Sunday, August 24, 2008

Day 2 in Malacca - part 1~~~

Sunday morning...

Everyone (including my baby) still sleeping soundly in bed. Poor me~! Have to wake up early to attend a workshop. Plus, I coudnt sleep well the nite before... It will definitely be a very down, sleepy, boring day for me today...

Went down alone for breakfast... Nothing special being served: nasi lemak, porridge, english breakfast, fruit juice...


breakfast...

Time for workshop.

Lucky me, the Holiday Inn Hotel where Im gonna attend my workshop and conference is just opposite the hotel Im staying.


Mahkota Hotel...


Holiday Inn Hotel 1...


Holiday Inn Hotel 2...

Well, as usual, people no matter in KL or Malacca or some kampung kampung places wont be on time for a function.


waiting for participants...

So, without wasting time, me took out my camera and started taking photos of everything. Holiday Inn Malacca is a brand new hotel on the coast. Room guests can enjoy a great view of the Straits of Malacca and the surrounding city area.


lovely views over the Straits...

Before the workshop start, I oredi feeling sleepy... Hehehe~!!! All of us are provided with a file with slide notes inside.


camera, file, pencil, water...

Is only the 1st session and guess wat~!!!???!!! The uncle sitting in front of me is falling asleep... Plus, he's sitting at the front row while speakers are giving workshop in front. Now u noe how boring is the workshop. :-p


ZZZZzzzzz........

Lunch time...

Meet up with my baby before he drive back to KL. OMG~! Im gonna stay alone in the 'scary' apartment myself *sob sob*


me and baby...

Many varieties of food is served in Holiday Inn Malacca. Hhmmm... my diet plan GONE!!!


lunch...

The workshop finished around 5 something in the evening. Walked back to my apartment for a rest. Gonna have dinner with uncle See Jin later...

To be continue...

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Day 1 in Malacca - part 3~~~

Saturday nite...

I have 2 cousins staying in Malacca - 1 working and 1 studying. We decided to have dinner together for the nite...

As all know, Malacca is famous with satay celup. All you do is just dip your food into the satay gravy and wait for it to cook. That’s the special of it. There are plenty of shops that served satay celup but my cousins prefer the restaurant we planned to go to - Restaurant Capitol Satay, the pioneer of satay celup in Melaka, and remains good until today (according to them).

Before reaching to the place, my cousin told me that we might have to line up and wait an hour or 2 before being served.

'Need meh??? KL oso no need to wait so long la for food....'

OMG~!!!! I was shocked when I see the LONG queue of people lining up outside the shop, along the road to wait to be served. Now... I do believe~!!!


long queue in front of Capitol Satay...

You will notice there are lots of photograph pasted on the their wall of fame. Mostly artists, singers, miss somethg somethg, basketball players, etc...... No wonder it is so famous and can attract tourists.


waiting for a table...

Finally, *counting* after 1 hour plus of waiting, we have a table... Outside at the corridor of the shop. Still ok la, at least it is not stuffy compared to those sitting inside the shop.

Everything here is self serviced.

There are really huge varieties of raw foods neatly displayed, easy for people to take whatever they want to eat. Food such as assorted fish, chicken, prawns, vegetables, pork, chicken, beef, meat / fish balls, quail’s eggs, see ham, squids, pig’s liver, Taiwanese sausages, and many many more. *thumb up*


huge varieties of food...


One good thing about this shop. You’re given full flexibility and freedom to choose any type of foods, and only pay for what you’ve eaten.


food...

Upon seated, they will ask whether to served you bread or not. I like bread, a lot, especially to go along with the peanut sauce. *yumm yumm* The breads are exceptionally soft and fluffy.


bread and cucumber...

Here comes the sause. Right in the middle of the table is the pot of aromatic peanut sauce. When the pot of sause arrived, it is quite watery. Then the waitresses would come over to add extra peanut sauce and savour to give you the kick. My cousin told me that this shop is also famous for the non-recycled sauce. So, whether the pot is being recycled or not, is up to the customers to decide lo.


watery sauce...

Every now and then, the waitresses will consistently go to each table to blend the sauce with sufficient amount of savors and peanut sauce to make the sauce stay thick at the satisfying level throughout the meal.


adding extra peanuts and savour...

The delicious peanut sauce...... *saliva dripping while typing this blog entry* Haha~!!!


sauce...

Well, despite the number of food served, I only eat a few selected ones. Not to be missed, my favaurite - see ham!!!!!!


food food food...


