Melaka-laka: A Solo Trip

My awesome husband has been insanely busy, doing just about everything he can think of to improve his trumpet playing, teaching and networking. Most recently, this included a weekend trip to Hong Kong & Macau to meet with and taken lessons from symphony players in those two cities. Next week, he is off to Taiwan for more trumpeting.

With all his jet-setting, I was feeling the need to get out of Singapore as well, so this past weekend I took a quick trip to Melaka. Melaka used to be the premier port of Southeast Asia, a perfect stop off between India and Indonesia, Borneo and the Philippines. Colonized in turns by the Portuguese, Dutch and English, the great port city eventually lost its star status as other port cities - Singapore, for one - grew in importance.

Melaka is just a 3-4 hour, $20 bus ride from Singapore, making it an easy and popular getaway. I left early Saturday morning and by 1 pm, I was arriving at Melaka Sentral, the main transport hub. It was pretty exciting, and a little nerve wracking, to be heading off alone, even though I wasn't going that far. I was worried I would miss Jacob's helpful Malay skills, but found I got by with English just fine, thanks to the friendly people and Melaka's emphasis on being a tourist destination (dual-language signs, maps, etc.).

I got a bite to eat at the station (Wan Tan Mee), purchased my return ticket to Singapore for the next day (cheaper to buy it there - half the price of the Singapore-Melaka ticket!), and got a cab to my hotel - the Syaz Meridien. Perfectly serviceable - clean, free wi-fi, carried BBC and HBO (Game of Thrones baby!!). After repacking just the necessities into a smaller backpack, I hit the town - right in the heat of the day.
Walking along the river, you can find evidence of Melaka's past - this water wheel and the main fort that controlled the river. Hard for me to imagine that one rather dinky fort could keep the port under control, but I guess it worked!




It was really nice to be right on the ocean (right next to my hotel) - there was a nice breeze and it was lovely along the river.

 The tourists were out in full force - these ladies were having a great time taking a million pictures and shopping. I was digging their hats and that one lady's polka dot pants. Wow, right? 

 I was also digging this little monument in the middle of the main roundabout - those little white creatures are White Deer Mice and legend has it that they played a major role in the naming and founding of the city. But frankly, they were pretty dorky. The flags and signs are for political parties - elections are approaching in early May, and party signs and flags were plastered EVERYWHERE!

Melaka has the most pimped-out pedicabs I've ever seen. Not only were the covered in bright fake flowers, many of them had crazy loud sound systems blasting beats, and they're tricked out with lights at night. Awesome.

 I went to the Stadthuys, a complex composed of the former residence of the governor, three museums, and this old English church perched on the top of the hill. 











I did check out the museums - was surprised and amused to find them almost completely empty. I was the only person in the governor's residence (like, no staff, no anyone). There was a whole floor displaying random gifts the governor had received. This one was my favorite!

What is going on?

 In the History of Literature Museum, I found Malaysian Johnny Depp! Looking good!

 Also, found these weird tapestries hanging on the walls. There weren't any English explanations, so I was at a total loss - no idea. Just enjoy (?) the weirdness.

Upon leaving the museums, I swore the first person I saw selling ice cream was going to get my money. This triple-scooper consisted of chocolate, yellow and purple. Can't say what the flavors were, but it was ice cream, so, you know, it was great.

Meandered over to China Town, and up the main drag, called Jonker Street. This is a picture of a truck driving around with a loud speaker, encouraging people to vote for the opposition party.












 In Jonker Street Park, there is a statue of this guy - Dr. Gan Boon Leong, who is credited as the father of body building in Malaysia. Arnold's got nothing on him - plus check out that cute smile!

My dinner consisted of street food bought here and there. This is my dim sum and sugar cane juice. I was hoping for a variety of dim sum flavors and types, but ended up with pork, pork, and more pork. Oh well! I also slurped down a coffee at the Geographer's Cafe and had not one but two durian puffs from 'One Bite Durian Puff,' where the seller reminded me at least three times that you should eat the whole puff in one bite. Once I tried it, I understood - if you attempted multiple bites, you'd end up with durian cream all over.

