famosa (in Portuguese language it means The Famous).
From there, I took a trishaw ride to go back to where I parked my car. The trishaw is beautifully decorated and full of music too. The trishaw driver is a Portuguese decendant. It cost me RM20 to go around from Dataran Merdeka to in front of St. Xavier's church.
After that, I had my dinner at Newton, traditional food village, where I could find the delicious local dishes. The grilled fish is so delicious but it's a bit too spicy for me.
The next day, I started my day at 10am. After I checked out of the hotel, I parked my car in front of Dataran Merdeka Melaka megamall. I had to display an hourly parking coupon so that I wouldn't get a ticket... :) It cost RM60cents per hour or RM5 for a whole day parking.
I had my breakfast and lunch inside the foodcourt of the megamall. The food there is not bad, especially the fried rich from the Hainanese Chicken rice-stall. I love the soft bun kaya too.
When I got tired walking around the malls (there is another mall called Mahkota Parade), I drove my car around the city trying to visit more tourist attractions (which are so many!!).
But since my driving skill is limited, I just opted to visit Baba and Nyonya heritage museum which is not too far from the heritage zone and the Maritime Museum.
Unfortunately, when I arrived there, both museums were closed. So I just walked down the street where the chinese peranakan are lived. I went to a Mahjong shop where a couple made the Mahjong by themselves. I bought a set of gin rummy cards and a set of Mahjong cards.
After that, I had dinner at Nancy's kitchen restaurant, No.15 Jalan Hang Lekir (3rd Cross Street) off jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock (just 2 door away from the Mahjong shop). At Nancy's kitchen restaurant, you can find all the delicious authentic nyonya cuisines (chinese peranakan dishes). I was lucky because usually, this restaurant is not open for dinner. On that day, they had to open because a bunch of Australian tourists had booked to have dinner there. Nancy herself greeted us together with her husband as if we visited her house as a family. This restaurant is quite famous even the president of Singapore has visited this restaurant before. I found it by accident (lucky me!!)... :D
I ordered assam fish, dabel curry chicken (devil curry chicken - it's called 'devil' because it's bloody spicy), nyonya soup, kacang botol with sambal belacan, and of course for the dessert, I ordered bubur chacha. Bubur chacha is actually the same as kolak in Indonesia. The food is just so so so delicious. I ate like a pig! The price of the food is very reasonable. I think it's quite cheap :)
I also bought Nancy's homemade cookies such as kueh bangkit, kueh nastar (pineapple jam cookie), and fried shallot. Nancy's cookies are very very delicious!! Honestly!
Nancy and her husband give cooking classes as well. They can be contacted at (606)2836099/ (606) 2844462. The restaurant is open at 11am - 5.30pm everyday, except Tuesday.
At around 7pm, I drove back to Ipoh and arrived Ipoh at around midnite after 1 stop to take a leak at Tapah.
I really had a great time in Malacca. I do recommend you to visit this most historical city in Malaysia. The people in Malacca are just super duper nice and friendly. I am sure you will have a wonderful experience in Malacca. Don't forget to check out the photos here:
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| MalaccaTri |
For more information about Melaka, please visit: http://www.melaka.net or http://www.melaka.gov.my
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