After you eat more than a certain amount and time, the waitresses will serve you with VERY big prawns, squids and mini abalone. And guess wat~!!! You are charged with RM0.70 still, same like others sticks. Maybe it is another way to give customers some discounts after eating so much there.



squid and mini abalone...


my VERY big prawn...

1... 2... 5... 10... 15... OMG~!!! I've eaten 15 sticks. *Brrupp!* So FULL~!!!


my portion...

Overall, I think is worth waiting so long (extremely long) to taste the nice satay celup. The price is cheap RM0.70 per stick. The taste of the peanut sauce is perfect (abit more crunchy peanuts will be fantastic). A lot of varieties to choose and extra bonuses like VERY big prawns. I will surely come back again during my trip to Malacca.

Since all of us are so full, we went to Jonker Street for a walk. It is something similar to Petaling Street in KL.


Jonker Walk...

It was packed with people (locals and tourists) when we reached there.

The Jonker Street only starts on every Friday evenings, Saturday evenings and Sunday evenings from 6.00pm to 12.00 midnight. During these hours, stalls are lined along the street, setting up stalls to sell and display their products such as antique copper coins, local and ethnic traditional food, unique arts and crafts, souvenirs, ornamental jewelry, clothings and many more.


packed with people...


shoe??? bag??? is a shoe bag...

There is this stall where a skillfull uncle bent steel wires into all kind of shapes and sizes.


skillfull uncle bending the steel wire...

You can notice some stalls selling freshly oven-baked pineapple tarts, 1 of the famous biscuits in Malacca. There are 2 types: 1 that roll the pineapple jam in it and 1 that top with pineapple jam and shaped like a sunflower.


pineapple biscuits...


The Geographer Cafe located at the middle of the street is known among the foreign visitors, for its happening live bands on Friday and weekend nights. Still remember the chinese movie 'Summer Holiday' aka 'Xia Re Mo Mo Cha' starring Richie Ren and Sammi Cheng? One of the scene was partially shot here.


geographer cafe...

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at Wings musicafe to have a drink.


wings musicafe...

few branches around KL...


outside de cafe...

It is a healthy place where people can hang out and enjoy live performances and music. It is also a perfect place for friends to get together and celebrate birthday.


our drinks...

We spent awhile there before my cousin sent us back to our hotel...

There goes my 1st day in Malacca. Baby and I were so tired... Took bath and went straight to bed. But... The sad thing happened. I had Honey Lemon Green Tea at the musicafe and the whole nite I jus couldnt fall asleep even though Im tired.

*sob sob*
How am I gonna survive for the workshop the nex day??????

Friday, August 22, 2008

Day 1 in Malacca - part 2~~~

Saturday evening...

Before dinner, me and baby went around visiting places on foot because the traffic is quite terrible on weekends.

As you walk around Malacca, you will notice there are lot unique trishaw (beca) on the road. Many tourists wil take the beca ride tour to travel from 1 places to another. Well, taking a beca ride for me is quite expensive (Rm30-40 for 1 hour ride) when we can walk to places we wanna visit. For me, a tour on foot is the best way to get up close to appreciate the magnificent facades.


colourful beca...

As mentioned before, there is a new Melaka Sky Tower where tourists can enjoy the panoramic view the of Melaka City from a height of 110 meters. It takes 1 minute to go up and will be given 5 minutes to enjoy and take photographs of the view of Melaka and 1 minute to get down.


going up...


traveling vertically, and rotating at the same time...

Next stop... Museum Samudera.

This Maritime Museum is constructed after 'Flora De La Mar', the Portuguese ship that sank off the Coast of Malacca on its way to Portugal. Visitors can get closer look at Melaka from the famed Malay Sultanate of the 14th century to the Portuguese era, the Dutch era and the British era.

To save time, we never enter the place. Just took a few photo shots across the road..


Museum Samudera...

I noticed there's a new landmark - Melaka water mill. You can easily spot this place as it is in the heart of Bandar Hilir near Quay Side Restaurant and accross it (the river) are the OCBC Bank. This watermill is named the ‘Melaka Sultanate Water Mill.’


melaka water mill...

Then, we headed to the Malacca Dutch Square ('the red square') which consist of Stadthuys, Christ Church and Clock Tower. The Stadthuys is one of the oldest Dutch buildings in the east. It has now converted into the Malacca Historical Museum where exhibits of the past glory can be seen.


