2 Days Melaka MakanTrip
27 - 28 Sep 2020
This is our first local trip since the Movement Control Order started on 18th Mac 2020. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic all our overseas holidays have been postponed. Visiting our own local holiday destinations and supporting our own economy is a welcome break after months of movement restriction.
We stayed in a 3 bedroom suite apartment in Swiss Garden Hotel Melaka that my nephew booked under HSBC Bank where he works. To avoid looking for carparks on a crowded weekend we took a Grab car to Jonker Street for our lunch.
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| The spacious 3 bedroom suite apartment in Swiss Garden Hotel |
Joining the queue to enter the popular Kedai Kopi Chung Wah which sells the famous chicken rice balls. Leaving my two nephews to book the tables we ventured across the road to the San Shu Gong outlet which sells a variety of local snacks, chips and biscuits.
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While waiting for our lunch tables we spent some time browsing through the variety of local snacks like pineapple tarts, different peanuts snacks and different types of sauces. Next to it is a small store also run by them, selling souvenirs and nice cute dolls.
Kedai Kopi Chung Wah is famous for its Hananese chicken rice balls. We find the rice balls too soft as the rice is over cooked and the chicken is pretty normal and nothing to shout about. Due to social distancing the restaurant allowed only three persons to a table.
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| The beginning of Jonker Street with San Shu Gong and Kedai Kopi Chung Wah on the right. |
After lunch we walked across the Tam Kim Seng bridge to the Stadthuys, South East Asia oldest Dutch building and the Christ Church Melaka.
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| Melaka River viewed from Tam Kim Seng Bridge |
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| Windmill at the Dutch Square |
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| Despite the advice to wear mask some of the tourists are still without mask |
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| Local busker belting out Cantonese songs |
The Stadthuys on the right and the clock tower. The Stadthuys is believed to be the oldest-surviving Dutch building in the East. Part of Malacca town square’s prominent Dutch colonial architecture it is a massive bright terracotta-red riverfront building that was once the official residence of Dutch governors and officers. It has since been converted into a museum.
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| Walking to St Paul's Hill |
From the Stadthuys we walked for about 500m to St Paul's Hill where the ruins of St Paul's Church was located. Saint Paul's Church is a historic church building in Malacca City, that was originally built in 1521, making it the oldest church building in Malaysia and Southeast Asia. It is located at the summit of St. Paul's Hill and is today part of the Malacca Museum Complex comprising the A Famosa ruins, the Stadthuys and other historical buildings.
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| Busker singing on St. Paul's Hill |
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| The statute of St Francis Xavier on top of St Paul's Hill |
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| The ruins of St. Paul’s Church are at the summit of St. Paul's Hill. |
Inside the ruins of St. Paul’s Church is basically a decaying stone interior. Lining the walls are intricately engraved tombstones belonging to Dutch nobility that were buried here.
St. Paul’s Church offers great views of Malacca and there are buskers and souvenir stalls at the top of the hill; heading down on the other side leads to Porta de Santiago, the remains of the great A’ Famosa Fort.
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| A' Formosa Fort |
From St Paul's Hill we took the steps down leading to A’ Famosa Fort. The historical A' Famosa Fort, the ruins of which are at the foot of St Paul's Hill. Built in 1511 under Alfonso de Alburquerque, this is one of the few European architectural remains in Asia.
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| Fish eye view of the are near the A' Formosa Fort |
From A' Famosa we walked to Dataran Pahlawan Melaka Megamall, a nine-storey modern shopping mall that houses name-brand stores, entertainment centres, food and beverages outlets and souvenir shops, catering to visitors of all ages.
We dropped by Ma Ma Taste, one of the many eateries along Jonker Street to have Nyonya Cendul and Nyonya laksa. The Nyonya Cendul with its gula Melaka is a welcome thirst quencher after the long walk under the hot sun. The Nyonya laksa was also good.
We passed by Taman Warisan Dunia Jonker Walk which is a public park located along Jonker Street. The centrepiece of Taman Warisan Dunia Jonker Walk is the sculpture of Malacca's favourite son, Datuk Wira Dr Gan Boon Leong, regarded as the Father of Bodybuilders in Malaysia
We took a long walk back to Swiss Garden Hotel Melaka where we checked into the 3-bedroom Suite Apartment for a rest before we took a Grab car out for dinner.
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| Day view of Melaka town from our suite on the 25th floor |
Since we do not know where are the nice food in Melaka I asked one of my friend who come to Melaka very often and he recommended a couple of nice restaurants for our dinner and breakfast. Unfortunately we did not have time to try all his recommendations.
