The boyfriend and I decided to take a short break before he started work so we booked a 3D2N trip to nearby Malacca (Melaka/Melacca). It's my first holiday with him that does not involve a carefree beach retreat and I was curious as to how that would pan out. We are both really lazy people so our usual definition of a good holiday is one whereby we laze around on the beach enjoying the sun, sand, and sea, watching movies in our beach resort, sitting around in a beach club drinking something cold and alcoholic numerous times a day, and finally enjoying the glorious sunset.
Anyway we chose Malacca because it is the closest Malaysian town (excluding Johor Bahru). We booked a coach ride with Grassland since Grassland is always prompt, efficient, and responsible. I took Grassland coach rides to KL a couple of times previously and they were all good experiences so we decided to go with Grassland again. The ride took 6 hours (!) because of a massive jam at the Malaysian customs so we reached around 2pm. This caused us to bust our reservation at 12:30pm at Bei Zhan as we thought that the ride would only be 4 hours at most. We decided to try our luck and entered sheepishly at 2:15pm. Even though their last order is 2:30pm, the staff graciously allowed us to enter and took our orders quickly. Thank goodness for that!
I have to say that the architecture in Malacca is exceedingly quaint and beautiful. Bei Zhan is not an exception and this massive restaurant is housed in a large colonial bungalow.
We ordered braised pork, Seaweed and Seafood Soup, and fried eggplant. The braised pork was excellent. The meat was very soft and tender which could only mean that it was likely to be braised for a very long time. The fatty parts were soft and melted in my mouth immediately. It was a fantastic dish.
The seaweed soup was normal but they were very generous with the seafood in the soup.
Oh the fried eggplants! I still think about it till today. The slices of eggplant were crunchy and tasty, completely soaking up the extremely tasty sauce that they were tossed in. I cannot tell what sauce it was but the sauce was incredible. I was also very fond of the yummy minced meat and slices of mushroom that came with the eggplant.
The meal was very affordable and definitely a fraction of the price of what we would pay in Singapore. Service was impeccable and the lunch was great!
We had a hard time trying to get a cab at Bei Zhan. Not exactly the most accessible area in Malacca definitely. We managed to flag down a cab finally and it took us to Hatten Hotel. Cabs are exorbitant in Melacca. They do not run by the meter and the short 10 minute ride from the Grassland stop to Bei Zhan cost us RM 20. I tried bargaining but it was absolutely useless. The next short ride from Bei Zhan to Hatten Hotel was supposed to be RM 12 but we lacked small notes and the taxi uncle kindly collected only RM 11 from us. In any case, we stopped taking cabs after that and resorted to walking everywhere because I hate being ripped off.
The location of Hatten Hotel was awesome. It is a 15 minute walk to Jonker Street and right beside the two large shopping malls Datara Pahlawan and Makota Paradis. In fact, Hatten Hotel has two link bridges leading to the two shopping malls.
The lobby was nice and grand but the crowds at the check-in counter was really oh my goodness. There was a snaking queue to check-in even though we came really late at around 4pm. It took us awhile to check in and get our keys and another long wait for the lift. The lifts are really the biggest bleah-point about Hatten Hotel (even though the crowd in general and the amazingly crowded breakfast buffet also top the list of whine factors regarding Hatten). We had to wait about 10 minutes for a lift only to find it completely packed with people from the higher or lower levels. Even taking the lift from the lobby was a difficult affair. There were so many people around and the lifts were always full. I don't even know why the lifts were full on the ground level!
We asked for a room with a seaview and indeed we had one! The view from our room was awesome. We could see all the shop houses nearby, the sea in the distance, Holiday Inn hotel on the other side, and it was such a clear unobstructed view.
We put our stuff down and decided to take the short walk to Jonker Street. To walk from Hatten Hotel to Jonker Street, simply take the link bridge on the third floor of the hotel to Hatten Square/Dataran Pahlawan. Exit from the shopping malls at Jalan Kota and continue walking. You will see a large monument, a whole string of museums and a train parked in the middle of the pedestrian pathway. Continue walking and you will see the iconic red church. Turn left and you will reach the start of Jonker Street where Kopi Chung Wah and San Shu Gong are.
San Shu Gong is the popular shop selling local delights and the shop is packed all times of the day. There are so many people buying local delights! I was truly shocked to see so many people milling around, grabbing boxes of crisps, biscuits and snacks and tossing them into baskets.
There is a bubble tea shop opposite San Shu Gong. It's Ochado and I tried it for the first time in Kuala Lumpur. I am not sure whether they have an outlet in Singapore but I did not have the opportunity to try Ochado's bubble tea in Singapore thus far. I love Ochado's Roasted Milk Tea! It's truly marvelous, so marvelous that I would make a special trip to the shop in KL whenever I am there to grab a cup. The taste of roasted tea makes the drink exceptionally tasty. The pearls are not fantastic though. Damn happy with Ochado's Roasted Milk Tea!
The walk down Jonker Street was very interesting. I was honestly amazed by the preservation of these historical buildings, the intricate designs of the buildings, and the wide variety of items on sale there. There were the usual shops selling gifts, clothes and food items. There were also makeshift stores that started appearing in the evening for the night market. It was truly bustling!
We settled at Geographer Cafe for dinner. We both ordered fish dishes, fish and chips for him, and a grilled lemon fish for me. Both were average. But the truly amazing things about Geographer Cafe are the alcohol and the incredibly awesome live singing. I had the apple strawberry mojito which was strong yet sweet at the same time. It was delicious. The live singing started at around 830pm and the lady's voice was deep, mellow and so soulful. It started to rain during our dinner and it was very enjoyable sitting there in the little cafe, sipping a cold delicious drink, and listening to her deliver numerous love songs that belonged to a long forgotten era.
After the rain stopped, we walked back to Hatten Hotel in the strong chilly wind. It was really hot in the day, but the weather cooled rapidly after the evening rain and the night was cold and chilly.
Check out Day 2 of our Malacca trip here!
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