{Food & Travel} Old Town Love - MELAKA.

"But do not ask me where I am going,
As I travel in this limitless world,
Where every step I take is my home."
— Eihei Dogen

I'm not so good in telling some history like how Wikipedia narrates this and that, so instead of copy+pasting some trivia, feel free to click lonely planet's link to describe more of Melaka. *grin*

However, I do hope that the things, people and places I've captured while I was there will somehow teleport you into this old town, the way I see it, which I've now grown to love and shall come back to visit to again.

So where do I begin? (Warning: loooong post ahead. *wink*)
Well, I love putting my images as they happen and put them up into my blog in chronological order as much as I can. And like how all roadtrips start, there we were in the bus....(by bus, I mean 'coach type' or what they refer to as express bus)...

We booked our coach tickets last January when I found a promotional deal over the web and got a 38% discount for the fare from a travel agency here in Singapore. It cost us SGD39.90 each instead of the usual SGD65. It does pay better to watch out for deals, isn't it? :)

Oh but just a quick back story here. We originally wanted to go to Kuala Lumpur or go to Cameron Highlands,too however, due to time constraints, we decided to go Melaka instead and yes, thank God we did. I long wanted to come visit this place and finally managed to squeeze a weekend for it. :)

Below is a fellow passenger sitting infront of us and I supposed it's his first time to go to Melaka,too like we do.

It was quite a long ride going to Melaka but we didn't expect it to be even longer - must have been almost 6 hrs on the road coming from Singapore. Good thing there was a stop-over in between for us to grab food or go for toilet breaks.

My favorite stop-over was when we bought this sweet corn. Yumyum! :P

During the ride, Brian was either playing silly games on his phone or nagging me with whatever stuff. While most of the time, when I'm not having a quick nap, I kept staring at the window - coz I hate to miss things that could surprise me along the road.

By the time we arrived in Melaka, it felt like home.
Maybe like Cebu. But there was something more.

Outcast skies. Too bad. It was bound to rain that afternoon when we arrived...

I love the old feel of letter boxes.

And here I was looking like I don't know where to go first. Haha.

We checked in at Discovery Cafe and Guesthouse - the name itself was kinda cool so after going over a few other hostels listed at TripAdvisor, I decided to just go ahead and pick this when I read some good reviews. It wasn't really that disappointing when we came in to our room, it was good enough for a budget hostel to stay for a night and safe,too. The great thing about it is, most of the attractions were easily accessible coz the guesthouse was located right in the middle of the town. That was what mattered to us.

 And because we were on a roadtrip, of course, I had to wear the right shirt. Hahaha. ;p

We left our backpack at our room and head on to the streets to find something to eat...

The buko wasn't that tasty like what we have in Cebu though, but oh well, we were craving one so it suffice. Hehe.

Some street window-shopping for me (wait, do you still call it window-shopping though when you're actually outside? hmmm)....

Hmm, it doesn't seem to look bad on me, so yey, bought one floppy! Hahah

The famous coral-painted Christ Church in Melaka built by the Dutch in 1741 and mostly packed with lots of patronizers and tourists. Do read more about it's history here.

Me goofing around...and Brian saying 'Do I really need to sit down here while you take a picture of me?". Duh. Haha.

An old windmill nearby.

Inside an old Portuguese ship...

 An old abandoned train..everything's old here so expect me to abuse that word. Hehe

 Me taking it for a short ride....in my imagination. =)

 Met a little girl who seemed to be ready for my camera. :p

 Me acting like a real tourist. Hehe.

 An old engraving in a tombstone.

I love these textures. They feel like....uhmm, old? :p

Well, the streets were unfamiliar at first, but later did we realize how everything was just few mins walk from between each other after we toured around riding the local transporation which they call "Trishaw". Aren't they too lively to ride? Hehe Oh no no, I wasn't really driving it around...

Meet our trishaw driver. We hired him for RM30 (SGD15), good for about 45mins, which surprisingly was quite enough to bring us to some corners in Melaka.

 Another trishaw driver who was too shy for my camera.

 After that little tour around, we started walking along the Jonker Street. Anyone wanting to visit Melaka couldn't miss this part of the town. Especially when you love goin' to distinctive and artsy shops. I couldn't stop pin-pointing this and that to Brian and was amazed with the different displays we found - from antique shops, wood carvings and interiors, colorful unique accessories and more.

 Of course, where would you expect Brian to be while I feast around the many bazaars?
Street food was his only game while we were there. Hehe. I dig to some but he was the more adventurous one in terms of streetfood. 

 I put out a big grin I can bite anyone, huh? ;p

 Because they looked too pretty, I had to buy one box. Haha :p

 Too bad this vintage treasure wasn't for sale. :(

Fruit candy. It's sold at every corner in Jonker street. Strawberry or grapes or some fruits combine and coated with melted sugar. Just like that. And it's yummy! :p

 Fruit candy lady.

 Ooops, someone's a lil grumpy that day.

 Sotong bukar or dried squid I guess. It was my favorite,too.

 Melaka's local delicacies...

  Colorful bangles here and there...

 Old man vendor in the street. He was trying to tell me something but it was hard to understand him so I just smiled and took this shot. :p

 Here's another street vendor who was friendly and excited to open his shop. Apparently, normal business hours for them is late afternoon around 5pm.

 Too oily for my appetite...so yeah, I skipped this.

 Hello there kiddo.

 More street delicacies... sugarcane juice!!!!

When night time seeps in, that's when the real party starts...

But Brian and I didn't have much energy left for some night-party-drinking (I don't drink though) so after grabbing dinner, our weary feet lead us back to our hostel to hit the sack.

The next morning, I woke up earlier and had to drag Brian out of bed hehe coz I wanted to walk around the streets more. We were bound to go back to Singapore that afternoon so we only had the morning to spare.

 I love bike shots, remember this?

I was trying to chase this lady on her bike candidly but she gladly pose for me when she saw me. I realized how friendly they really are.

 Our noodle breakfast. Only one shop open that morning.

I wanted to check out this place....

  Too bad they were still close in the morning.

 

 

This man smiled after I waved 'Hello'. :)

We grabbed coffee at this lovely cafe...it became an official fave when they played bossa and jazz music while sipping my hot cup. :p

As I crossed another street, I was greeted with this man on his bike. At first, we wasn't wearing his hat. After seeing me ready with my camera, he quickly grabbed his hat to strike a pose. :) 

And look what I found? There was a nearby street flea market going  on....vintage madness! I panicked! my camera started clicking here and there. :p

 I now regret not buying this pocket atlas. Errr.

 It was quite weird that someone would sell their wedding photo in the street. Or maybe someone picked this up somewhere. It seems creepy,too. Eeek.

*big sigh* I wished I could bring those vintage finds to Singapore. But I'm glad to have seen and feasted my heart on them. Hehe.


Meet the hostel owner, Mr David Heng. He was really friendly to guide us around the town. He loves collecting vintage and antiques. You can see them displayed at his cafe.

From the outside, you'd think this place isn't safe, huh? Hehe
Well, Brian and I wondered the same but after staying one night, proven it otherwise, so no more worry on that. :p

Our hostel room was actually located across the street, which was just few mins away from this cafe.

So it was time to go but we bid no goodbyes. 

I know I'm bound to come back and visit this place again someday. ;p 

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  Roadtrip to Melaka . March 12-13, 2011