Wednesday, June 29, 2005
~ From Malacca, With Love ~
11:13:00 pm
Finally, I have set my life back straight... Well, almost... I guess that I still have a long way to go but the personal reflection really helped me a lot... Made me more aware of myself and the people around me...
Anyway, it felt really good to get away from my boring usual daily life in Singapore and to the new environment of Malacca... Even though it was only for 3 days, it was no doubt that I did enjoy this trip especially since I will be starting work in *gasp* 2 days time...
Malacca, one of the states in Malaysia, is filled with histories dated back all the way to the 14th century... From the time of the Sultans and Hang Tuah, where
keris were still the main weapons of the people, to the ruling of the Portuguese, the Dutch and finally, the British, where guns and cannons were the main
toys to fight any intruders to the state... And together with Singapore and Penang, it became the Straits Settlement controlled by the East India Company during the British ruling...
See guys... I still haven't forgotten my history lessons yet!! *Haha*...
Alright... Here are the details of my Malacca Trip...
Day 1 (Sunday, 26/6/2005)Left the house @ 7am... Took a cab down to the Bus Interchange at Lavender St... Well, we reached there quite early, about 7.35am, given that the time of the bus departure is at 8.30am... The bus journey? Except during the time when we had to alight at the Immigrations and the stop for a short break, I was practically sleeping all the way from Singapore to Malacca... *Hehe*... It was expected since I did not catch a wink AT ALL the night before...
Reached Melaka Sentral Terminal @ 1pm... Upon reaching, we immediately bought the bus tickets for the trip home which was on Tuesday afternoon... Proceeded to get a cab to Emperor Hotel, the place which we stayed during our trip... Oh yeah, the cab driver was actually a Chinese
Baba but he spoke such fluent Malay... *Oh gosh, I'm so ashamed of myself... Hehe*... A real friendly man...
1414 and 1416 was our room numbers... We were given the rooms on the 14th level... The view from our hotel room was very panoramic... Could see the Straits of Malacca from the hotel room... And there wasn't much high-rise buildings so honestly, to me, the view looked less stressful and more peaceful...
Anyway, after getting some precious rest, we decided to head to
Mahkota Parade, one of the shopping centres in Malacca... We actually thought that the place is quite near so we decided to set there by foot... And after walking about half an hour under the hot sun, we only managed to reach the
Christ Church and the
Stadthuys, the few main attractions of Malacca... All of us were already panting and perspiring by then... Thankfully, one of the trishaw
pakciks approached us and asked where we wanted to go... So we told him and he said that it would take us about 20-30 minutes if we were to continue walking... And of course, he offered to take us there by the trishaw at only RM10... Not an opportunity to be missed, we took up the offer... And it was my first time riding a trishaw!! It was extremely fun and cool... Honestly, I wouldn't mind riding on it again... After all, I've always wanted to ride on a trishaw and finally, my wish is fulfilled... *Hehe*... Along the way, we did managed to sightsee a bit...
Well,
Mahkota Parade is very much like the shopping centres in Singapore... Very up-to-date with a bowling centre and movie theatre... Didn't get anything much since I didn't have much money with me... But we did buy a lot of snacks back to the hotel, especially since there is NOTHING in the hotel fridge... *Haha*... Left the place at about 7.40pm and Malacca is still quite bright at that time... Headed back to our hotel rooms and had a good night rest... Well, of course, not without a flu... Worse part, I had to breathe through my mouth since both my nostrils were blocked...
Day 2 (Monday, 27/6/2005)Sightseeing day!! Had our breakfast at around 9am... After breakfast, we decided to hire a cab for a day... Initially, we wanted a small van with a tour guide but since it was quite draining for our wallets and pockets, we settled for a cab instead... RM25 per hour was quite a reasonable price... Anyway, again the cab driver was a Chinese
Baba who spoke fluent Malay... *And again, I'm ashamed of myself... HAHA*... He actually doubled as our tour guide too... So I think that this is a much better deal... *Hehe*...
Firstly, he brought us around the Malacca Town... Showed us the Kampung Hulu's Mosque, Sri Poyyatha Vinayagar Moorthi Temple, Kampung Kling's Mosque, Cheng Hoon Teng Temple and Jonker Walk... Stopped by Hang Kasturi and Hang Jebat's Mausoleum or in Malay,
Makam Hang Kasturi dan Hang Jebat...
Finally, our first real stop was at the Baba & Nyonya Heritage Museum... We got to learn the lifes of the Babas and Nyonyas during the past era till now... Very rich in culture...
