We decided to drive to Melaka for a day trip during the Merdeka long weekend. Yes, another quest to look for good, mouth watering food.... this time the nyonya type This was the second time that we were in Melaka; the historic and 'full-of-one-way-traffic-flow' city. We were joined by my sister's family and we had a good time there. To beat the traffic, we went as early as 6:30am. The journey was easy and the kids (plus some adults) manage to get some shut eye during the journey before reaching Melaka.
Oh, we did stop by Seremban for breakfast. We had the noodles at "Yi Poh Restaurant" (it is a coffee shop). It is different from the Sarawak "kolo mee" as it was a bit salty, but it's still good. I guess this is Seremban style "kolo mee".
Opposite the restaurant, there was this corner bakery selling the ever famous 'sau pau'. Yes, very yummy. We prefer the bun type rather than the pastry skin 'sau pau' because the pastry skin was a bit too sweet to our liking.
We continued our journey after breakfast and arrived at the heart of the city of Melaka. We parked our cars at the Stadthuys... if you remember your history, this is the administration centre for the Dutch colony in the past. These are the buildings where the walls are reddish. This really gives Melaka its character.
The Anglican church, Christ Church, is still a church that has worshippers there. Yes, another historical site.
Walking around this area we spotted a windmill (in a roundabout), a nice fountain, nice colourful flowers and of course the ever famous highly decorated trishaws. Yes, the kids and the mummies went on a ride. It costs us RM6 to get from the Stadthuys to Fort Famosa.
The trishaw brought the 'entourage' to Fort Famosa rather quickly. This old man sure can cycle!
A snapshot at the fort.
A bit further away from Fort Famosa, there is a museum which is suppose to be the Sultan's palace back in days long ago. To enter, there is a fee. We decided not to go in as the kids may not find it too entertaining.
We were very hungry after all the walking around so we decided to have lunch... the ever famous chicken rice balls! We were at Jonker Walk where the famous shop was to be found. There are a few of them on this street but the best one (so we read) is the one at the end of the street, away from the temple. There's always a queue to get into the shop to dine there.
Above is a picture of the chicken rice made into balls! We found the rice cold and the chicken so-so. So we still prefer our chicken rice in KL. I guess it is the novelty of having the rice in the form of balls. Yes, we can actually say we ate 5 balls (or however many/few) of rice!
What better way to end a meal but to have desserts! We went for the ever famous cendol with thick gula Melaka and santan (coconut milk). The cendol is to die for! So extra yummy, creamy and refreshing! We love gula Melaka in our cendol.
So mouth watering!
We also bought the nyonya dumpling (chang), some pineapple tarts and gula Melaka itself at the shop to take away. If only we could take away the cendol, we would have. All these foods are nyonya foods.
After a good lunch (especially the dessert), we headed to the Melaka Zoo. We were told by friends that the zoo is really good. And we can second that now. It is so much nicer than Zoo Negara, judging by the variety of exhibits they have. The kids loved it!
There were macaws (even red ones)...
... white rhinocerous (didn't look very white to us! maybe tanned in Malaysian sun already!)...
... tapir...
... many different types of buffalos...
... giraffes...
... funny looking buffalos...
... clouded and black panthers...
... tigers...
... elephants and so much more!
It was a day well spent in Melaka. All were exhausted after the trip but all were happy!
