This past weekend Barrett and I went to Melaka, Malaysia with a couple other practice school friends, Nop and Si Won. Getting there was an adventure of its own. We had read the bus trip takes anywhere from three to five hours, depending on traffic. Our trip took 5 and a half hours. It took a full two hours just to get out of Singapore. At the border, the bus stopped and everyone got off to depart Singapore. It included hundreds of people intensly speed walking and running to get into lines to have our passports stamped, followed by more speed walking to get back onto buses. Everyone seemed to know where to go and in a major rush, evidently because most people were going to Johor, a city right past the border in Malaysia. Most buses were going there and therefore people could get on any of them. We had no idea where to find our bus and walked all over and determined it would have to come by at some point. Once back onto our bus, it stopped again about 10 minutes later. Here we went through customs to enter Malaysia. It was the same craziness, though we knew what to expect this time. After going through customs and getting a gorgeous stamp in my passport (seriously the best stamp I have in there), we went to get back on our bus and saw our bags sitting outside the bus. Evidently we were supposed to get them and walk them through customs. Woops! The driver in very broken English said he slipped it through for us, but that we wouldn’t be able to slip anything into Singapore on our way back.
After another half hour on the bus, it stopped at a mega stop, filled with buses, cars, food stalls and stores galore. The driver got off, but no one else seemed to get up, so we stay seated as well. The bus driver then said something in some foreign language and people started to get off the bus, only to get on the bus next to ours. We then completed our journey to Melaka, with only a few random stops for a couple people to get off the bus on the side of the highway (which seemed somewhat odd).
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| The Melaka River from our guest house |
Once at the Melaka bus terminal, we needed to get some money to take a cab. We found a 7Eleven (there are seriously on every other block in Singapore and Malaysia), though the ATM said it was not working. When we asked the cashier she said all of the ATMs in the area are going through updates until 1 am. We eventually found a cab driver who accepted Singapore dollars so we were on our way to the River One Guest House. It’s quite nice for the price ($24 USD a night).
The next morning we headed out for some chicken and rice balls for breakfast. They don’t seem to think eating rice and chicken or noodle dishes for breakfast is weird here. The ping pong sized rice balls were delicious!
After our meal that cost $14 USD for four people including juices and coffees, we went to some of the main sights. Melaka is a very historic port city with heavy Dutch and Portuguese influences. In the Dutch area, we went into some churches, shopped at some markets, saw some ruins, walked through a cemetery, and ended at the Sultanate Palace and botanic gardens. It started to pour as soon as we got inside. We waited for the rain to die down for a good 40 minutes, and then decided to go to a nearby shopping mall. We found some candy stores that had samples of everything which was really fun. They had some interesting dried fruits as well. We then found the Nadeje Patisserie, which is a swanky dessert place famous for its mille crepes. We tried the green tea, tiramisu, original, and chocolate strawberry. The original and tiramisu were the best. We then went to the Babas and Noynya Museum which was a guided tour of a rich Peranakan family’s home. It was a very interesting tour and very informative about the culture, traditions, and typical Peranakan home layouts.
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| In the Dutch Heritage center |
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| Mille Crepes at Nadeje |
After some more shopping on Jonker street, we headed for dinner #1 at Pak Putra Tandoori and Nan Restaurant. Everything from the mango lasi to chicken tandoori was delicious and so so cheap! After some more shopping and wandering I went home because my stomach had been feeling sick for most of the day, while Barrett, Si Won, and Nop went to Capitol Satay Celup. It was a fun place where you pick different types of meat, fish balls, and veggies, and cook them in a pot of spices boiling in the middle of the table. They tried all sorts of things and decided the fish balls and chicken were the best. I wish I had just made myself go, because I never ended up throwing up and still had the stomach ache the following day. After dinner #2, we went to Jonker street night market and tried some candy fruit skewers, onde onde, kueh dadar, pineapple cookies, cendol, and milk tea with pearls. Each food was so unique and different from anything I’ve ever tasted in the United States.
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| fruit kebabs |
The next morning we had some chicken and rice balls at a different place that was good, but not quite as good as the place the day before. We then walked along the river to the port. We then went to Sam’s Patisserie which was amazing! We shared a few macaroons, a slice of strawberry soufflé cake, and a slice of chocolate banana cake. The strawberry soufflé cake was the winner. We then headed to a pirate ship/ museum, though little India, to a Chinese Temple, and then to a traditional Nonya food lunch place (Nancy’s Kitchen). We tried a variety of dishes, but the minced pork was the stand out. We then headed back to our guesthouse, got our bags and took a taxi to the bus station. Thus concluded our 37 hours of eating our way through Melaka. Me likah Me laka!!
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| Strawberry Souffle Cake |
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| One of the many temples |
