Melaka / Singapore - Day 4

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

So this morning is our last in Melaka. After we got up and finished packing, we headed out to the little place across the street from the hotel for breakfast. But alas it was closed. After a moment of thought we both said screw it and went to the hotel for thier breakfast buffet. We were anxious to eat and head over to the central bus station so we could get an early bus to Singapore so the hotel breakfast was the quickest and easiest option. And it wasn't half bad. Western and Asian fare with plenty of choices to satisfy us both. It was also the first time I'd had a glass of milk in a week and it was delicious!
We made a quick trip back up to the room to get our bags and check out. We took a few pictures of the room before we left (Sorry the bed isn't made up)

The comfy, comfy bed.

The bathroom with the huge tub

Desk and balcony (I loved the sliding louver doors)

After checking out, we hopped in a cab and were off to the bus station. And we lucked out as the next bus wasn't sold out, was scheduled to leave in about 30 minutes, and was one of the nicer ones that had one seat on one side of the aisle and two seats on the other. This meant the seats were much more comfortable.
The trip to Singapore would take about 2 1/2 hours to get to the border. Then we had to deal with immigration. Our friends (Jim's co-worker and her husband) had traveled to Singapore a few days before us and said it was a major pain getting through the check points so we planned an extra hour for this part of the trip followed by the bus ride into the city to the bus station.

Once we were out of the city we noticed what looked like steps going up into the hillside along the highway. We weren't sure if they were for people to climb or if they were used to help water flow to the storm sewers during the rainy season.
Just over an hour into the trip we stopped at a rest stop for a bathroom break. This was our bus. Jim took a picture of it not only for our photo album but to remember which bus was ours! There were several at the rest stop and we didn't to wind up on the wrong one to who knows where!At the rest stop we saw a prayer hut for Muslims daily prayers. It faces Mecca so those needing to use it don't have to worry about which direction they need to face.
Back on the road, we finally reached the last city on peninsular Malaysia, Johor Bahru. Here are a couple of pictures Jim managed to take from the bus window. And finally we crossing the border. We were pleased to see that there wasn't a long line of traffic like the one our friends faced a few days ago. It could have been that they traveled over the weekend while we were traveling during the week.
While we were pleased to see little to no traffic backups, what awaited us was just as much of a pain......passing through customs and immigration. Since we opted for the much cheaper form of land travel, by bus, we first had to stop at the Malaysian side of the border, get off the bus, have our passports stamped out of the country, get back on the bus , drive a few hundred yards to cross the border and get off the bus again. This time to enter Singapore and have our passports stamped. Then get back on the bus again to go to the bus/taxi station in downtown Singapore. This was our first glimpse of Singapore when we finally stepped off the bus at the station. Note the dark clouds....it would soon rain, alot. It was also when we realized that we forgot to get any Singaporean money! Aw, crap. Jim quickly got directions to the nearest bank while I waited with our luggage. About 20 minutes later he returned, money in hand and we hailed a cab to take us to our hotel.

Now while we were planning this trip, we were surprised at how expensive hotels in Singapore can be....even the so-called budget hotels. For example, at nicer hotels like Hilton, rooms start at about $300/night. And if you are totally made of money, you can stay at the famous Raffles Hotel for a mere $800/night. We, however, are not made of money so we looked for a place that was more affordable. After looking through a lot of websites and checking Trip Advisor, we settled on Hotel 1929, a small boutique hotel in the Chinatown section of Singapore. And small was right, the lobby and sitting area were cozy which is a nice way to say tiny. One cool thing about the place was the funky chairs . The owner has a thing for antique chairs which were located throughout the hotel and adjoining restaurant. There was also a cool poster in the elevator with a historical collection of chairs.

We knew the room was going to be small but we never expected this small:This is the view from the door
And the view the wall opposite the door

The two-sided bathroom. This is the sink, right next to the door. Behind the sink is the rest of the bathroom (the toilet and shower)

The view looking in from the bathroom doorAnd the view from inside.

Yeah, the room was small. Jim could stretch out his arms and be within a few feet of touching opposite walls. Add in the bed, the bathroom, a tiny desk and chair, and all our luggage and the room was bursting at the seams. It was quite a compact room.

