Trip + Culinary Adventures IV : Malacca Edition
So, I am one week late blogging about the trip. That's soooo me btw. I was suppose to post about my Ipoh trip but I have yet to do so and the memories of it are pretty hazy by now so... *scratches Ipoh off blogging list*
First off, alot of pics are in catherine_nutz's (Lingling) cam... I have limited but I do have some nice pics!
Kudos to tantan for planning the trip! We met at Setiawangsa's petrol station at 8am sharp! I was not late this time! Applause please.
So off we go! Lingling's trusty Perodua Kancil carried our bums all the way to Malacca. Was about a 2 hour drive and totally problem free... except for the radio lah. No. no. Not a really big problem, just the fact that there are moments of silence (as my highschool mates call it, malaikat lalu: literally meaning an angel is passing by at that moment of silence, but I have no idea why it's called that, just for fun) and these moments call for good music! But as we passed from state borders to state borders, the radio frequency goes off and we have to search for the next listen-able frequency.
"Eh what's this ar? Got sound anot?"
"Got, got. Wait ar... Eh this is Malay song lah. Next!"
*tunes the radio*
"This one leh?"
"Ehhhh stop! Sounds like English song... Okay pass!"
Mysterious pic of Lingling at the toll.
So... just so you know, Hitz.fm is 93.00 in Malacca. =)
Onward!
We arrived, then as it was not time to check it, we walked around to find our lunch spot! Lingling recommended Restoran Peranakan which sells *drumroll* peranakan food. For those who do not know, according to Wiki...
Peranakan and Baba-Nyonya (traditional Chinese: 峇峇娘惹; Hokkien: Bā-bā Niû-liá) are terms used for the descendants of late 18th Century Chinese immigrants to the Nusantara region during the Colonial era, especially the BritishStraits Settlements of Malaya and the Dutch-controlled island of Java and other locations, who have adopted partially or in full Malay customs in a (chronological adaptation) to be somewhat assimilated into the local communities. While the term Peranakan is most commonly used among the ethnic Chinese for those of Chinese descent also known as Straits Chinese (土生華人; named after the Straits Settlements), there are also other, comparatively small so-called Peranakan communities, such as Indian Hindu Peranakans (Chitty), Indian Muslim Peranakans (Jawi Pekan)(Jawi being the Javanised Arabic script[1]., Pekan a colloquial contraction of Peranakan[2].) and Eurasian Peranakans (Kristang[3].) (Kirstang= Christians).[4][5]
In the 15th century, some small city-states of the Malay Peninsula often paid tribute to various kingdoms such as those of China and Siam. Close relations with China were established in the early 15th century during the reign of Parameswara when Admiral Zheng He (Cheng Ho), a Muslim Chinese, visited Malacca and Java. According to a legend in 1459 CE, the Emperor of China sent a princess, Hang Li Po, to the Sultan of Malacca as a token of appreciation for his tribute. The royalty and servants who accompanied the princess initially settled in Bukit Cina and eventually grew into a class of Straits-born Chinese known as the Peranakan.
Thanks to Wiki for the history lesson. Now... where were we?
Peranakan food on Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock! It opens at 11am and the interior is really nice! Looks like the olden days. Their houses are usually long and narrow, so it looks small on the outside but awesomely huge inside. We decided to order some famous peranakan food, but with our fairly limited knowledge on it we relied on the pics. Because they always say, when the menu displays pics of selected dishes, they are usually the famous ones! Thus, we ordered Kangkung Belacan, Foo Yung Egg, Itik Tim (soup) and Ayam Pongteh. Sounds very peranakan? You bet! But no pics allowed... so there. Lol. The food's nice, but I quote Lingling, "nothing her mum can't cook". Time to wish her mum a Happy Mother's Day. *grins*
Then we checked in at our guesthouse, Sama-sama Guesthouse.
Does this scene look familiar? Eeps.
Had to remove our shoes downstairs. Rooms are all upstairs.
A well in the middle of the house downstairs.
