Melaka Re-Re-visited

3X says "As usual, wherever we go we never plan. So saturday morning, we set off to Johor, the plan was just to stay at any budget hotel in JB, or at least Mersing, sekali after Tuas checkpoint, and after the toll booth, I took a wrong turn, KL highway left turn, Johor right turn, and I thinking usually the left turn is going to JB, I took the left turn which we end up at NS highway heading KL. Too late to turn back, I just thought, what the heck, let's go to Melaka. So without a camera (the pics in this posts are all taken from the internet), we head to the most historical negeri in Malaysia.

When we arrived in Melaka, we scrambled to look for any budget hotel. And because it was a super peak period, all the hotels are full, and by the way, all hotels are charging at 'Super Peak' rates, which goes up to 70% of normal rate. We panicked for a while, stop to eat kuih first, then went to every turn to look for a hotel. Well, we nearly give up, then we found RS Hotel, located under the bridge... and lets just say, lets not talk about the rate.

After dinner, we headed off to Mahkota Parade. The roads are full of Singapore cars, and we found that Melaka has become a very 'happening' place since the last time we came (last year). There is Eye of Malaysia (dah siap, tapi road belum siap), Menara Taming Sari, hip shops everywhere, and traffic was super busy. We went to Mahkota Parade, and we met Jeff Timmons (singer from '98 Degrees' boyband). He was promoting his new album, and he was singing on stage, and getting down to the people, taking pictures, and at one point he was standing infront of us and singing at us. (Damn it, no camera!!!). The wife was so star-strucked, don't blame her, he is really a handsome dude. Anyway, not everybody in Melaka knows him, so the welcome he got was very mild, no screaming girls and not much applause for him. I was wondering, why come to Melaka to promote his album, obviously the wrong part of town. It was cool to meet a celebrity, who sang with Stevie Wonder and Mariah Carey, and best friend to Nick Lache/Jessica Simpson. We were a fan of 98 Degrees during the boyband era.

So the next morning, we set off to A Famosa hill, which is a must if you are in Melaka. I've been here in every stage of my life, when I was young, a teenager, an adult, a husband, a father... The kids been here before, but they didn't remember, now they are asking a lot of questions, and learning some things about the place. While I've changed a lot, this place never changed a bit. (Damnit!! no camera again to take pics of this place now). The big 'tablets' in the St.Paul's church was really awesome (I've never noticed before).

The next place was of course, the 'benda kapal macam pirate punya time'... tak ingat plak nama dia, dah pergi berkali-kali tak tak tahu tu tempat apa...hehehe. I think maritime museum, kalau tak salah. Anyway, harga masuk rm3 adult, rm1 kanak-kanak, so we let the children go in themselves, while we wait outside/below. They had a lot of fun, as they climb up the ship, and spend some time by themselves on the ship. They've been there before, but they forgot, and now it's like something new to them.

So after crusing everywhere, inside kampungs (one thing we noticed melaka got a lot of tanah perkuburan, every kampung sure got one), (actually looking for anywhere that is free entrance... hehehe), we went to Hang Li Poh's well, atau Perigi Raja. This is where they pour poison in the well to kill the Portugese army. Apprently, a lot of chinese people come here, there's a temple beside well. Anyway, driving off the place, we found a short cut, that has less traffic to the Ayer Keroh.

Then there is a new attraction, Menara Taming Sari, which we didn't go, it was full of tourist buses, cars, and also the wife would get sick if she go up, and the kids would not like it.... (Ylo says "ye lah tu excuses aje, kemut sangat, mahal lah apelah... tak mampu tu cakaplah... 3X says "yelah... yelah... next time kita naik ok, hotel dah lah kena ketuk, so kena save sikit, bonos belum dapat").

Then in the afternoon, we went to Masjid Tanah, and along the way we book a resort, Klebang Beach Resort, which is behind Mak Bibah's house, and right in front of a tanah perkuburan. It's a nice cosy resort overlooking the Klebang sea. Very nice rooms, free WIFI (which is good, strong stable signal) and it has a swimming pool, perfect for us. Its RM140, which is reasonably priced.... and RM115 during the not 'Super Peak' season.

We met Mak Bibah at her shop, and talked to her for quite a while. "Kenal tak?"... "Oh Rizal"... ingat pulak dia... She's really a sweet dear woman, and she directed us to places to eat and tell us about her well-being, daily-routine life, her customers, the people in melaka, her shop and tell us where to eat the best asam pedas restaurant. While talking to her, we found her very endearing, and she has a lot to talk about, as she tells us about melaka and her life. We saw about 3 kids (around 5 to 7 years old), clearing her house compund, sweeping and clearing the rubbish, whom she says "budak-budak tu rajin bersihkan rumah"... bless those kids.

To tell you the truth, seeing her sit there alone in her shop and living alone in the house, really makes me "rasa sayu". Makes me think, that while we go on our busy life, with our family, going places, she sits in her shop alone everyday, living a quiet life. Incidentally, she said, she would not live with anybody, as widows and young woman offered to rent one of her room... she rather live alone. We gave her our phone number, and told her anytime she wants to come to Singapore, just call us, and we come and fetch her and bring her around.

We also went to Pantai Puteri, road masuk dalam lepas Masjid Tanah, and after Makam Hang Tuah (anyway kat makam hang tuah, I get the kids to read aloud "TAK MELAYU HILANG DI DUNIA", told them hang tuah wants us to speak malay, if not malay will disappear). There is a very very long stretch of road beside the Puteri beach, exactly like Pantai Batu Buruk, and the best part is, ada Pasar Malam, exactly also like Pantai Batu Buruk, makanan pun sama murah. Kebanyakan RM1 aje. Bagusnya, dia tak tutup pukul 7 malam macam kat Trengganu, dia stay on sampai malam. Mak Bibah cakap hari minggu dengan isnin aje ada pasar malam kat sana.

After that we spent the rest of the time in the swimming pool, walking beside the Klebang beach, and after checking out, we bid farewell to Mak Bibah at her shop again, and she kirim salam to orang Singapore. Along the way, surpisingly, we met Ayangz and Skaseik's car parked at the road side. We made a Uturn and met Wakdir and family, who were going to visit Kak Eton's relatives and Mak Bibah. They invited us to go together, but we were too sunburnt (and smelly from recycled clothes) to join them for hari raya visiting. We were glad, Mak Bibah is getting more visitors to see her.

Well, that's it for our long weekend getaway, which were as usual unplanned and unpredictable. Going anywhere without a plan, can be traumatic and stressful. Not knowing where you go, or where you end up, but for us, its the only way we know how to travel. Happy Deepavali!