One day trip to Melacca

!!Warning, long post ahead!!

Just back from Tampin trip just two days ago, which held adventures of its own (cf: Simon's Blog); I joined my old school friends on yet another 1 day trip, this time, to Melacca. Looks like trips are getting further and further, preparing me for the next Penang trip?

Anyway, we left around 9:30, after breakfast. Headed right for Melacca. The 8 of us went in 2 cars. There were 2 couples, both guys drove a car, and us 4 bachelor boys tagged along. Chee Wei and I in one, and the other 2 in the other. It was such a get together, a long time since form 5, where the 3 of us guys used to sit at the back of the class, joined 3 tables together and terrorise the teacher. But this time, one of us brought a girlfriend...

First stop, visit the red houses. I'm not sure why did they want to be such a tourist, looking at the St Paul's cathedral, I thought we have seen that a million times. But then again, the 2 couples seemed to enjoy having their photos shot again and again, so I guess being in a relationship makes all the old and boring places seem interesting again. Somehow when you are being there with someone special, it changes the whole perspective of things. I amused myself looking at all the tourist, esp the bunch of Taiwanese, enjoying themselves with the 2 locals, performing on the guitar for token. They were good, singing all the Chinese songs to impress our tourist. They can't even speak Chinese, but I must say, they sang Chinese very impressively.

Anyway, I didn't have anyone special, so I didn't really find anything interesting, except once in a while helping to take a photo or two of the celebrity couples, trying all sorts of weird poses, trying to get as close to each other as possible. I'm sure if it were possible, they'd want to superimpose themselves on each other, at the rate they were going. In a few years to come, they'll be trying to pull themselves away from each other, yet wanting the bond to be closer. Not sure how it works, but I guess it's like clockwork, you don't need to know how it works in all its complexity, all you need to know is that you can trust it to work.

Lunch was at a small, relatively secluded nyonya stall. I'm not sure how, but there seems to be a lot of people going to that stall, despite its small size and relative unattractiveness. Laksa there was uniquely fragrant, soothing to the tongue, yet very amusing to the senses. Even the cendol there seems to be very "cendol", rendering the rest of the cendol I've ever tasted "un-cendol-ish". It has the right aroma of coconut juice, and sweetened with the best gula melaka. Which is, after all, what Melacca is famous for producing. Gula Melaka elsewhere in Malaysia taste more like brown coloured sugar when compared to the one from Melacca.

What followed was a 6 hours walk throughout Dataran Pahlawan and Mahkota Parade. The former being very new, even I haven't seen it before. I enjoyed the maze of a walk it offered, being quite huge, covering the whole undergroud area of what used to be the Dataran Pahlawan field. We split into 3 groups, both couples went their own way, leaving us bachelor group to slowly but surely sweep through the whole shopping mall, taking in as much sights as possible. After all, it's free to look at and occasionally touch the merchandise.

For dinner, those people insisted that they DO NOT want the Melacca chicken ball rice, so we ended up in the "satay celup" stall. It was most interesting, and very unique. I will never get a chance to try this with my family or anyone else, since it's so famous, we need to wait almost an hour to get sitted, the queue extending even up to the road. But remember the "couple effect"? Where you make seemingly illogical decisions just for the excitement of it? Well, they thought it was worth it. And if you love food as much as me... well, I thought it may just be worth one try. Though it helped that I didn't really have any choice, me against 7 other persons with their minds set.

GOOD food! :-)
Prawn Dive!!!
The shop everyone must try...
After dinner, they decided to go take a ride on the eye on Malaysia. My first impression of it was, it was rather small, in fact, tiny, after all the big publicity it has been given. I'm not sure if that feeling has anything to do with having already seen the HUGE Singapore flyer. Anyway, it was a much cheaper ride than expected. Only RM8 for MyKad AND student card holder. Much to my delight, the NUS student card got accepted right away, and I'm off to the eye after paying my RM8. It wasn't much of a sight, what can you see in Melacca anyway? But they sure made it worth the ride by giving us 8 whole rounds, with the exciting feel of shaking halfway in mid-air. The cabin is even air-conditioned! I sure think it's worth my RM8. My friend said that it used to be only 3 rounds back when it was located in Titiwangsa, so I guess I got lucky. Hmm, I'm so going to take a ride on the Singapore flyer, gotta be so cool!

And if you think that's about all the excitement you can have for a day, there's still the large (by large I mean REALLY LARGE) cup of concentrated fruit juice for RM2. Yes, RM 2, any fruit, whether it's carrot, watermelon, honeydew, and yes, even BANANA! And if you add RM1, you'll get an even HUGER cup of fruit juice which according to our host, you'll feel like vomiting before you can finish it. Yup, they don't add a lot of water into the juice like they do in Singapore. Thanks to Woon Soon, who's hostel is just a stone throw's away, for bringing us there. Ah, guess you don't get cheap mamak stall like this in Singapore, I sure miss them.

---

Today went with my sister to Jusco to get her a shoe, one that she can wear to the Philharmonic Orchestra. It is only now that I realise how difficult it is for a girl to choose a shoe. I mean, if I wanted a shoe, I'll just go to the shop, try out a few, see if it fits, and buy. But problem is, not of the shoes in the outlet seemed to look decent on her, and she have to search and search until she found one that look o.k. on her long, thin legs. Anyway, she found one that's classy enough to be considered "smart casual", yet not too high to make her already high centre of gravity even higher. I didn't even get to look for my friend's Christmas presents. Anyway, it's still quite an experience.