We said, "Malacca is next."

Have i ever introduced my circle of friends to you? We're all from different parts of Malaysia, and on every semester break we get, we decided that we will visit each other's hometown. By the time we graduate, I assume that we will have had gone to almost half of Malaysia. We would have tasted different types of cuisines, delicacies, and experienced various types of cultures and traditions. Previously, they had visited Klang (which is my hometown for those who didn't know), I can't say i'm a true Klangian, because there are so many places i didn't know.

Friend 1: Hey Anna, what's nice in Klang?
Me: Hmmm, i can't seem to recall if there's any sort of tourist spot there...
Friend 2: Anything nice to eat besides Bah Kut Teh?
Me: Well, i eat the food my mom cooks.
Friend 1: What do you know then?
Me: Basically none.

Yeah, give me all the face palms you can ever give. I deserve the ultimate face palm award. So next time when you come to Klang, please give me time to do my homework. Or you can do me a sweet favor by telling me what's fun in Klang. I know the Little India we have at the town area. Truth be told, i always end up taking them to KL area, where shopping malls dominate the state.

Back to our trip to Malacca. We went there on the 19th. We sat for our last paper on the 18th (it's terrible than vegetable don't ask). We took the ets train all the way from Kampar to KL sentral. The whole journey didn't take more than 2 and a half hours. It was a quick one. We grabbed our lunch at KL sentral and proceeded to TBS. There is where i first take the public bus to Malacca. Not to forget, meeting some really strange people on the way.

Guess Marion's really exhausted from all the late-nighter revision.

In the train to KL sentral.

I think it's lunchtime, there were many people cramming in the KTM otw to TBS. 

As we arrived Malacca bus station, we were happily welcomed by our fellow Malaccans - Caryn and Marion's father. We took both cars back to the place where we will spend the nights - Caryn's place. 

She gladly emptied the house for our convenience and we were really thankful for the hospitality shown towards us. We readied ourselves, and we're off to Malacca's must-visit-tourist-spot, Jonker street.


Caryn dropped us at a shop on the way to Jonker. The shop was without any shop name or label. It was Caryn who told us they sell really famous putu pirings. It wasn't really a shop, though they set up their equipment outside, inside was a living room and just usual how a house would look like. Guess it's sort of like a family business.

This is the first time i was being exposed to putu piring, i didn't know what it was or how it looked like. It was when i held this hot baby in my palm that i know what it truly is. It is made up of coconut flakes and inside of it is the famous gula Melaka. In a way, the coconut flakes is kinda plain, so there's hint of sweetness coming from the gula melaka in the middle of the savory goodness. Overall, it isn't too sweet, it's warm when bitten and i assume it allows you to have a taste of Melaka.

After eating our putu pirings, we finally arrived at Jonker street. 

Trust me, the crowd were more than what we expected. We could hardly walk, placing our feet with caution in fear that we'll step on someone else, and every step taken was with difficulty. Our energy drained in mere minutes and we kept craving for something cold to replenish our body. Though, we stopped with the famous durian puff.

I can't describe how good these are. Durian lovers would definitely love this, and one is never enough.

Everything there is costly, so if you're not conscious about spending wisely, you might find yourself drained of cash and needing to grab more cash to spend. Spending money in Malacca is addicting, so i tried to contain myself.

Apparently, my Malacca friends told us that cafes in Malacca is blooming like mushrooms after the rain. There are many exquisitely designed cafes here that just makes you drunk in their beauty and uniqueness. My first cafe experience in Malacca was given to 13 States of Coffees.

I can't really take in all these, not to say comprehend any of this. How did they do it? how much time did they take? What does the decorations imply? Is there a hidden message?

Questions after questions running in my mind as i stepped in the cafe shop. One thing that never escape my mind: How do they do their routine cleaning?

Some cafes dirtied up their cafe in the form of Art. There are no boundaries for Arts. Dirty, can be a form of beauty. As the saying goes, beauty comes in different shapes and sizes. So i guess Dirty can be one of the beauty categories.

Look how they arranged the pots and plates on the walls. Yeah, i bet it took forever to make it stay there. What about the routine cleaning? Who knows how dusty those pans are. *gasp

I love how they decorated their cafe full with Christmas ambient and the atmosphere is just peaceful and western-ish. 

Marion took us here specifically to eat their curry laksa noodle. So i decided to give it a try. Here's how it looks like without any disturbance to the initial beauty. Fish balls, noodle, onions and other ingredients bathed harmoniously in generous amount of curry and gravy. I'll say it isn't so bad after all. 

 We proceeded to the heart of Malacca, the Stadthuys. It isn't hard to find this place, just spot the red. How many red buildings as ancient as this can you find elsewhere in Malaysia? Probably not as obvious as the Stadthuys. Surprisingly, not many tourist and people are gathering at the Stadthuys that night. So we have the place to ourselves.

Yeah. the funky one at the back is Stella. 

A typical group shot with the tree behind us lighting up illuminating the night. We wish that was the Pokok Melaka. Unfortunately, it isn't. 

Before going back to get our rests, we stopped by at Pak Putra mamak, it's famous for it's naan and tandoori chicken. So that explains why we're not sleeping and munching away on the tandoori chicken. The meat is so tender and the taste is good. The naan is extraordinary too, soft and fluffy. If you are hungry and goes there on an empty stomach in hope to fill up your tummy, i bet this is the right place for you.

