profile i'm a girl who have stepped into the unknown called work and decided that schooling is better. i also have a propensity to go crazy over fried chicken wings and simply love to squeeze and over-feed my obese hamsters. my blog is a mode for expressing my love for food, movies, travel and shopping! contact qiuuing@gmail.com email me if you don't feel comfortable leaving a tag :) Lijit Search tagboard resolutions for 2011 exercise once a week start saving more than half of my salary every month find a boyfriend (added by lily) shopping list 2011 lancome flextencils basic black pumps one whole set of nail art (pedicure) a car (!!!) reads friends adrienne bren bobby cheeks farah ivy jeannie sharon sijing vic other blogs beatrice tan camemberu grocery list ieatishootipost sixpegs sparklette recommended shops accessories ivbelongings mykillerheels mysummerdiary mytreasurest clothes hervelvetvase lollyrouge loveandbravery lovebonito myspringfling missypixie modparade robotninjas trooops vaingloriousyou food cupcake divinity food infinity mad baker periwinkle bake shop others concierge.sg iconceptz snugg the little happyshop uniquegrabs whimsnfancies toys an ufo-catcher addict's woes lain lain plushie paradise previous entries by post
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 Saturday, January 02, 2010 @ 00:05
day 1: singapore to malacca felt guilty about leaving my malacca photos rotting in my sd card, so i've edited them and here they are. be prepared for a whole barrage of photo because we were there for only three days two nights, so we fully utilised our time in malacca. disclaimer: if you're dieting, please skip all posts on malacca. we left home at 6am, to beat the weekend rush and also we planned to reach malacca around 10 plus when all the shops open.  we stopped for breakfast after crossing the causeway. most of the dishes we had cost about (sgd$1.45). same price as singapore but different currency.    had chicken noodles. the noodles were soft and chewy but i didn't like the sauce. might have been better with chilli. they prepare it differently from singapore. in addition to the shredded chicken, they included minced pork to the noodles. furthermore, they had fishcakes and tau pok in the soup, whereas in singapore, the soup is served plain. after travelling for about three hours, which was spent mostly sleeping by me, we reached the heart of malacca. we parked the cars and did the first thing that any normal person would do there--hunt for their famous chendol. we had a shop in mind already, but my uncle, who's a native (back for a visit) brought us to another shop to try.   thus, here we were at donald & lily's. hidden in a small alcove was actually a long shophouse at the back. the bright yellow interior was cheerful and very peranakan. it was filled with people and we had to wait for a table.  the chendol, a big bowl for 2.5rm (sgd$1). the green jelly was a bit hard, but the coconut sauce... fantastic! it was thick and rich and with just the right amount of sweetness.  the window which we were sitting next to. love how the wind chimes are silhouetted.  we left our cars parked where they were and proceeded on foot to hunt for our hotel. it was amazing how none of us took down the address of the hotel! luckily we remember the area, which was very near jonker street and with the help of my uncle and his local connections, we managed to find it. the picture shows the street where our hotel was located.   here it is, cheng ho guesthouse! love the location, it's a short walk from everywhere.  as you can see, there's a couple of computers in the lobby area. however, i would not recommend using them. the speed? i would describe as tortoise-like.  rooms are not brand new, but clean and spacious. the beds are light and can be easily pushed together to form a king-sized bed. there are hangers and tables for you to place your stuff. the rooms are not ensuite and you have to share the toilet/bathrooms. not very convenient as there are only two toilet/bathrooms per level (there's two levels, the bottom one with aircon, top for fan rooms) with hot water, so you have to queue up especially in the morning and evening to use them.  after checking in, we went next door to look at some pottery. they have nice and pricey pieces.  walked our way to jonker street and did some hat shopping and sightseeing. here's a roadside stall selling mua chi. they did not keep it in a slow cooker so the mua chi was cold.    crossed the bridge to stadthuys for some first-rate chendol. the stall was previously in one of the big coconut/mangosteen thingy, but it's now a wooden frame next to the river.    the chendol was served in smaller bowls compared to the one we had at donald & lily's. it was as good as we remembered!  the number of bowls we had as evidence.  next to the chendol stall was a stall selling goreng pisang. their bananas were huge! normal goreng pisang are fried whole. theirs had to be cut cross sectionally and cooked in slices! i still prefer the goreng pisang at old airport road. theirs were a tad bitter for my liking.    after half a day of walking in the hot sun (yes, malacca is as hot as singapore), we sought air conditioned shelter in shopping malls.   we hit dataran pahlawan first. we thought it was a very small shopping mall with mostly local shops. spent about an hour there, mostly just enjoying the aircon. it was only when we were crossing over to mahkota parade that we realised it was a huge mall! we just didn't find the link to other sections.  my aunt brought to try tau hui at mahkota parade. they serve it either with normal sugar syrup or ginger sugar syrup. my aunt bought for us the ginger one. not liking the strong ginger taste at all, i only had a spoonful to try the tau hui. it was so soft and smooth, just kind of slides down your throat. would have loved a bowl with the normal sugar syrup.  after splitting up to do some window shopping, sis and i decided to hunt for auntie anne's. similar to breakfast, the pretzels were priced like singapore but in another currency. in this case, standard was also different. the pretzels were very tough. but i have to admit they were generous with the toppings.  more sightseeing after that, which also meant into the hot sun.  you can see some of the "old people" resting in the shade while the younger ones were taking pictures.  next was lunch. on our list of food to eat was malacca's renowned chicken rice balls. again, we were really thankful that our uncle's a native. we skipped the long queue and were given a table in an aircon room.  here are the people eating in the sweltering heat. seems like even the hot sun didn't stop people from queuing up for good food.  stir fried cabbage.  assam fish. yum!  chicken and...  fishballs? no, these are the chicken rice balls! they were hand-rolled. according to a blog rating stalls selling malacca chicken rice, this stall has great rice but chicken just average. very accurate. chicken was ok but i'll go back for the rice.  we went back to drive our cars to our hotel and what do we see... james bond's car.  we bathed and strolled along chinatown for some night market eating cum shopping. bought some cute clog magnets and handphone charms as souvenirs.  there was a stall claiming that they made excellent pineapple tarts. looked good too! we thought of buying some back on the last day, but we forgot all about it.  ate some tutu, which is some kind of white flour cake with warm gula melaka sauce inside. love it! wished i bought more.    sis tried some fresh fruit sherbet made from fresh fruit juice. sis tried a cup of strawberry and peach (2 flavours), can't really remember the price. if i'm not wrong, it was 2.40rm (sgd$1). there were bits of fruits inside. something refreshing to wash off the greasy food.  tried some pong piah. not bad, but we had the best on the second day.  some crocs shopping at a stall selling rejects. not sure if they're good fakes or rejects, but they do look very real! with our stomachs packed to the brim with good food all day, we headed back to hotel. Labels: family, food, holidays |