Um, my 'selfy' photo skills stink, but you get the idea.

 An old Chinese temple near Jonker St., very neat and intricate. (Didn't take too many pics though).
I got a glutinous rice dumpling (I don't know how something called 'glutinous' can sell so well, but you see it all over Singapore too!) I can't tell you why it is blue, but it was very tasty. And filling - I think half of it ended up in the bin.

Several stands were selling the candy that this man is chipping apart. It is made in the big metal pans and is then you use a hammer and pick to break it into smaller parts. I got some - very very sweet. Yowza.

This gentleman is Ho Eng Hui, a famous fixture of Jonker Street. He holds the world record for being able to pierce a coconut with his finger. He puts on quite a show - and quite a sales pitch too, touting this serum stuff that is supposed to heal you and make you strong...yeah, not sure about that. But after making us wait half an hour and selling several bottle, he got around to the main event. And I have to say, I was impressed. He really does pierce the hull of a coconut in like 3 stabs - with his finger. Here is a video of him doing just that - though I will say, I didn't take it, and also when I was there he didn't stand on teapots.

I took a pedicab back to my hotel - but first the driver let me climb aboard for a picture. (He apologized, but I could not drive it because you have to have a special license. Alas!)

The next morning, I got up and checked out, ready for the part of my trip I was looking forward to most - a bike tour through the palm oil and rubber plantations! A Malay man named Alias runs Melaka on Bike, which offers 3 hour bike tours most days. He picked me up at my hotel, along with an Australian couple, and drove us about 20 minutes of the the city to his place, were they keep all the gear. There were 8 of us on the tour, along with Alias and his assistant (who road at the back and basically just made sure no one got lost or hurt).

Latex flowing of of the freshly cut
groove in the tree and into the little
collecting bucket.

We got kitted out with bikes - and I DID choose to wear a helmet, Mom! (My thought process went along the lines of, 'oh man if I fall off and crack my head open, I'm going to be in so much trouble!). We took off and within minutes, I had no idea where I was, but I was having a great time riding through the countryside with total strangers on a beautiful, blessedly overcast day in Malaysia. We stopped frequently so that Alias could tell us about various plants, etc. We got to see how to tap rubber trees (Alias called them nature's ATMs - there's always money in the rubber trees!); how the local people harvest palm oil fruits (it looked exhausting); and how growers will cover jack fruits in scarves or skirts to keep them protected from bugs and birds while they're growing.

 

Alias explaining something about those plants...

The tour was really quite long, and we got to see a lot of rural houses and life happening - including lots of friendly waving kids! We finished the trip just as it began to rain - and just as I was beginning to wonder if my hands and bum could handle much more bumpy biking! So it was good timing all around.

Biking through the palm oil groves

The hilarious sticker on the side of the
Melaka on Bike bus!

Final meal of curry and Carlsburg.

Alias drove a group of us back in to town and dropped me at the main square. I headed back into Chinatown for more wandering and then a meal at the Geographer Cafe (again). I bummed around until it was time to head to the bus station. A friendly pedicab driver told me I could get on this city bus to the station - failing to tell me it would take an hour! There were several long minutes of confusion and slight panic for me, as I tried to figure out if I needed to bail and catch a cab, or if I could make it to the station for my 4pm bus. Fortunately, we made it with 15 minutes to spare - just enough time to pay and stand in line to use the squat toilets (dude - I was really missing Singapore's toilets...the whole hole in the floor thing takes a preferred level of coordination that I have not yet acquired!)
The bus ride back was slightly trying - I had forgotten my plug adapter so my phone had died, leaving me to enjoy the 4-hour nonstop chattering of the 5 year old Chinese boy in the seat behind me. But we bounced down the highway, through the checkpoints and back to Singapore and I made my way home.

Good weekend! And kind of cool to realize that I could navigate my way around solo - certainly not something I would have expected I could do 5 years ago!