Last week, we went for a 2 days 1 night trip to Melaka, which is located just a 2 and a half hours drive away from Kuala Lumpur. Traffic is fairly smooth on that day, and we were happy that we arrived at our destination within the expected time. The weather was pretty cooling as well, which was really great because there will be some walking to do.
The Pines
Official Website: The Pines
The types of room offers by the Pines include Standard Room, Deluxe Room, Executive Room, Executive Premier Room, Pool side Suite and Executive Suite. The Pool Side Suite, which is said to be the first in Melaka, will gives you direct pool access from your room.
Superior room
The room also features a separate sitting area that comes with a sofa bed and a small coffee table that sits on a brown carpet. While the bed is comfortable and plush, the sofa bed is great too. I love the carpet very much as well because it is very soft and comfortable to sit on.
Kitchenette is equipped with a sink and mini fridge for us to store our cold drinks and food in the room. There is also a long table that can accommodate 2 persons.
For those who are interested, here is a quick walkthrough video of the room. You may want to watch my video to get a better glimpse of the room.
Exploring The Historical City
After settling down, we decided to walk to Jonker Walk, which is about 20 minutes away from our hotel. Most of the attractions in Melaka can be easily reached on foot or a trishaw ride. Walking will allow you to explore the city at your own pace and avoid the heavy traffic jams, especially around the town area. Furthermore, parking spaces are very limited, which is also the main reason why we chose to walk.
Melaka River
My Chicken Rice @ Jonker Walk
Feeling hungry, we randomly walked into a small chicken rice restaurant for a quick lunch. The restaurant is called "My Chicken Rice". I am not sure whether this restaurant is famous, but it is packed with people.
Hard Rock Cafe
Christ Church & Stadthuys
Other than Trishaws, the historical city also offers a new mode of transportation for tourists - Horse- drawn carriage rides. The Horse- drawn carriage rides are the latest attraction in Melaka. I am not sure how much a ride costs, but I believe it will not be cheap.
Porta de Santiago (A Famosa)
Of course, since we were here, we have take a picture or two as momento. To be honest, we were never interested in history. We visited the attractions purely for the sake of taking pictures.
Nadeje
Nadeje Millie Crepe is a must-eat if you visit Melaka. Since we have some time to kill, we decided to have some Millie Crepes at Nadeje Plaza Mahkota even though they have branches in Kuala Lumpur too.
Nadeje offers a variety of choices and flavors of Millie Crepes to choose from. Although I have tried a few flavors, I still prefer the original flavor one.
Jonker Street Night Market
A busy and normal city street in the morning, the entire stretch of road transform into a lively, vibrant night market in the evening, attracting both locals and international tourists. Hundreds of stalls lined up both side of the street, offering a wide variety of street food and drinks, clothing, accessories and souvenirs at a relatively affordable price.
The night market was an interesting place to explore and the best place to taste a number of local delicacies. With the amount of street food on offer, you will never go hungry at the night market.
However, the night market was crazily packed and we have to constantly push our way through the packed-like-sardine street. It was certainly a very frustrating and not an enjoyable experience.
We arrived at a main street dining area where temporary tables and chairs had been set up.
Assam Laksa
We quickly grabbed a table because the crowds are starting to pour in and ordered Assam Laksa and prawn noodles to try. I am not sure how the noodles taste like because I did not eat any. I was saving my stomach space for the street food.
Oh Chien (Fried Oyster Omelette)
Oh Chien (or Fried Oyster Omelette) is one of my most favorite street food. It may seems easy to cook, but it really requires some skills.
The starch solution is first poured onto a hot iron pan, which spread and crisp up into a thin layer. Then eggs, a handful of chopped spring onions, oysters and chili are added.
The texture of the Oh Chien is soft and chewy but slightly crispy. I love that it is not very starchy. The eggs were perfectly cooked to a golden brown, which is really a delight to eat. However, I feel that it was not spicy enough. I think it will taste so much better with more chili added.
The stall owner was also very stingy. The oysters were very small and little. In fact, we could not see or taste any of them at all. It felt as though we were just eating fried eggs. Anyway, this is actually a very unhealthy dish because it was quite oily. But with lesser oil, it will not taste as good.
Muah Chee
Right beside the Oh Chien stall, there is a stall selling Muah Chee. Muah Chee is very similar to Mochi. Basically, this is glutinous rice balls rolled into a sugary peanut mixture.
The Muah Chee is moist and sticky soft, but not as good as I have expected. Muah Chee is actually one of my favorite snack, but unfortunately, it is difficult to find nowadays.
Kushiyaki (Furui Michi)
Opposite the Muah Chee stall, there was a Kushiyaki stall called Furui Michi. For those who do not know, Kushiyaki refers to skewered meat and vegetables.
3 bite-sized pieces of meat or vegetables are skewed with a bamboo stick and grilled over charcoal fire. The meat is coated with a thin layer of Mayonnaise and burned with a propane torch before serving.
Longkang Siham
As you walked into a dimly-lit back alley, you will find food stalls, tiny stools, tables and chairs arranged between drains.There are two stalls along the alley side by side, with Tong Bee's Stall Shell Food located right at the front and Capitol Seafood at the back. But whichever you choose, you will have the choice to either sit on a tiny stool and share a long table with others or normal table and chairs.
Siham (Cockles)
But whether half or fully cooked, I could not stand the bloody and fishy taste of Siham at all. If you are a big fan of Siham, I believe you will love this place.
Lala (Clams)
Oysters
Century Egg with Ginger Slice
Tauhu Bakar
The back alley gets busier as the day gets darker. You will actually find both locals and international tourists here. But unfortunately, this is really not a place for me because I am not a fan of shellfish seafood.
The overall experience was not as bad as I thought it would be, and luckily, the drains does not smell bad at all. Prices are pretty cheap as well, though the serving size are really small.
Buffet Breakfast @ The Oak
We had our buffet breakfast served at the Oak, which was located just beside the lobby area. Surprisingly, it was extremely chaotic during breakfast time. We have to wait in a queue for about 20 minutes before we were assigned a table in the restaurant. Obviously, the Oak do not have the capacity to accommodate all the hotel guests at full occupancy.
After breakfast, we went back to our room to chill for a few hours before checking out and made our way to Kuala Lumpur.
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