2 Toilets downstairs, 2 bath upstairs. Let's just say I only used the toilet once for the entire trip...
After checking in and resting an stuff. We left for the musuem! Or did we go to the museum before we check in... I honestly don't remember. If I delay this post any longer I might have even forgotten where we went on 1st of May. In fact, I had already forgotten the name of the guesthouse and had to do some searching before I found the name. Sigh.
Anyway... the musuem!
Musuem! RM2 per entry.
Took a few pics inside, but what fascinated me first was still the first thing I saw when I went inside...
It's the drainage system of Stadthuys. Built by the Dutch. And it looks really similar to those we have today.
The drain has amazed yours truly till today.
After the museum, we went to Kota A'Famosa and the church on top. I went there last year, and it's still nice today.
Next, cendol time! FYI it was FREAKING hot in Malacca. Of course we have to much to thank for the nice weather to walk around but can we have more clouds please? Pretty please with some nyonya kuih on top?
Another thing that really annoy me is that I always, and I mean ALWAYS forget to take the pic of what I am about to devour until it's half eaten. Or in this case, melted away. The cendol is already a pool of coconut goodness with in a bowl when I realised, so no pics for this. But it's really yummy on a hot day. Really. Yummy. *drools*
After a but of freshing up, we went for dinner! This is one of the highlights of my trip! Presenting...
Satay celup! (Celup means dip)
And satay refers to those sticks of various types of meat and veges. The pot is the peanut satay sauce, boiling and waiting to cook the satay stick of your choice. See hum, fishball, fu chuk, yau char kuay, chicken and prawn!
Dig in! Or in this case... Dip in!
50cents per stick and the red-tipped ones are 60cent each.
This must be on of the most unhygenic, unhealthy but delicious dish ever. Every customer and the next uses the same sauce they keep refilling at the table. The restaurant was packed! We were lucky to have gotten seats and the service was still pretty good for a very busy restaurant.
On another note, people of Malacca are really nice. =)
After this, we went to the pasar malam (night market) of Jonker walk!
Jonker walk during the day. I... forgot to take pictures of it at night... Moving on!
See the middle of the pic? It's actually a boxing ring at night. We saw 2 people boxing each other during the pasar malam.
Pasar malam is all about food food food. We bought some otak-otak, udang rempah and pineapple tarts. They were too fragrant to resist.
By the end of the night, our legs broke in half. Or at least it felt like it.
Played some NDS before we slept and taught them some Big 2 and Old Maid. And I thought most chinese people knew how to play Big 2. XD
And also... "the accident" on the bed. LOL
The next day, we checked out early in the morning and went for breakfast. Since I lost in that one game of Old Maid (*pouts*) I had to buy them drinks. We wandered off looking for a kopitiam and we found one at the corner. As we sat down and ordered drinks, a man keep coming to us trying to sell us some yam and pork meat soup (or something along the lines of it) and Tantan couldn't resist, so she ordered a bowl from him. Tsk tsk.
Tofu and pork in herbal soup. Soup is good! Tastes a lil like Bak Kut Teh.
Yam rice and Tantan's hands.
Good breakfast! The guy even added more soup for us! See? Malacca is a kind state. Lol.
We went to get some homemade nyonya kuih after that. (I think it was after breakfast.. memory fails again). After getting lost a few times, Lingling made an illegal parking in the middle of the street and we got our kuihs! Good stuff, but no pics again.
Next was the Peranakan Musuem.
Tour or no tour, the prices are the same, so we just opted for a tour as we will get to know more about them. Sadly, no pictures allowed inside so... no pics. All I can say is... they are rich! Both monetary terms and culture too. Nice!
After that we walked around more on Jonker Walk. Until lunch! Now there are (to my limited knowlegde) 2 famous chicken rice shops. One is the more commercialised Famosa Chicken Rice and the other smaller Hoe Kee Chicken Rice. My family usually eats at the Famosa one because it is more accessible as there are a few branches around Malacca. But this time, Lingling brought us to Hoe Kee.
Half eaten chicken rice. See I told you I always forget to take pics of food... Sigh. And the balls are not fish balls, they are rice balls! Famous in Malacca! Overall a good meal! =)
Headed home after the meal.
I had a really nice time with friends in Malacca. I hope we get to go somewhere else soon!