P.S. We weren't allowed to take any photographs there but both me and my sis managed to sneak a few... *Hiak hiak*...
Next, the cab driver drove us along the coastal lines of Malacca... From our cab, we could see fishermen going out to sea, catching fishes to be sold for their daily expenses... But one thing I can tell, the fishes are definitely fresh!! And then, we headed to
Makam Hang Tuah or Hang Tuah's Mausoleum... It is located away from Malacca Town so we had to travel quite a distance...
Next up, A'Famosa... It was actually the fortress built by the Portuguese in 1511... It was nearly destroyed entirely by the Dutch but it was saved with intervention by Sir Stamford Raffles... We had to climb quite a number of steps to the top which was actually St Paul's Church... The view from the top of the hill was just exhilarating and breath-taking... Back to A'Famosa, there was one artist who was making a living by selling his paintings just by using pen... And the paintings, which are mainly the attractions in Malacca, are just superb and exquisite... Despite mostly were prints, it looked really great... In the end, he offered an original painting and 2 prints at only, believe it or not, RM20... The original price of an original painting was actually RM50... So, imagine the bargain we got...
Next was the Melaka Sultanate Palace... Wasn't the real palace though, was just a replica based on the description and reference to the
Sejarah Melayu or Malay Annals... Looked really grand though... Anyway, I could imagine myself being a princess running through the garden with my
dayang-dayang, singing along to songs ala-Hindustan... *HAHA... What a wishful thinking!!*
It was then followed by a trip to the Maritime Museum... The museum was constructed after 'Flor De La Mar', a Portuguese galleon which sank in the Straits of Melaka on its way to Portugal with its ship filled with invaluable treasures stolen from Malacca... Was shaped exactly like the real one... We then went to the shops opposite the museum, selling handicrafts... Managed to get a few... =)
The next stop was the Crocodile Farm which was located at Ayer Keroh, quite a distance from Malacca Town... It was actually upon my dad's request that we headed there... Nothing much... Only crocodiles and reptiles... *Hehe*... And oh yeah, we actually fed the turtles popcorns!! But they ate it... Maybe they were too hungry... In fact, one of the turtles was overturned by another one as they fought for the popcorn... Pitying the one that was overturned, I decided to give it a big one... *Hehe*... And don't worry, it managed to turn itself back...
Oh yeah, I actually wanted to take
kereta lembu or a bullock cart ride but since everyone was so tired, we decided not too... Well, I couldn't hide my disappointment... And yes, till now, I'm still bugging my parents and sis that I didn't get to ride on a
kereta lembu... Still as whiny as ever!! *Haha*... So much so that my mum wanted to give me a keychain with the
kereta lembu, but nothing beats sitting on a real one!
Our final destination was Hang Tuah's well... By the way, Hang Tuah is actually one of the greatest warrior during the reign of the Sultan of Melaka... Anyway, the well was built by Hang Tuah and his four friends; Hang Jebat, Hang Kasturi, Hang Lekiu and Hang Lekir... According to the cab driver, the well never dries up even during a draught... Tried to get some water from the well, but honestly, I have no skill... *Haha*... Failed to retrive water from it...
Finally reached the hotel at 6pm... Had some rest and we then headed to the roadside stalls to have our dinner... Oh thank goodness, my stomach is still working fine and well now... No diarrhoea or food poisoning... *Hehe*... Headed back to the hotel, watched some Cantonese movie on the TV before drifting of to slumber land...
Day 3 (Tuesday, 28/6/2005)Woke up quite late... Had breakfast at 9.30am... Well, we didn't do anything much on that day since both me and my sis felt extremely tired... Decided to coop up inside the room until we finally had to check-out @ 11.30am... Took a cab down to Melaka Sentral Terminal... Oh yeah, guess what! I had A&W's there... Something that you can no longer find in Singapore... Gosh, really missed their Root Beer Float, ice-cream waffles, Coney Dog and Curly Fries... *Yummy!!*... Finally boarded the bus @ 2.30pm... So it was GOODBYE MALACCA... Was sleeping again throughout the bus journey... And my butt felt so sore after sitting down for like 3
1/
2 hours... *Haha*... Reached home at about 6.45pm... *Home Sweet Home*...
Honestly, I wished I could stay there longer but too bad, time doesn't permit us to... Whatever it is, I did enjoy myself... *WEE!!*...
P.S. Pictures will be uploaded soon... Just too lazy to do so!! *Haha*...
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Time check: 1.13am...
Oh wow... It took me exactly 2 hours to blog this entry...
Goodnight everyone!!
written, NaDiaH eRNiYaNTi
