Wanderlust Malacca: Part 2

Our second day in the heritage city, started with at a leisurely breakfast at the hotel. A word of caution, since Malacca is a family tourist spot, be prepared to be swamped with noisy children at ALL times at family hotels such as the Holiday Inn.

Old Portuguese Wall

Me taking a pic of the wall!

After the sumptuous breakfast buffet at the hotel, we set out to experience the sights and sounds of Malacca. Our first stop was the remnants of the old Portuguese wall, which isn't really as eye-catching as some other walls, but has it's significance in the history of the city nonetheless. What was noteworthy was the array of canons right across the new street from the remains of the old wall.  We found a number of tourists posing along side these magnificent war-canons and for good reason! Check out the grandeur of these babies!

Another attraction close to the wall and the cannons is the Malacca Ricer WaterMill. When I say attraction, I purely mean for photographic purposes cause you can get some really neat snaps with the watermill as a background.

Our next stop was at the famous Stadthuys. The most prominent structures in this city square are the Melaka church, the administrative building, the fountain and of course the clock tower. If you're a photog like me, you could spend an entire afternoon here and still not be satisfied with the number of shots you would have taken on your camera. This place is THAT awesome!

The Stadthuys

There is also this one supposed war veteran sitting at the base of the clock tower with an array of war memorabilia who let's you take funky pics like this one for  nominal fee of 3 Ringgits. I am not sure how many he'll let you click but I was able to take about 3-4 before it got a little repetitive. The alley ways around the church are lined with shops aimed at the average tourist selling refreshments and memorabilia alike.

Next we made tracks to the other famous church in Malacca, The Church of St. Francis Xavier. Those of you who have been to Goa will instantly recognize that name because there's a church with the same name there as well. It so happens, that the two churches share more than just their names! The church looks absolutely stunning from the outside and is equally eloquent on the inside. We were even fortunate to witness a wedding in progress as we entered the church. 

By this time we were beginning to feel the heat of Malacca and boy was it HOT! And what better way to beat the heat than with a nice delicious cup of ice-cream. So we made a quick pit-stop to savor a local ice-cream favorite, icily. Icicy is quite conveniently located close to the city square and the St. Francis Xavier church. Using fresh fruits, a type of preserved low-fat cream base and quite a funky contraption that melds all of this together, the kind lady at icily concocted a delicious cream frozen dessert for us. The dessert was bursting with natural fruit flavors and it made the ice-cream simply irresistable!

 Before moving onto the next attraction that we went towards, let me share how we got there. So after coming out of the church and grabbing the dessert we decided to blindly explore the back alleys of the Stadthuys. Which turned out to be a bit of a bummer since we ended up in a kinda eerily empty spot of the city with stairs ascending to a crude structure on a hill. And to make matters a lot more interesting, the picture to the left was the view going up. Suffice to say, we were kinda spooked till we reached the top of the hill and discovered this - St. Paul's church.

Turns out we had taken an less frequented route to head uphill, cause the place was swamped with tourists. The church is essentially a ruin but still looks quite majestic. There is no roof but the outer walls and most of the inscriptions are intact, and even some tombstones. Again, you're bound to get some really great snaps for your collection. We sure did!

Descending from St. Paul's hill brings you smack in the middle of a long line of a variety of museums dedicated to philately (pertaining to stamp-collection and other postal for the uninitiated), the ruling political party, one on architecture and also another on the heritage of the city. Before you do walking towards the multitude of museums you'll notice another pretty photogenic landmark called A Famosa (which means in Portuguese), a fortress remnant from the Portuguese era. This structure earns the distinction of being one of the oldest surviving European architectures in Asia.

That's it for this blog post. I know I promised I'd talk about the shopping escapades in Malacca in this post. But the chronicles so far have taken up a LOT of the post space. So the next (and hopefully final!)  part in the series will focus a LOT on the shopping escapades at Jonker and other great places. Till then, happy reading!

Wanderlust Malacca: Part 1

Alright folks, here's yet another blog post in the Wanderlust series. This time, I'm gonna recount the travel experience as it happened. Which basically means, what you're gonna read is pretty much the itinerary of my trip, which should make it a considerably long post. Fret not. To avoid severe boredom to you, the reader, I'm gonna divide the post into parts. This also let's me ruminate and churn out the second post at a later date, so, it's a win-win!

Malacca Cityscape

My most recent trip was to the Malaysian heritage city of Malacca (or Melaka). My wife and I were super excited about the trip for two reasons; one we REALLY needed a holiday and two, we were celebrating our one year wedding anniversary.

Malacca was on my wish-list for quite some time. Being a UNESCO recognized heritage city meant that there were unique sights and sounds to experience. I had of course read up on the city plenty and was quite intrigued with the rich history. The milieu of colonial influences coupled with its almost bohemian culture sounded like the perfect holiday spot for a newly married couple like us!

There are a couple of ways you can reach Malacca, but the most direct and hassle-free one (from Singapore of course) is a bus ride which lasts around 4-5 hours and is usually directly to your hotel in Malacca. 

