Malacca Magic

As this year's church camp was in Malacca, we decided to drive up instead of taking the coach. It took us about 4 hours, after clearing immigration customs and with only one rest stop, to arrive at the Equatorial Hotel in Malacca.

The Premier Suite was larger than we expected. It was very spacious and comfortable with a queen bed and a cosy day-bed by the window for Sweet Pea. The day-bed even came with drawn curtains for added privacy!

After checking in and freshening up, we immediately headed to the nearby Pahlawan Mall, which is just across from the hotel, for a late lunch. The mall was having a Peranakan themed promotion, so there were interesting displays of Peranakan's historical artefacts like the colorful beaded slippers and hand-weaved basket.
 

After dinner and sermon service, there was satay and chendol supper. Even though we were still filling full from the dinner, we could not resist the yummy chicken satay and chendol.

The second day was filled with sermon service and discussion sessions right up to 4pm. After that, it's free and easy and we headed to the famous Jonker Street for some sight-seeing.

As it was already late afternoon, it wasn't as scorching hot as the previous day, so we were able to take a leisurely stroll to the Dutch Square or Red Square as the historical structure and surrounding buildings are painted red. It is also known as the Stadthuys (which means city hall in Dutch). We also strolled past the Malacca river which had old houses alongside the river. If you had time on your hands, you could take a river cruise to have a scenic view of the old Malacca town.

If you were in the moods for a ride on the good-old trishaw, you would be spoilt for choice. We saw several trishaws heavily decorated in Disney designs such as Frozen complete with Elsa, Anna and Olaf plush toys. There were also Hello Kitty and other popular Disney characters. It was an interesting sight seeing these trishaws zipping around with light flickering and music blaring in the background!

Jonker Street was actually like the Ladies' Market in Hongkong. It got very busy and packed with both locals and tourists in the late evening and night. The street stalls were aplenty, selling all kinds of goods and even local foods like barbecued cuttlefish and even yoghurt ice cream. We stopped for dinner at the renowned Peranakan Nancy's Kitchen, and had to queue to take a seat inside. And what better way to wash down the spicy meal than with a bowl of delicious chendol!

One gem of a shop we discovered along Jonker Street was a pretty boutique named Sweet Summer Cottage that specialize in handmade soaps of various scents and designs. They also conduct classes for those keen to learn how to make soaps from scratch.

If time were not an issue, there were many interesting shops that can be explored at Jonker Street. But it could get very crowded when night fell.

It started to drizzle after dinner, and we had to quickly made our way back to the hotel. As the night came on, the crowds became thicker and it was really sardine-packed and sweaty to walk in the crowds. We were relieved to finally reach the hotel to have a nice, warm shower.

Malacca is a nice quaint town if you like its Peranakan history and culture, and of course the rich Peranakan foods. I would like to be back.