Stadthuys (right), Christ Church (middle) & Clock Tower (left)...

The Dutch Square has even become a popular photo shoot for newlyweds looking for a perfect backdrop for their wedding portrait. For Chinese Malaysians, having a wedding photo with the striking red buildings in the background seems particularly a favourite, since in the Chinese culture, red symbolises luck. But now, even Malays love it too...


wedding photo shoot...

Looking up to the summit of the hill, as you walk along the steps that lead up to the top of St. Paul's Hill from the Stadthuys, you could easily spot the sights of the ruins St. Paul's church. Inside here, you wil see lots of Dutch tombstones. Quite scary~~~

steps lead up to the top of St. Paul's Hill...


statue of St. Francis Xavier...


St. Paul's church...

Last stop... Porta de Santiago - A' Formosa Fortress.

Built by the Portuguese in 1511 as a fortress it sustained severe structural damage during the Dutch invasion, however visitors has the chance to see the entrance to what was once an imposing structure that defended the city from attack.

Not much differences from the last time i visited this place. Just now, there are stalls inside the fort selling souveniers, art & craft to attract tourists.


Porta de Santiago...

To be continue...

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Day 1 in Malacca - part 1~~~

Saturday afternoon...

Im gonna attend a international conference in Malacca. Since Im heading down on Saturday, my baby decided to drive me there and accompany me for 2 days. My baby so nice... ^.^ We started our journey to Malacca after I finished mt work.

After 1 hour plus journey, here we are... at the City of Historical state -- Malacca


malacca...

About a month ago, on the 7th July 2008, Melaka and Georgetown were listed in the UNESCO World Heritage Cities List "Historic Cities in the Straits of Malacca"
. This is certainly an historic day for Melaka in particular and Malaysia in general.


banners around malacca...

We drive around the town before reaching the hotel.

When was the last time I visited malacca??? *thinking* Hmm... I think around 5-6 years ago. Not much difference except MORE cars~!!!


Tan Kim Hock product center...


traffic jam 1...


traffic jam 2...

There is a new tourist attraction - Melaka Sky Tower. Visitors can move upwards the tower by sitting in an air-conditioned capsule, where its cabin capable of traveling rotationally and vertically, allowing tourists to catch the birdeye view of Malacca city from a height of 110 meters. Malacca Sky Tower is set to change landscape of Bandar Hilir.


menara taming sari...

Few years back, the only shopping complex that I know - Mahkota Parade. But now, a new megamall is up situated right opposite Mahkota Parade - Dataran Pahlawan Melaka megamall. Before this megamall was build, the place was a field which has a long history back in 1957 - The Independence Day. At this place, the Proclamation of Independence was announce by Malaysia first Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman.

Now the area are rebuild with Melaka Megamall modern shopping complex and the field is at the top of it. Open in 2006 with hundreds of retail outlets that includes modern shopping complex, latest fashion, local cuisine and also housing the heritage gallery, a mix of all locals handcraft & traditional item bazaar under one roof.



dataran pahlawan melaka megamall...

At the right side of the megamall there is a Carrefour for those who want to do grocery shopping. There is a Golden Screen Cinema too...


carrefour...

Finally, we reached the hotel - Mahkota Hotel Melaka (formerly known as Century Mahkota Hotel Melaka). Mahkota Hotel Melaka is adjacent to Mahkota Parade and is also within a short walking distance to the various historical places of interest and the commercial hub of Melaka.

After checking-in at the counter, I headed to my single-bedroom apartment unit. My room - Hibiscus - Wing 5 - Room 5017. My room is furnished with remote controlled TV, Individually controlled air-conditioning, mini fridge, personal safe, movie channels, etc...


main lobby...


my apartment...

Well, from my point if view, the only good thing about this hotel is the location. Situated next to the sea, next to Holiday Inn (where my conference gonna take place) and opposite the big shopping mall. The apartment is ok, decent and quite clean, but everything looks old. Outside the rooms, the corridors are dimly lit, quite dirty and not well-maintained.


my room 1...


my room 2...

The hotel has 2 large swimming pools and kids pool with waterslide, fitness centre and sauna, mini golf, tennis and squash courts, etc.


swimming pool 1...


swimming pool 2...

Guess wat~!!! After un-pack my stuffs, I notice this... Dr Ong Yin Hui, Mahkota Medical Center. Hahaha~!!!!! I become Doctor... :-p

dr ong yin hui???...

To be continue...