We departed early Friday morning (8:30 AM) from the Golden Mile Tower (check this correctly since there is also a Golden Mile Complex, although they're pretty close to one another). The journey was quite smooth, including the two immigration stops (one for each end of the border). Although the one at the Singapore end is slightly speedier (and neater!) The border is essentially the Singapore strait which separates the two nations. The connecting bridge (one of two) looks pretty sweet. It'd be a good idea to visit the washrooms while at the immigration stops since some bus services do not have any pit stops until the destination.

Our hotel (Holiday Inn) was at the edge of town (along the Straits). So our bus meandered through the heritage portion of the city, to reach our destination. This gave us an early, albeit brief, glimpse of the beautiful architecture and colors of Malacca. Although I was a little confused by the choice of roads that were taken by the bus driver to reach the destination since the GPS had a more straightforward route to the hotel. Ah well, we weren't in any rush and the road time in different parts of the city was quite cool too.

Menara Taming Sari

Our first stop for the evening was the Menara Taming Sari which offers a 360 Degree Panoramic View of the Historic City. The total duration of the ride is around 7 minutes (2 of which are spent in the ascent and descent). The view offered from this altitude is quite breathtaking. Rest assured you will get some really stunning aerial shots of the city (like the one at the beginning of this post!). Around here you'll also find a number of other touristy activities for the entire family, ranging from mechanical pony rides for the little tykes to back, foot and shoulder massages for the weary ones. 

Maritime Museum

Our next stop was the Maritime museum which is housed in the replica of a portuguese ship (At least I think it's Portuguese!). Another nice place for getting photos clicked of yourself as the captain of the vessel! Although for an entry fee of 3 Ringitts, it's worth the expense even if you simply wanna stroll around the ship and read up on the history. 

By this time, the sun had already set and the evening skies were turning dark. And the city also starts turning a little dim, since there aren't many street-lights (Well not all over at least!) This coupled with the numerous colorfully lit up riverside cafes and hotels on either side of the water body made the Malacca river appear even more picturesque. Walking with your significant other in such an atmosphere was simply delightful! If you're planning to grab a bite and want this view, head to Dutch Harbor Cafe or Harper's Restaurant And Lounge. Both have seating that faces the river in addition to quite delectable menus.

But we skipped the romantic dinner (Don't worry we covered up with a LOTTA other activities!) and headed to the infamous Jonker Walk. But that's gonna be featured in another blog post. 

The Malacca river is quite scenic so if you do get the time, take a river cruise to appreciate the beauty. But we found strolling along the riverside far more romantic and rewarding. So you know, to each his own.The Malacca river divides the heritage city into distinct sections with contrasting architectural styles. While most of the heritage portion lies to the west of the river, the east is dominated by  rows and rows of houses, many with Chinese influences on their styling. 

Dinner was at a cafe close to the hotel in a newly opened late night hot-spot called The Jetty. The place looks deserted during the day, but trust me, once the sun sets, the place is anything but quiet. With a number of restaurants, bars karaoke lounges and even a dessert hut, The Jetty is probably your best bet for some fun in Malacca post dinner time.

So that was pretty much what we did on our first day (well half a day to be fair!) The next post will give a little more about the many sights Malacca has to offer to the shutterbug and the tourist in you and of course the stupendously spectacular shopping experience at Jonker Walk!

The King Of All Meals!

Breakfast is undeniably the most important meal of the day. The name says it all! "Break-Fast", cause you're breaking the all-night fast (induced by the night long sleeping activity dummy!). The stomach and body are starved for some fuel to get recharged and get set for the new day.

Science says that breakfast should never be skipped for this very reason. Depriving your body of vital nourishment after a long break is nothing short of folly! Eating a nutrient packed and filling breakfast is the key to a good day ahead.

The debate then arises how rich should this king of all meals be? You're probably wondering, Eh? Well being a Bombay boy (a SoBo one at that) breakfast for me (and most of my pals) has ranged from a simple glass of milk (flavored with Bournvita) and toast to Kellogg's cereals to eggs made to order. Sufficient no? Well apparently not! Most of my friends and relatives from different parts of India beg to differ.

My relatives (well most of them) live in the state of Gujarat, viz. in Vadodara and Ahemdabad. I remember watching my uncles wolf down an entire meal for breakfast. When I say meal, I'm talking about chappati, dal, vegetables, farsaan et al. Mind you, this is the exact same thing I'd probably eat for lunch, so I was kinda surprised when I saw them eat this for breakfast. In their defence, this was probably their crude attempt at brunch since most of them would avoid heavy lunches and opt for a light snack at aorun 1-2 pm.

Up north, breakfast is incomplete without some piping hot paranthas laden with real makkhan (cause the packaged kind just doesn't cut it for them!). And this is usually accompanied with either chole or a similar item. What you have to understand in that the parantha is question is so darn heavy, that one is enough to set you back by around a few hundred calories. Again, in their defence, the weather possibly mandates a breakfast of this clorific stature.

Most people tend to have a different opinion deciding the richness of breakfast. Personally, a heavy breakfast, like those savored by my relatives and friends up north doesn't suit my system. After a heavy meal like that, early in the morning,  I'd probably feel laethargic or worse, nauseous! For brunch, most deifnitley, but for breakfast, ummmm, I'll pass.

In conclusion, breakfast is indeed the king of all meals. However the extent of it's royalty is very much a personal choice.