THE END
Gosh it's a very long post. I didn't know I could write so much aside from my assignments. Lol. Granted not thaaaaaaaaaaaaaat long but it still took quite some time to write this.
Till next time!
First off, alot of pics are in catherine_nutz's (Lingling) cam... I have limited but I do have some nice pics!
Kudos to tantan for planning the trip! We met at Setiawangsa's petrol station at 8am sharp! I was not late this time! Applause please.
So off we go! Lingling's trusty Perodua Kancil carried our bums all the way to Malacca. Was about a 2 hour drive and totally problem free... except for the radio lah. No. no. Not a really big problem, just the fact that there are moments of silence (as my highschool mates call it, malaikat lalu: literally meaning an angel is passing by at that moment of silence, but I have no idea why it's called that, just for fun) and these moments call for good music! But as we passed from state borders to state borders, the radio frequency goes off and we have to search for the next listen-able frequency.
"Eh what's this ar? Got sound anot?"
"Got, got. Wait ar... Eh this is Malay song lah. Next!"
*tunes the radio*
"This one leh?"
"Ehhhh stop! Sounds like English song... Okay pass!"
Mysterious pic of Lingling at the toll.
So... just so you know, Hitz.fm is 93.00 in Malacca. =)
Onward!
We arrived, then as it was not time to check it, we walked around to find our lunch spot! Lingling recommended Restoran Peranakan which sells *drumroll* peranakan food. For those who do not know, according to Wiki...
Peranakan and Baba-Nyonya (traditional Chinese: 峇峇娘惹; Hokkien: Bā-bā Niû-liá) are terms used for the descendants of late 18th Century Chinese immigrants to the Nusantara region during the Colonial era, especially the BritishStraits Settlements of Malaya and the Dutch-controlled island of Java and other locations, who have adopted partially or in full Malay customs in a (chronological adaptation) to be somewhat assimilated into the local communities. While the term Peranakan is most commonly used among the ethnic Chinese for those of Chinese descent also known as Straits Chinese (土生華人; named after the Straits Settlements), there are also other, comparatively small so-called Peranakan communities, such as Indian Hindu Peranakans (Chitty), Indian Muslim Peranakans (Jawi Pekan)(Jawi being the Javanised Arabic script[1]., Pekan a colloquial contraction of Peranakan[2].) and Eurasian Peranakans (Kristang[3].) (Kirstang= Christians).[4][5]
In the 15th century, some small city-states of the Malay Peninsula often paid tribute to various kingdoms such as those of China and Siam. Close relations with China were established in the early 15th century during the reign of Parameswara when Admiral Zheng He (Cheng Ho), a Muslim Chinese, visited Malacca and Java. According to a legend in 1459 CE, the Emperor of China sent a princess, Hang Li Po, to the Sultan of Malacca as a token of appreciation for his tribute. The royalty and servants who accompanied the princess initially settled in Bukit Cina and eventually grew into a class of Straits-born Chinese known as the Peranakan.
Thanks to Wiki for the history lesson. Now... where were we?
Peranakan food on Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock! It opens at 11am and the interior is really nice! Looks like the olden days. Their houses are usually long and narrow, so it looks small on the outside but awesomely huge inside. We decided to order some famous peranakan food, but with our fairly limited knowledge on it we relied on the pics. Because they always say, when the menu displays pics of selected dishes, they are usually the famous ones! Thus, we ordered Kangkung Belacan, Foo Yung Egg, Itik Tim (soup) and Ayam Pongteh. Sounds very peranakan? You bet! But no pics allowed... so there. Lol. The food's nice, but I quote Lingling, "nothing her mum can't cook". Time to wish her mum a Happy Mother's Day. *grins*
Then we checked in at our guesthouse, Sama-sama Guesthouse.
Does this scene look familiar? Eeps.
Had to remove our shoes downstairs. Rooms are all upstairs.
A well in the middle of the house downstairs.
2 Toilets downstairs, 2 bath upstairs. Let's just say I only used the toilet once for the entire trip...
After checking in and resting an stuff. We left for the musuem! Or did we go to the museum before we check in... I honestly don't remember. If I delay this post any longer I might have even forgotten where we went on 1st of May. In fact, I had already forgotten the name of the guesthouse and had to do some searching before I found the name. Sigh.
