I
haven’t been to Melaka since January 2016 and after meeting up my Malaccan mate
for our alma mater reunion dinner, I decided to visit her in her home state.
She suggested we met up in the city instead of her hometown so after discussing
a few dates, we settled on last Saturday, 10 November.
I
left micasa at 08:30 that morning and walked to the MRT bus station. The plan
was to get the feeder bus to MadValley and change for the Komuter to Bandar
Tasik Selatan. However, no T817 bus was in sight after 25 minutes of waiting
and CT arranged for Grab to bring me to TBS directly. For the record, I don’t
like riding in a cab or Grab all by myself. My parents discouraged me and I
don’t like to be stuck with a total stranger for long. The journey was smooth
and we arrived at TBS after 20 minutes.
I
went to queue for bus tickets and despite arriving at 09:40, all the
10:00-11:00 buses were already full. The earliest bus available was the Melor
Interline Express at 11:15 so I bought the ticket for that. Yes, I could have
bought the ticket earlier online but I didn’t want to pay the processing fee. Nevertheless,
I thought about it and decided to buy the return ticket online as I didn’t want
to risk arriving early at Melaka Sentral and waiting again. I had an hour plus
to kill anyway so I browsed for the following morning’s buses back to KL. I was
surprised to find a few buses had a few available seats left so quickly bought
a ticket for a 10:30 Kejora Express bus. Then I read my book.
The
bus left at 11:22 and there were quite a few tourists in the bus. There was
heavy traffic along some stretches of the highway and the traffic got heavier
as we exited the highway. We finally arrived at Melaka Sentral at 13:45. My
mate informed she was running late (I suppose it was a good thing then that I
couldn’t get an earlier bus!) so I went to perform prayers while waiting for
her. She finally arrived at 14:55 and we drove on to Avillion Legacy Melaka. We
were surprised to find the parking almost full and wondered if there was some
event in Melaka taking place over the weekend.
After
checking in, we went up to our room to rest. We ventured out again after 17:00.
Believe it or not, both of us hadn’t had lunch yet (!) and it was too late for
lunch anyway. We drove to the centre and parked at the public car park near
Chan Koon Cheng Bridge. I told my mate that another mate parked there before
when we went for an overnight trip back in October 2012 and her car was
completely dirty from bird droppings the following day.
We
walked to Jonker Walk and went to find Jonker 88 to find some halal laksa.
There were a lot of people at Jonker Walk then: the hawkers either setting up
their stalls or calling out to customers and the visitors walking around. We
finally fond Jonker 88 and asked if we could a couple with a toddler if we
could share their table. I then went to buy Baba laksa (jumbo size as the
regular size is sold only until 13:00) and durian cendol. The Baba laksa was
all right but the durian cendol was a major failure as they used instant
coconut powder. What a waste of my RM9! Grr!!!
At the hotel pool
Painters painting Chan Koon Cheng Bridge
At Jonker 88
Baba laksa in jumbo size and the durian cendol that failed big time
One of the many colourful buildings in the centre
We
left and walked back along Jonker and wandered the streets. We dropped by the
public prayer room at the Tourist Information Centre to perform prayers before
continuing on to Upside Down House Gallery. I thought the ticket was steep at
RM18. We spent a hilarious time there and had one of the staff take our
pictures. After that we walked on to find Restoran 35 (it was closed) and
decided to have a massage at a place near 707 Hotel Malacca Apple and opposite
Asam Pedas Claypot 5 Beradik. The massage was a bargain at RM55/person/hour but
what we didn’t bargain for was getting two ladies with traditional healing
background (bidan) as our masseuses! Mine started my massage in reverse to what
I usually experience: instead of lying on my tummy where the masseuse starts
with my upper back, I was told to lie on my back and she proceeded to massage
my left foot first before going up to the calf. Oh my, it was ever so painful
and I was grimacing in pain before long that it prompted her to ask if I had
never had a massage before. I said yes, of course I had. Maybe the ones I had
before were mild and maybe because I’m weakly but it was a painful hour for me
and my mate. After finishing with my feet and calves, I was told to lie on my
tummy and she started massaging the thigh area, and again, without mercy. I was
getting worried if she would be climbing on my back after that because I’d once
had a masseuse climb on my back and started pounding on it like a sumo
wrestler. Thank God she didn’t. We chatted a bit, she was curious about my
marital status.
At the Upside Down House
Both
my mate and I emerged feeling worse for the wear and after thanking our
masseuses, we left. It was getting late and we weren’t that hungry after our
meal but we decided to stop for some asam pedas. I asked the owner if it was
spicy and he gave me a look before I realised the irony of my question. I laughed
and said yes, I wanted a non-spicy asam pedas! He brought out a small bowl for
me to sample and I decided it was not that spicy so we ordered and shared the
fish roe asam pedas.
The walk along the river is pleasant in the evening (too hot during the day!)
We
trudged back to the car park and found that the birds have had their fun
pooping on it. My mate was good-natured about it. We reached our room about
23:30 and I was already dozing off by midnight.
On
Sunday, we woke up for prayers and my mate had a short kip after prayers. We left
the room at 08:30 and brought our bags to the car before going down for
breakfast. The breakfast spread was quite generous but I didn’t eat much.
Breakfast at the Coffee House
We
left at 09:50 and drove to Melaka Sentral and waited for the bus before bidding
each other farewell and promising to keep in touch. The bus left at 10:40 but
stopped outside the complex for 5 minutes before continuing. Then the driver
stopped at a pump station along the highway to fill up (I took the opportunity
to use the facilities) and we only arrived at TBS at 13:05. I had another wait
for the Komuter. I went down at MadValley and stopped there for an hour before
taking the bus back to micasa. I reached micasa at 15:30, swept the porch and
unpacked. It started pouring when I was performing prayers with such deafening
and frightening thunders and I was so thankful I managed to reach home when I did.
Alhamdulillah.
That
was a good weekend albeit painful at times. I think it would be a regular event
from now, insyaAllah.
|