After filling up our stomachs, we went back to Caryn's to have a good rest, the time was past midnight and we needed our rest. All the restless days have gotten us exhausted.

 DAY 2

 Today we woke up at 6am because mass is starting at 7.30am. Great, only four hours of sleep. I felt a bit too overwhelming. It's like we slot all the fun in one day and it ended up not being so fun after all when the drowsiness had taken over you.

We got ready and we arrived early at St. Theresa church. As we arrived, there were still plenty of seats for the 8 of us. We went up to the choir area through the spiral staircase (which never fails to amaze me) and we met our CSS senior Cecilia.

Of course, we took a photo with Cecilia. Spot our "dark" themed clothing that day. 

After mass, we took a groupfie together, along with Caryn (grey shirt) and her granny (beside her).
That day. i prayed to Lord papa for everyone's health and many more greatness to come in the coming year. Not forgetting, for my academics and my family's well-being. 

 Situated outside St. Theresa is this super huge and tall gigantic Christmas tree. As usual, the topping would always be a cute little star, as bright as my neon shoelaces.

We headed for the street near Stadthuys to enjoy some rounded chicken rice balls. Because it's so famous and whatnot, we had to queue up in order to get ourselves a seat. We did get in after waiting for a while, and each can only savor one chicken rice ball because they said that they are short in supply and high in demand. So the rest comes in normal rice form (WHY AWWW WHY). I ate chicken rice balls before, like 5 years ago, never had a good experience on that one, so i tried this, hmm, i can say that it isn't so bad after all. But i just don't really like the texture of the rice ball, it's sticky and you can't really taste the rice texture except for a mushy piece of rice squashed into a ball.

After having enough of the chicken rice, we were half full. We were saving our tummy for more food at The Daily Fix Cafe.

Here's bestie standing outside the cafe, it don't look like one from the outside, because the cafe is situated deep inside the shop. It's a long shop. Stretched all the way to the back. Shops in Malacca are all very lengthy. 

They have their way with their menus. They intentionally put water at the side of the paper and tear it to make it look somewhat retro-like. Okay, i'll give them credit for that one.

But the main attention wasn't on the menu, but the content it holds. THE BENEDICT! I shared this one with Stella. It's like what you would normally see in videos and in televisions, a cut, and the yolk will start flowing out like a broken water host. The sauce, is heavenly. 

Here's another set ordered by my friend.

Of course, we never misses an opportunity to be instagram models. Like any other cafe in Malacca, this cafe too is full of retro ambient and soft music. Nyonya plates and chinese flower patterned plates were hung systematically on the wall. I liked how the whole arrangement made me felt what i felt. 

 In Malacca, we can see heavy advertisement of Mamee everywhere. So we went in one of the shops, which appears to be one of the gallery where you can see how they created the Mamee snacks, they let you experience the deep frying of the Mamee snacks (from what i heard) and you get to buy their products there as well. 'course we did not linger there, as we have elsewhere to go.

Where would we go? Of course somewhere with Durian. Anything with Durian. As long as it's durian and it can make us burp durian.

Ladies and Gents, may i proudly present you:

Durian Cendol.

And yes, it made us burp durian.

My comment about the durian cendol is that, it is overrated. It tasted like real durian yes, and it is famous, yes undeniably, but it is sweet. If i were to finish it alone i think i might feel nauseated because of the sweetness that is attacking my taste bud. It tasted like a real durian would, nothing artificial about the flavor, so another thumbs up for that. 

The sun was so bright on our way to Stadthuys (i know i know, we went there last night, but night view and daylight view is totally different!) Everyone looked really asian here. .____.

We were really glad we brought our glasses along. It's a sharpening type of bright.

And the weather is obviously really hot and burning us all over. 

On our way to St. Paul when we found shade, like we found hope, enjoying the breeze, the distant sea, to replenish our depleting energy and sugar storage to continue our journey to the top, until we reach the ruins of St. Paul.

Have you seen a blind girl wearing her shades and walking with a selfie stick as her guide? 

 We were really annoyed with the hot weather, so we decided to go to the nearby shopping mall to cool ourselves down. We found our way to Nadeje. Where all the thousand layered cake lies. And... another round of waiting. I couldn't afford to stand anymore, so i just sat down while queuing.

So, this is the famous thousand layered cake that many were talking about! 

We went home after a long day of walking, and walking, and walking. We bathed, rest enough, took our dinner at an amazing food court, and proceeded to the beautiful river in Melaka. We did not take the 45 minutes boat ride, we just leisurely strolled along the river and have our own sweet time there. Yeah, more walking apparently.

HOW CAN YOU NOT GAIN WEIGHT IN MALACCA, HOW?!
We had our supper - Satay Celup before we end our day. 90 cents for one stick. SO NOT WORTH IT BUT IT'S SO GOOD HOW.
Sometimes you gotta spend some money for some happiness.

Here's a pleasant photo of our kangkungs bathed in peanut sauce. They're good, just not fully cooked yet. *roflmao.


Stay tune for day 3 and more...

To be continued...

kthxbai