Melaka Day One - Eye of Malaysia

25th Jan 09 (Sun)


So it's a long weekend here in Singapore for the Chinese New Year and office will reopen only on WEd 28/1.


Quite a last minute concrete plan to go to Melaka (sometimes spelt as Malacca) so cldn't get a good hotel but settled for a 3-star hotel, The Emperor (Don't be fooled by its grand-ish name!). At first i thought, "A hotel is a hotel. How bad could it be huh?" You'll soon know.


Zubair didnt get to go for visa reasons but was kind enough to let me enjoy myself. haha Of course he would be enjoying himself too without me to nag at him. HAH.


We set out from the house quite late @ almost 11am but because it's a Sunday traffic was quite smooth as opposed to if it had been a Saturday or Fri night. Some 40 deaths from traffic accidents were already recorded just on Sat itself for the whole country (Or it could have been 14)!


Normally, moderately crazy drivers can reach Melaka in 2 or 3hrs if traffic is smooth. But not for us. We will take AT LEAST 4 hours sometimes 5. Why? Because....


First Stop - Baskin Robins @ Rest&Relax Machap.


We stopped for lunch and ICE CREAM!!!

Syifaa' was so taken by my Rainbow Sherbet.

I was sooo happy they had non-fat yoghurt options as well as low calories ice cream flavours. So i got that Rainbow Sherbet (orange, berry and pineapple) as well as vanilla yoghurt. Alas, I can't tolerate the latter. But i imagine a Berry & Cheese yoghurt would be more ... hm... intolerable.

We brought Syifaa' to the mini playground too. Ash has more photos of these but if i wait for those photos, my entry will never get written!

Goofing around in the car wearing her Atok's Songkok / cap / hat.. whatever u wanna call it.

Welcome to Melaka!

Traffic jam heading towards the city. That alone costed us almost another 2hrs.



At last the Hotel is in view (orangey brown building on the left corner)

Sample of Melaka architecture. A church built in 1710.

Hotel Room

Syifaa' is sooooo GERAMly CUTE.

The rooms looked decent enough when we just got there. But don't be fooled! We gave that room to my parents who would have Syifaa' with them. We had to take the connecting room next door which has 2 single beds but missing these:

1. Face towel nor placemat
2. Fridge
3. Shower (the hook was broken)
4. Tissue
5. TV Remote
6. Toothpaste

Apparently, the last 3 items were NOT standard issue cos there were none in my parents' room either.

The service totally sucked. That night i asked for 2 extra pillows, they said they are on full house and have no pillows to spare. Then i asked for two towels, iron and hair dryer, he told me to call again the next day cause their housekeeping is closed. It was 11pm. When i called the next day, they said that I hafta go down to7th floor to a communal Ironing Room!! *JAW DROPPED* But at least they sent up the hair dryer to my room. GRRRR

Anyways, this is the view from outside our room

Next, we went out in search of dinner. We were not in the mood for rice so had to go to a mall or something.

Passed by this mosque on the water built on reclaimed land.

It was such a pity that the surrounding blocks of constructions were abandoned. Rows n rows of shophouses were ready for lease and action but nobody managed it and the project was left hanging. It was also such a pity that they had a LOT of land but still found the need to reclaim only to be left deteriorating.

Welcome to Eye of Malaysia!

Entrance Fee for a 12min ride: RM 20 or about SGD 8.50 for adults. Ayah got a Senior Citizen rate @ Rm 17. Teehee...

My mum said that this huge Ferris Wheel moves around the states of Malaysia because it used to be in KL. *shrug* Possible... altho the way they built the place looked kinda permanent.

The Capsules. Small and intimate.

Long and Ayah on one side

The rest of us on the other side.

The funny part was that Ayah is actually scared of heights but didnt wanna miss this opportunity. It was fine when the wheel was turning, but when it started to move n stop, move n stop to let pple alight n board, the capsules started to rock visibly. We were at the top just then and Syifaa' was squirming around like she normally would. However, under such a precarious circumstance, Ayah with a stern voice told mummy, "Give her the pacifier. Give her the pacifier." =) We all, incl Ayah, managed to laugh about it tho after we safely got down from there.


Dinner time!

We went to TESCO - a hypermart. I just gotta know that "Medan Selera" is the Malay equivalent to Food Court. I find that a bit funny because literally it would translate to something like "Appetite Plain" (as in Plain field not Plain dull).

Since we were at a hypermart, we bought some snacks and toiletries.

I got some Coffee Buns which was all the rage a few years ago too! But doesnt taste as nice. Oh well... But TESCO is a real.... MESS.

Back to the bedroom now.

Oh at the stroke of midnight there were a slew of fireworks at 3 or 4 diff corners that we could see just from our room alone! That's to celebrate the Lunar New Year. Although, come to think of it, shouldn't it have started from dusk when the moon appears, instead of at midnight?