We had our dinner at Restaurant Aunty Lee which serves authentic Peranakan Food. We tried their Ikan Cili Garam (salted chili fish), Sambal Petai Ikan Bilis, Ayam Pong Teh, Cincalok Omelette, Tempra (Nyonya sweet and sour dish of black soy sauce) and Otak Otak amongst others.
After dinner we took a stroll along Melaka River which is just beside the hotel and watched the Melaka River Night Cruise boats passing by us.
Later we had our welcome drink at the Sky Garden which have excellent night sceneries of Melaka town. The Sky Garden, located on the 30th floor of the Hotel tower, is a stunner: You can drink and dine while enjoying the view of Melaka town, breathtaking sunset or the majestic city night view over the Straits of Melaka.
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| Stunning night view of Melaka town from the Sky Garden |
Next morning we took a Grab car to De Ocean Dim Sum Restaurant for breakfast. The restaurant serves good and reasonably cheap dim sum. Their Lao Sar Pau is my favourite. The Char Siew Pau and Lo Mai Kai were also good
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After breakfast we took a Grab car to the Bukit Cina market to buy gula Melaka. From the market we walked to Bukit Cina, one of Melaka's well known historical site.
During the 15th century reign of Sultan Mansur Shah back in the days when diplomatic and trade deals included potential wives, the Chinese Ming Dynasty Emperor sent his “astonishingly beautiful” daughter Hung Li Poh along with an entourage of 500 to Melaka. Stunned by her attractive looks, Sultan Mansur Shah arranged her conversion to Islam and she promptly became the fifth wife of the Sultan. He then built a palace for his new consort (and co.) on the forested hill known ever after as Bukit Cina, meaning Chinese Hill.
The forested paths of Bukit Cina are a popular spot for jogging and walking among the medieval graves offering incredible views from the park.
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| Walking and jogging path on top of Bukit Cina |
At the foothill next to the temple is a well that is named after Hung Li Po. It is also known as King’s Well and is the oldest water well in Malaysia. The well was built in 1459 by the followers of Hang Li Poh as the main water source in the town. Today, the well is no longer used as a water source but a wishing well instead
Bukit Cina is the ancestral burial ground of Malacca’s Chinese community. Also known as Chinese Hill, it is the largest and oldest Chinese graveyard outside of China itself with over 12,500 graves. Although it is primarily a graveyard for early Chinese settlers, the cemetery has about 20 Muslim tombs, too.
To the left of the well, at the foot of Bukit Cina, is the Poh San Teng Temple. It was built in 1795 and dedicated to Admiral Cheng Ho; inside the temple are images of the Taoist entity Dabo Gong and Kuan Yin.
We then took another Grab car back to the hotel to check out. Since we have some time we stopped by the giant robot next to the hotel to take some pictures. The robot is listed in the Malaysian Book of Records as the tallest robot replica made from recyclable scrap metal. It is 5m tall.
After checking out we drove to Bess Kopitiam where we tried the Nyonya Laksa that is reputed to be the best laksa in Malaysia. Indeed the laksa was good with its rich and savoury tasting curry soup. You have the option to add bean curd sheets as additional toppings.
Besides laksa there’s also a couple of other Nyonya dishes being served here like Mee Siam, Nasi Lemak, Mee Goreng and a variety of toasts – which are known as BESS Toasts
Before driving back to KL we stopped by the Sai Kee 434 Coffee outlet to buy the famous Muar Coffee. Beside selling its famous coffee powder it also serves freshly brew coffee and other snacks. We bought the traditional coffee kampong and their premium elephant beans coffee.
Why 434? Mr. Kiar Am Sai or affectionately known by his customers by the name of Ah Sai, was a 17 year-old when he landed in Malaysia from Hainan Island of China. He has formulated his own coffee recipe for traditional coffee roasting.
He has always wanted to do business with the local multi-racial community. Bearing this in mind, he wanted the Malay, Chinese, Indian and Sikhs customers to recognise and remember his brand of coffee, and he has chosen his three digit telephone during the 1960s “434” as his brand name.
Overall is was great trip as it provides an opportunity for us to be away from KL city during the recovery movement control order (RMCO). Hope the Covid-19 pandemic will be over soon so that we can go back to our normal life.
During the trip I was able to test out my new Zhiyun Smooth X smartphone gimbal and my new Samsung A51 which I got it free when I upgraded my Celcom plan. Took a number of short video clips. Will try to stich them together with some video editing software. In future will try to share some travel videos instead of just photos.
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| My 2-Axis Zhiyun Smooth X smartphone gimbal with the Samsung A51 |
