We had a quick getaway from Singapore by driving up to Melaka during one of the weekends. As it was the school holidays, we woke up rather early at about 7am in preparation for the massive jam at the causeway. We checked one motoring for the day's traffic conditions, and decided to use the Tuas causeway. We were stuck at the Singapore side of the checkpoint for a good one hour. Thankfully, the Malaysian side did not have much of a jam. And thanks to my portable Huawei router which had a Malaysian SIM card in it, I was able to entertain myself with WhatsApp despite being stuck in the horrendous traffic jam.
Driving on a clear sunny day with beautiful blue skies and white fluffy clouds. There was once when my husband was driving back from Ipoh to Penang, we were caught in a torrential thunderstorm, and boy was that scary. So am definitely thankful for this lovely weather.
We did stop by a rest stop that had food stalls and we had our breakfast there. I had a bowl of yummy mee soto and the broth was fantastic. Oh yes, and the prices are really friendly on the wallet :-)
When we finally got into Melaka, we drove straight to our hotel. We stayed at Ramada Plaza Hotel and the staff so kindly allowed us an early check-in. Headed out to lunch thereafter where we walked under the scorching hot heat to find Nancy's Kitchen, the famous Peranakan restaurant. Nancy was even there at the restaurant itself and as usual, the cheeky husband tried to talk her by asking if she was Ms Melaka. -_-
We had all these Peranakan food and all the dishes were really tasty. The snaking queues outside the restaurant testify for the food and we were able to get a seat due to our online reservation. Definitely one of the better Peranakan food that I've tasted in my entire life.
As we had walked to the restaurant, we had to walked back in the even hotter heat. We decided to explore the famous Jonker street which cuts through the Melaka river. Jonker Street is basically a street filled with shophouses that cater to tourists. There are souvenirs to buy, the famous Chicken rice ball coffee shop to eat at and tons of other food stalls to try out. I wanted to go to the Nyonya museum to learn more about the Peranakans but the husband refused. Meh.
Saw the above Hello Kitty trishaw rides for rental near Jonker street. There were also other trishaws decorated in other characters which include Anna from Frozen and the Minions from Despicable Me. Those with kids, this is one way to occupy them.
Spent the rest of the day chilling in my hotel room and headed out to Hatten Square for some shopping and massage thereafter. It was another disappointing moment when I happily took on a massage package only to realise that we had been cheated. So lesson learnt, I shall stick to the frills free 1 hour body massage in future.
Dinner was at a Korean BBQ restaurant. Yes, I know Korean food in Melaka? We were running a bit late after our massage session and this was one restaurant that had seats for us. The food was not bad and the cooks cook for you even though the grill is on your table.
The next day we had a quick lunch at a non crowded Chicken Rice Ball restaurant before leaving Melaka for our next stop : Johor Bahru.
