Welcome to the land of traffic lights and right turns.
- Samuel over the walkie as we made number X right turn after passing a traffic light

Three automobiles set out from Kranji at 7.30am and stayed connected via walkie-talkies (if only I could tape down the ridiculously-silly conversations we had over the walkies). I've got to make a special mention that though I woke up ridiculously late, I was the first to reach the meeting point.Why huh? *grumbles grumbles*

I digress.

Of EAT EAT EAT
The supposed theme of the trip was EAT EAT EAT. No brain-teaser right? Roti prati at Damai Gardens, JB for breakfast was so-so. Curry gravy was so watery (like 50% curry 50% water?) that I was wondering if I should just drink it up instead. Deprived from sleep the previous night, I dozed off during the two-hour country road drive up to Malacca. All I know is that I feel acceleration of the vehicle so fast, something we can hardly experience on the roads of Singapore, that it felt so nice to sleep.

En route to Jonker Street in Malacca, we stopped shortly at Bee Museum. Ever so thirsty, I gulped down two cups of honey drink. Sweet. Entrance to Malacca was ... *jaws drop* Immediately, you'd recognised that you've entered another world. The architecture is so distinctive different; buildings don that pointy rooftop tips (I know no other words to describe that thingy). Needless to say, we hit Jonker Street first. It was lunch time already. *laughter* So much an anticipation for the traditional Hainanese chicken rice, so disappointing the results. The rice balls came in looking like fishballs out of the soup - so small!? Chilli tak shiok also... I remember good that the rice balls should be bigger (fist-size) and I should be able to see individual grains of rice in the rice ball. Here, the rice balls looked so smashed up. The roast meat and bean sprouts tasted so much better. Weird, why so many celebrities and travel programmes came for the chicken rice? Arh, you see, bluff people again. One live example in front of us - an Australian travelogue was filming the host munching into the chicken rice ball. What she said nearly sent us into fits of laughter.

No, we don't stop there. Chendol is up next on the itinerary. Yeah so privileged it is to own its place on the schedule. Thick gula melaka running down the mountain of shaved ice *oOh* heaven...
Click on picture and roll over mouse to see notes.

Seafood dinner by the coast was fantastic. I finished my first plate of plain rice with the sambal kangkong alone. The rest of the dinner time was a blur right from my first bite of freshly cooked prawns. Like I've reached utopia and never came back. *averts eyes* Fine, a tad exaggerating but you get my point. =) I had too much seafood in fact; came home with a slight rash.

Of Shophouses & Architecture
Rows of shophouses are strangely familiar. Pretty much similiar to the ones we have in Chinatown and Neil Road, except ours had already been refurbished and any traces of colonial decoratives to the roofs and ledges are almost gone. Signs of ageness still exist to the buildings in Malacca - faded paintings; incomplete cement cravings; potholes on the road. Probably this is how Singapore looked like 30 years ago.


Somewhat like walking down a nostalgia lane, there's so much more I wanted to explore and discover. Given my Peranakan ancestry, I knew nothing about my culture except for beaded shoes, chinchalok and prawn sambal. Such a shame I didn't get to visit the old churches and war-time historical sites. Perhaps next time. Next visit when we weren't that pre-occupied with food.

missybe is an incidental blogger who has previously been to Malaysia for a grand total of ONE time. Albeit a descendent of Peranakan ancestry, she has the most mediocre knowledge of this culture because 'my father told me nothing about it'. Thus, she sets out to find out more.

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