Shortly after we checked in, it started to rain....hard. When it finally slowed down enough for us to even think about going out, the hotel staff gave us umbrella's. A nice touch and probably a very common thing in a country where it rains so much but still a nice touch.

Just down the street from our hotel was this very cool Indian temple. It was very beautiful and quite the attention grabber when you walk down the street.

We passed it as we wandered over to one of the many food courts located throughout the area. The one we were headed to was the Maxwell Food Court. If you've ever seen the episode of No Reservations where Tony Bourdain goes to Singapore, this is the food court he visited. It supposedly has the best Chicken Rice around (which Tony vouched for) so we wanted to see for ourselves. And we were not disappointed.

When you walk into the Maxwell Food Court for the first time, you can easily be overwhelmed by all the delicious smells and aromas coming from the many food stalls. Take your time to look at all of them before you decide where to eat as there are so many good choices. We already knew we wanted to get Chicken Rice from Tian Tian. So we located it right away then wandered around a little more to see what else would tempt us. It was a hard decision but we finally settled on this Oyster Omelette from one vendor as well asTom Yum Soup from another.We sat in front of the vendor that sold us the Tom Yum Soup. The owner noticed me writing about the food and came over to ask how we liked the soup and where we were from. We told him we were from the US and that the soup was very good. We talked a little bit more as best we could since there was a little bit of a language barrier. He seemed quite pleased that we really liked the food in Singapore, especially his soup and before we knew it, he brought out a bowl of lamb stew.
It was very rich and hearty. Big chunks of carrots and potatoes swam happily in the bowl with chunks of lamb. The broth had a nice balance of Asian seasonings that Jim and I tried to decipher and jot down on my notepad. The owner must have realized what we were trying to do so he offered to show me how he made it. With very broken English and hand gestures, I quickly made note of all the ingredients as he held up the bottles and jars and holding up bottle and jars. And we managed to understand each other completely. It was so much fun! I think he really enjoyed it too.

After dinner we headed back to the hotel and saw this amazing temple. Its the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple.Once you went past the front entrance you came into an open courtyard area. The architecture was just amazing.In the courtyard were places where one could place incense for prayers.

At the entrance to the temple itself, a sign of do's and don'ts for visitors who may not be familiar with what is acceptable when visiting.I had a little laugh (respectfully, of course) when I noticed the picture used for "No Pets Allowed" was a Boston Terrier.

Sorry Java you can't go in.

Inside the temple was rich with color. It was truly something to see.Back out in the courtyard were two statues standing guard. Jim and statue guard.

We walked around the area some more and looked at some stores and street vendors then went back to the hotel where I took a much needed shower. Singapore is probably the hottest and most humid place I've ever been. After we were cleaned up, we headed over to The New Majestic, a hotel owned by the same person that owned the Hotel 1929. When we checked in earlier we each got a free drink coupon to use at it's bar and who were we to turn down a free drink?

The hotel itself was sleek and modern and the bar was cool and funky.This is looking straight up at the ceiling in the bar. Glass or plexiglass lights hanged from the ceiling and along one wall next to the bar. The room was long and narrow with a bench along one wall with tables in front of them. And as we found with the hotels, bar prices were high. But hey, our first drink was free so that made our second drinks that much cheaper! cha-ching.

Jim ordered Kilkenny, an Irish beer that he's only had in Ireland. We can't find it here anywhere. He was a happy man. I ordered something cold, fruity and totally girly. I don't remember the name of it but it had pineapple, banana and chocolate in it and it was really good. Jim ordered another beer (Hoegaarden) and I got another fruity drink. We called it quits after that and were actually getting hungry again so we decided to head back over to the Maxwell Food Court to get some dinner. On the way we passed by the Chinese temple again and got this great picture of it lit up.

Back at Maxwell, we ordered a spicy Schezuan beef soup and fried dumplings from one vendor.

I was craving roti (again) and went to this vendor to get my fix.I watched as this guy deftly made my roti. And this was my reward.After dinner we were pretty well done for the day. Knowing we only had tomorrow and some of the next morning to see what we could of Singapore, we went back to the hotel for a good nights sleep. And little did we know just how much that sleep would be needed because the next day we were going to walk our legs off.

