Multi-Cultural City - Melaka

Most of the people visit Melaka to look at the historical architectures. Among the famous ones would be The Old Dutch House, St. Paul Church, A'Famosa Fortress, The Stadthuys (the official residence of the Dutch Governor), Baba & Nyonya Heritage and Jonker Street (once called the richman's street stayed by wealthy Baba & Nyonya), The Portugese Settlement, and The Cheng Hoon Teng Temple, which is the olderst Chinese temple in Malaysia.

So do not miss out any of these and take a moment to understand the long history of making Melaka such a wonderful, multicultural place.

Quick Tips:

If you are in Melaka to look for some delicious local delicacies, consider the following:
Baba & Nyonya Food - can be found in Jonker Street
Portugese Food - can be found in Portugese Square
Chinese Food - can be found in Bukit China

Best Way To Get Around:

Self-Drive/Car Rental
Driving allows you to stop by at places you want to spend some time with. Roads in Melaka are not too hard to drive around as the road signs are all well-indicated to the historical spots, the shopping mall, and hotels. Parking is easy to find too.

Trishaw
Trishaw is a part of Melaka culture, and one of the "must-dos". The slow and relaxing ride on a beautiful, decorated trishaw allows you to enjoy the scenary along the way, look at the famous Dutch House, Jonker Street, and relax with the summer breeze of The Strait of Melaka. Some trishaw riders do stop around and do tourist stop hopping if you are willing to pay a little more.

THE HOTEL
Century Mahkota is located right opposite Mahkota Parade, a big shopping mall in the heart of Melaka. The hotel has two main swiming pools, the Hibicus Pool and the Dolphine Pool, the latter of which comes with waterslides. The pools opearte until 11pm.

The hotel offers an international buffet breakfast daily with a good variety of food like nasi Lemak, mee goreng, Western breakfast, porridge, yam cake, various types of fruit juices, and hot beverages.

ONE-ROOM APARTMENT (RM188++ per unit per night)
The apartment comes with basic amenities like coffee and tea making facilities, refrigerator, hair dryer, hot water supply, cable TV, telephone, and basic toiletries.

Please log into their website for more info.

The famous rice ball, about the size of a golf ball comes together with roast or steam chicken, which flavourded with saya sauce and sesame oil. The Chicken Rice Balls are best served with special chili sauce prepared by the restaurant.

Besides the signature Rice Ball, the restaurant serves also roast pork, duck, a few types of vegetables, fish ball soup and tofu.

The special Chicken Rice Balls are cooked with Chiken oil and well spiced that bring aroma when served hot. The chicken on the other hand is well marinated, and it is so tender that it melt in the mouth!

Price List of some famous dishes [per plate]:
Rosted / Steamed Chicken Rice RM3.50
Rosted /Steamed Chicken Rice Ball RM4.30
Bean Sprout [medium] RM7.00

NOTE to the Muslims: This is a NON-HALAL certified restaurant.

Jonker Street

The RichMan's Street, as named by the older generation due to its population of the rich Baba & Nyona who have their business developed here. The street has now been the living proof of Baba and Nyonya heritage.

The street still keep the old feel of Baba & Nyonya's culture. Most of the shop lots are having its original decoration while some have been renovated for the purpose of new business.

Jonker Street start from the junction right after you cross the bridge from THE STADHUYS, there is a windmill displayed right at the beginning of the bridge. Our journey starts from a right turn at the junction, where a coffee shop selling famous chicken rice ball is packed of locals and tourists. There are a few antique shops along the way, and also a few art and craft shops where you can find interesting and unique wooden clogs, wooden bookmarks, paintings and antique furniture.

Remember to bargain, as always, when you desire to buy anything from here!!

Heading back to the junction where we started out journey earlier on, we walked straight ahead. There are more antique shops selling various antiques from old iron to radio, oil lamp to sewing machine. Art and Craft shops along the way sell most of the aromatherapy and massage products, with wood and tikar as the main ingredients.

We had our lunch at the famous FAMOSA CHICKEN RICE BALL RESTAURANT. Chicken rice ball is basically chicken rice in scoop that serves with steam or roasted chicken, bean sprout, fishball, tauhu and a lot of other dishes according to personal choice.

[more on this restaurant in my Dining Entry]

We walked along the street after lunch and came across a few Nyonya restaurants and cafes, and a few antique cafe where you can have a cuppa in the shop while looking at the antiques.

The entire Jonker Street takes about an hour to finish if you are going for window shopping. However, if you are a serious art and antique shoppers, spare half a day here, you will have big rewards!

NOTE: If you are walking or driving to Jonker Street, look for the road sign says Jalan Hang Jebat, which is the actual name on most of the maps.

Many people stop at Alor Gajah on the way to Melaka. This is the place where the locals call it - "A'Famosa Resort."

A'Famosa Resort consists of a resort, in the forms of bungalow and apartment, a golf course, an Animal World Safari, a Water World, a Cowboy Town and a Flying Club. This gated community along the highway provides a lot of local and overseas visitor the enjoyment of having all in a place.

However, our trip only allowed us to spend 4 hours in the Animal World Safari.

ANIMAL WORLD SAFARI
Entrance Fee with Unlimited Rides and Shows:
Adult: RM59.00
Child: RM49.00
Entrance Fee with Unlimited Rides and Shows for MALAYSIAN:
Adult: RM32.00
Child: RM25.00
Operating Hour: 9.00am - 7.00pm daily

Located on 150-acre piece of fine land, the Animal World Safari houses over 100 species of animals. It lets you encounter the wildlife in the closest possible condition - in a gated truck!

Take this ride with experienced tour guide to share with you the different types of animals and their origins along the journey. You will start off with seeing some camels, ostriches, giraffes and spotted deer followed by lions, tigers, bears and a lot of other species. The entire journey takes about half an hour.

There are four shows scheduled every day for you to experience how intelligent animals are when they are well trained. Enjoy the Elephant Show, the Multi-Animal Show, the Bird Show and the Wild Wild West Cowboy Show!

There are some walk-through areas where you can touch the animals, like ponies and horses, flamingos and many others. The area is well landscaped and perfect for a slow and relaxing walk.

You can also take cruise to the Monkey Island, located in the middle of a lake. The islet has a few different types of monkeys, squirrels and wild chickens. You can feed them with food provided by the ground staffs during mealtime.

The last stop should be at the Farm House, which is like a petting zoo. It houses chickens, goats, sheep, geese and ducks and others like the green iguana, cats and dogs. This is the zone where you can play with some of the animals and touch them if you like.

Overall, it's a well-covered World Safari which offers excellent experience for animal lovers!