Anyway... the musuem!
Musuem! RM2 per entry.
Took a few pics inside, but what fascinated me first was still the first thing I saw when I went inside...
It's the drainage system of Stadthuys. Built by the Dutch. And it looks really similar to those we have today.
The drain has amazed yours truly till today.
After the museum, we went to Kota A'Famosa and the church on top. I went there last year, and it's still nice today.
Next, cendol time! FYI it was FREAKING hot in Malacca. Of course we have to much to thank for the nice weather to walk around but can we have more clouds please? Pretty please with some nyonya kuih on top?
Another thing that really annoy me is that I always, and I mean ALWAYS forget to take the pic of what I am about to devour until it's half eaten. Or in this case, melted away. The cendol is already a pool of coconut goodness with in a bowl when I realised, so no pics for this. But it's really yummy on a hot day. Really. Yummy. *drools*
After a but of freshing up, we went for dinner! This is one of the highlights of my trip! Presenting...
Satay celup! (Celup means dip)
And satay refers to those sticks of various types of meat and veges. The pot is the peanut satay sauce, boiling and waiting to cook the satay stick of your choice. See hum, fishball, fu chuk, yau char kuay, chicken and prawn!
Dig in! Or in this case... Dip in!
50cents per stick and the red-tipped ones are 60cent each.
This must be on of the most unhygenic, unhealthy but delicious dish ever. Every customer and the next uses the same sauce they keep refilling at the table. The restaurant was packed! We were lucky to have gotten seats and the service was still pretty good for a very busy restaurant.
On another note, people of Malacca are really nice. =)
After this, we went to the pasar malam (night market) of Jonker walk!
Jonker walk during the day. I... forgot to take pictures of it at night... Moving on!
See the middle of the pic? It's actually a boxing ring at night. We saw 2 people boxing each other during the pasar malam.
Pasar malam is all about food food food. We bought some otak-otak, udang rempah and pineapple tarts. They were too fragrant to resist.
By the end of the night, our legs broke in half. Or at least it felt like it.
Played some NDS before we slept and taught them some Big 2 and Old Maid. And I thought most chinese people knew how to play Big 2. XD
And also... "the accident" on the bed. LOL
The next day, we checked out early in the morning and went for breakfast. Since I lost in that one game of Old Maid (*pouts*) I had to buy them drinks. We wandered off looking for a kopitiam and we found one at the corner. As we sat down and ordered drinks, a man keep coming to us trying to sell us some yam and pork meat soup (or something along the lines of it) and Tantan couldn't resist, so she ordered a bowl from him. Tsk tsk.
Tofu and pork in herbal soup. Soup is good! Tastes a lil like Bak Kut Teh.
Yam rice and Tantan's hands.
Good breakfast! The guy even added more soup for us! See? Malacca is a kind state. Lol.
We went to get some homemade nyonya kuih after that. (I think it was after breakfast.. memory fails again). After getting lost a few times, Lingling made an illegal parking in the middle of the street and we got our kuihs! Good stuff, but no pics again.
Next was the Peranakan Musuem.
Tour or no tour, the prices are the same, so we just opted for a tour as we will get to know more about them. Sadly, no pictures allowed inside so... no pics. All I can say is... they are rich! Both monetary terms and culture too. Nice!
After that we walked around more on Jonker Walk. Until lunch! Now there are (to my limited knowlegde) 2 famous chicken rice shops. One is the more commercialised Famosa Chicken Rice and the other smaller Hoe Kee Chicken Rice. My family usually eats at the Famosa one because it is more accessible as there are a few branches around Malacca. But this time, Lingling brought us to Hoe Kee.
Half eaten chicken rice. See I told you I always forget to take pics of food... Sigh. And the balls are not fish balls, they are rice balls! Famous in Malacca! Overall a good meal! =)
Headed home after the meal.
I had a really nice time with friends in Malacca. I hope we get to go somewhere else soon!
THE END
Gosh it's a very long post. I didn't know I could write so much aside from my assignments. Lol. Granted not thaaaaaaaaaaaaaat long but it still took quite some time to write this.
Till next time!