Melaka - Day 2

Monday, March 3, 2008
After getting a better night's sleep than the night before, I felt like the worst of the jet lag was behind me. Jim suggested trying the little place across from the hotel for breakfast. Sounded good to me, especially if they served coffee like I'd had the day before. The yellow chairs are where we went. The restaurant had no name that I'm aware of just good food. We each ordered Nasi Lemak, a coffee zero for Jim and a coffee with milk for me. It doesn't look like much but it was filling and very full of great flavor. Coconut rice, fried egg, peanuts and fried baby anchovies. The little red dish in the center of the table was spicy seasoning you could add to your plate as you like. It was fairly spicy and added a nice level of warmth to the dish. I was still unsure how much I would like spicy food for breakfast but I was slowly being won over by this meal.
After breakfast Jim gathered up some laundry he had (he'd been there over a week by this point) and a few things I had worn on my flight over and sought out a laundry. On his way back to the hotel he noticed this cute little guy in the back of a pick up truck.After he got back we hopped in a cab and went over to the Indian section of Melaka where we'd been told we could find some nice fabric shops. We wanted to get some batik to bring home and have made into shirts for each of us and/or possibly a skirt of dress for me. Unfortunately we came up empty handed. There were several fabric shops but none had a batik we liked so we decided to just walk around and take in some sights.

A few blocks from Little India was the Church of Saint Francis Xavier, a Catholic Church built in 1849.(Jim took this night picture the week before while he was teaching his class)

It is dedicated to St. Francis Xavier, a Jesuit who brought Catholicism to Malacca and other parts of Southeast Asia. While there, I said a quick prayer for a family friend who had passed away the day before. It's a bright and airy church with beautiful stained glass windows. This one is over the main entrance to the church.

Moving on down the street we found a small cafe on the Melaka River and stopped for a cup of coffee. It was still early enough in the day for us which meant back home it wasn't too late in the evening for a quick call home. Here I am yacking away with either my mom or my sister. Jim bought new sim cards for our cell phones when he got to Melaka. We used the Digi network which offered a great rate for calls to the US at 5 cents/minute. It was more expensive to call each other than it was to call halfway around the world....go figure.

While we were enjoying our coffees, we saw a tour boat cruising down the river and saw it dock just up the way from the cafe. As soon as we finished the coffee, we walked over to inquire about taking a river cruise and were told it would be about an hour and a half before the next one. A couple just getting off the current cruise overheard us talking and asked if we were American. They were from New York City and had only arrived in Melaka a few days before I had. Both were retired and were on a month long trip through Malaysia, how lucky! We talked about where each of us would be going while there and exchanged some touristy advice. After about 30 minutes we parted ways.

Since we still had about an hour before the cruise we decided to look at some of the souvenir shops across the street. Most of the stuff was mass produced, overpriced trinkets and the same from shop to shop so we passed on buying anything. Wandering back across the street we saw a street vendor selling coconuts. We picked one out and watched him deftly chop off a piece from the bottom so it would sit upright then four chops to the top to form an opening. That was one scary looking cleaver too.
But once it's open all you do is insert a straw to drink up the coconut water and a spoon to scrap out the tender coconut meat and you have yourself a nice refreshing snack.After our little snack we walked back to the area where the river cruise docked and the ticket guy quickly pointed out the big monitor lizards on the other side of the river. This one was an adult that was about 5-6 feet long. And just below us on the dock area was this little guy. He was about 2 feet long and scurried away just after I got this picture.When it was finally time to get on the cruise boat, we all loaded up and met yet another American, this one from Washington, DC. Talk about a small world. He lives in Malaysia during the winter and back in DC the rest of the year.

The tour guide was very entertaining. He actually had names for all the monitor lizards we saw along the riverbank. I think the pair just under the bridge in this picture were Romeo and Juliet.

