Entries Tagged 'Travel' ↓

Giddy Tigers was right when she said I was in Malacca on Friday (Holland would have been lovely though!). I was only there in the morning for a couple of hours, but it was enough for me to stop by the historic part of the city and relive a little bit of my childhood.

Sungai Melaka (Malacca River)

My mom was a history teacher and Malaysian history was her forte. Her daughter however, did not inherit her talent suffice to say. I stayed far far away from History after Form 3! When I was a kid, we used to visit Malacca (as I prefer to call it) and my favourite part of Malacca was the Stadthuys.

The Stadthuys is in a part of Malacca town where the buildings are all painted red and is one of the oldest remains of the Dutch colonials in the city. This was where the Dutch held their centre of administration. I’m not very conversant in history so please do not ask why the buildings are red, they just are

This is the clock tower in the middle of the square with a fountain nearby that sprays everyone who walks new with a fine spray of water. It wasn’t too bad on a hot day!

I’ve already shown a picture of a windmill just across the road from the clock tower which totally baffled me until I realised the significance of the Dutch in this part of town.

My favourite picture of all is this one:-

The Christ Church right at the centre of the square. It is lovely but I think the words are relatively recent because Melaka was generally known as Malacca until quite recently. But still, for a building that first saw light in 1753 its not doing too badly for itself! I don’t think I can say that for the modern buildings that are coming up around the city.

It was a Friday morning and there were hardly any tourists around so I pretty much had the place to myself to take pictures without having to jostle with people with swanky DSLRs.

And finally, what would a trip to Malacca be without the famous Chicken Rice balls?!

Its not just you, even I had to swallow of gulp of saliva when I saw that picture again. Droolicious! Go read Pink Parisian for what was to me the better chicken rice ball stall in Melaka!

Mmmm….

Have you ever played this game called Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?

Well let’s play Where in the World is Paris Beaverbanks?

Go on then, take a guess….

Happy weekend everyone!

Buddy you’re a boy make a big noise
Playin’ in the street gonna be a big man some day
You got mud on yo’ face
You big disgrace
Kickin’ your can all over the place

We will we will rock you
Singin’
We will we will rock you

It was a very very busy weekend for me with work going on through the weekend in Singapore. A full day’s meeting on Saturday left me totally washed out, until I was offered tickets to see We Will Rock You at the Esplanade Theatre. Did I want to? You bet I did!

I was planning to go anyway, but thought that this weekend might be too rushed. So yes, I was super duper thrilled and perked up immediately at the offer. Free ticket some more, who don’t want?!

Did I enjoy it? Of course I did! The music was awesome (and loud) and I was bouncing along on my seat although the people I went with were of the more staid persuasion and found the music “too loud”. Sigh… Here, read the synopsis of the musical if you don’t know it already:- Continue reading →

Just like Beetrice, I was down in JB at the awful Hyatt Regency Johor Bahru hotel on the weekend. I went down rather late on Friday evening, and forced a pit-stop at the rest stop at Pagoh for a toilet break and some food.

I was very surprised to see the state of the women’s toilet at the Pagoh rest area off the highway. IT WAS CLEAN!! And not only was it clean, it was dry and airy with a bright air-well filled with plants and even the toilet stalls were clean and dry. Unheard of (and hitherto unseen) in Malaysia.

Since I was already in my home state of Johor, I was quick to scarf down 2 of my favourite foods - Mee Rebus Jawa (RM2.50) and Nasi Lemak Bungkus (RM2.00). So sinfully delicious and so CHEAP!!

Nevermind that it was rest stop food, I enjoyed every single morsel. The nasi lemak at Pagoh rest stop is one of the best (and cheapest) I’ve tried, to be honest. I first tried it when I took the bus down to Singapore and they stopped for a bite. The sambal is spicy and tasty and it comes with a whole hard boiled egg wrapped up in traditional banana leaf and waxed brown paper into the traditional pyramid shape.

So the next time I head down South, I know where I’m stopping for my toilet and tea break!

I was down in Johor Bahru on the weekend and elected to put up at the Hyatt Regency Hotel Johor Bahru. I’d stayed there before a few years ago and it was the only hotel in JB that really stayed in my mind.

Well, I have nothing good to say about the Hyatt Regency this time: Continue reading →