Malaysia Road Trip (1/4) - Malacca

Had scheduled a BKK trip last week 

I dunno why we just feel like going back to BKK despite visiting it like 4 times in a year :O Must be kena some kind of gong tao that makes us feel like going back again and again rofl.

However, due to the shutdown and various protests built-up to it, we decided to cancel this BKK trip.

Didn't want my family to keep worrying while we're there and etc. Plus, think I'm getting old liao, feeling more & more risk averse. lol.

Anyway, M managed to get around 50% refund from scoot for the cancellation, so yay ^^ Not much of "losses" :)

And since I've already taken leave for the week, we attempted to plan a road trip to Malaysia in place of the BKK getaway.

Routed the destinations (Malacca, Ipoh, Penang and KL) in the GPS and booked the hotels the night before we set off.

Consulted D about some must-tries in the various cities early the next morning, and then, off we went!

JUST LIKE THAT!

Most impromptu trip of my life!

Right after we crossed the custom, I thought of something M had told me many many years ago when we just got to know each other.
He once mentioned that one of his dreams is to go on a self-drive road trip across Malaysia!~ I had kinda thought he was sianing me back then (oops..) and forgotten about it until now :X
So anyhows, right then, we were actually fulfilling one of his life goals, so amazing right! :D

To some people, a road trip in Malaysia is nothing - so his dream is quite nothing actually rofl.
But for him, he has a girlfriend who doesn't drive and enjoys sleeping in the car always :X So it wasn't an easy feat for him to be the sole driver throughout the holiday and for the zzz girlfriend to keep awake so as to keep him awake too (lol).
Besides, honestly, I practically know nuts about these Malaysian cities until we went there. So it's quite an achievement trying to find out the highlights of those towns in such a short time!
We're glad we met lotsa nice people along the way whom we spoke to and interacted with :)
Also really fortunate that we didn't get rob or bullied on the highway!

We booked Hotel Equatorial at Melaka which is super near to Jonker's street and the heritage center.

The route there was pretty straight forward.
We simply keyed the address of Hotel Equatorial into the amazing GPS I've gotten him (must mention this cos I'm so proud of my useful gift rofl!) and arrive without getting lost at all! :D
It took about 3hours for us to get from Singapore (Newton) to Malacca (Hotel Equatorial), not too long yea :)

Deluxe room rate is about S$115/night. 

Pretty decent hotel, which has extremely great location I would say!
Hotel staff are mainly Malaysian Chineses who are fluent in English (and Mandarin + Malay I assume for most of the younger generation!)

Paintings of the Malacca river which we saw on our way to Jonker's Street later in the evening.

I love the sunbed where we got a good view of Malacca city.

In addition, one can lie and star gaze at night! :)

Complimentary bottled mineral water and coffee/tea.

Ironing facilities.

Bathroom with a tub!

Basic toiletries which I didn't use.. Can't comment much.

Shopping mall right in front of the hotel.

Heritage buildings/museums that are right beside the hotel too.

Fanciful rickshaws!

I think they cost around S$4 for a ride around the heritage centres to Jonker's Street entrance.
We didn't take the ride cos we had enough "rest" sitting in the car for the past 3 hours. Time to get up and walk!

Made our way to Jonker Street.

The river in the painting on the hotel room's wall!

That's San Shu Gong (三叔公) at the back which is famous for its durian chendol and local products.

However, we were so hungry then so we went searching for chicken rice balls first to fill our tummies!

Two popular stalls recommended by M were closed by the time we were there. Hence we settled for Famosa Chicken Rice Ball Restoran!

Recommended by Cai Lan!

The chicken rice balls are RM0.30 each, a normal plate of chicken rice would be about 7 ball-fuls? :)

The kampung roast chicken and honey roasted pork were average.

The chicken rice balls were fragrant and full of flavour when you munch on them.

Exterior is slightly 'crispy' while the inside is soft and slightly chewy.

Love it!

They are in bite-sizes and so easy to eat!

M ordered second round of rice balls very soon after as we finished the rice balls very quickly :D 

If I hadn't wanted to save my stomach for more food later on, I would have third round of the balls seriously. lol.

Had Gula Melaka Chendol atthe same restoran too.

This is SUPER YUMMY.

Definitely must-try!!

They have Gula Melaka for take-away too if you would like!

One more shot for this yum-tums chendol!

Went shopping at Jonker's Street after dinner. 

And more street food!!

Ting ting candy with peppermint! <3

Super gigantic oysters!

Too bad I don't eat them.

More rickshaws!

M loves the Hello Kitty ones, rofl.

Next morning we woke up early for Low Yong Moh Restaurant (Rong Mao Cha Lou).

Here's the number if you need to make inquiries. 

It's closed on Tuesdays, do take note!

We arrived at about 8:30am?

Slightly later and you'll find a long queue for it!

For non-dimsum or some ready-made dishes, you can help yourself to it from the heater at the right.

For hot food, the crew will bring the entire tray to you for you to select when you want.

Pricing.

There's a heritage trail right opposite the tea house. You can follow the trail to view the mosque and temples if you like.

Next we set off to Ipoh!

x

//pardon the too many typos and grammer errors.
blogging mostly from the phone! :/

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Malacca  |  Ipoh  |  Penang Part 1  |  Penang Part 2  |  Kuala Lumpur