The reddish stones you see along the sides of the riverbank date back to the early Portuguese settlers. The red color comes from the iron content in the stones. Today, most of these stones are being reclaimed and used to revitalize and rebuild the river bank. A lot of restoration and new construction is going on along the river to make it a more attractive place for people to walk, dine and enjoy the views. Many of the old buildings are being restored for shops and restaurants and a boardwalk is nearly complete along one side of the river. Ahead of us was a small (very small) amusement park. It had two rides, the ferris wheel you see in the picture and a boat ride that swung back and forth like a pendulum.
On the left is Kampung Morten, the only remaining kampung (village) in Melaka with traditional Melaka-style houses. They had a steeply pitched upper roof that lead down to a slightly sloped roof.
Hanging from the bridge, as well as all over the city, were banners for their upcoming national elections. And unlike here where it seems the campaigns have dragged on for an eternity, they are only allowed to campaign during the two weeks prior to election day.
Some houses were very patriotic like this one with the Malay flag painted on the roof.

This house was known as Villa Sentosa (the Malay Living Museum). It's not officially a museum but probably one of the best sites to visit in Melaka. More on that later.

After the cruise we were getting a little hungry so we headed off in search of lunch. A few blocks from our hotel is an outdoor food court with lots of food stalls to choose from. For our trip today, we chose several tasty dishes.
This is prawn mee, a soup made with noodles, sliced fish cake, shrimp, water spinach, bean sprouts in a spicy broth.

This a water spinach soup. Very mild in flavor, it wasn't my taste but Jim enjoyed it.

And finally Char Kway Teow, a dish of soy sauce, chilli, prawns, egg, bean sprouts and chicken.

As we walked back to our hotel after lunch, I couldn't help but notice that orchids grow everywhere! Some intentially planted around trees, along the curbs, or in flower beds. Others grow wild up in the trees. Wish I'd gotten a picture of that to show you.

We noticed a massage and reflexology place just down the road from food court. Jim suggested we check it out after lunch. We did and they offered me a great deal on a 90 minute back massage and foot reflexology. While I was being massaged, Jim strolled back to the food court, got a nice cold Tiger beer and people watched. He came back to pick me up and we headed back to the hotel where we cleaned up with a nice hot shower and headed back out and into a cab to see the Portuguese area of town. Located along the bay, it's a small area with some houses and a food court that also houses a small museum, most everything was closed when we got there but it looked like it would be a hoppin' place to go on a Friday or Saturday night.

Once we were back at the hotel we had a little snack while we talked about dinner plans. I bought these miniature mandarin oranges the day before. I couldn't help it, they were so cute! They were good but were so small that there wasn't much space for a lot of juicy pulp.I also bought a can of Kickapoo Joy Juice. Yea, sounds scary, doesn't it? Know what's even scarier? It has it's own website. However, what wasn't scary was the taste. It was very close to Mello-yello or Mt. Dew. Not bad.


Jim said he was craving a steak and wanted to go to a place he tried the week before called the Bulldog Cafe which served a combination of Asian and Western style food. A quick cab ride later and we were there. It's a cute place with an indoor pond full of Koi and some frog statues. Jim got a steak with peppercorn sauce which was good enough to satisfy his craving.
And I got a dish recommended by the waitress that called Asian Beef. Now you'd think since we were in Asia that they'd nail that part of the dish but sadly it was just barely Asian-ish in that it was soy sauce in it but beyond that, eh. The sauce was thick and gloppy and looked so Americanized. I was pretty disappointed.
Needless to say we skipped dessert and chose to take a walk over to the river which was only a few blocks away. We crossed over the banner draped bridge you saw in our river cruise pictures and strolled through Kampung Morten and Villa Sentosa. We were also just a few blocks from the ferris wheel we saw earlier in the day. When we got to the park, it was all lit up with just a handful of people milling about. We decided to give the ferris wheel a try and enjoy seeing the city from high above. It was also nice to get a bit of breeze. Afterwards we decided to head back to the hotel so we began walking, and walking, and walking. Apparently we were in a section of town rarely frequented by taxi's. We finally saw a busy street and headed towards it and hopefully a ride home. After close to 10 minutes, we finally hailed a cab and found a huge fabric shop just down the street from where we'd been standing. Note to self: tomorrow we go back and look for some batik.

Once back at the hotel, I took another shower and collapsed into bed. We had a great day, saw a lot of cool stuff, ate some great (and not so great) food, met a few other Americans and a bunch of super friendly locals. Tomorrow: shop for batik, visit Villa Sentosa, eat more great food and get ready for the next leg of our trip, Singapore.