Malacca/ Kuala Lumpur Trip (18 July to 20 July)

Day 1 (18 July)

Bags packed. Passports checked. Off we go!! As my company owned a bungalow in Afamosa resort, Malacca, staff are entitled to book it at a very subsidised rate of $50 for the whole stay from either (Mondays to Thursdays) or (Fridays to Mondays). Dad suggested that we take advantage of this benefit and drive in to Malacca and Kuala Lumpur over the weekend.

I had tried this with the gal gang previously in March. We took a bus in and travelled everywhere by public transport. Due to the lack of car and distance of Afamosa from town, it was extremely inconvenient and expensive to travel out of the bungalow. Even shuttle services from one area of the bugalow to another area within the resort cost RM 1 per person per way!! As a result, the trip did not end up as a very pleasant one.

Anywayz.. Dad and 4th Uncle together with a party of 6 women drove into Malacca by 2 seperate cars on Friday afternoon. It was a journey of about 3 hours. Sooo... most of the time we end up sleeping..... zzzzzzzzz.......................

Yipeee!!! We finally arrived at Malacca!! Drop our bags. Take a short break. Off to Malacca town. It takes about an hour to travel by car to Malacca Town.

Some shots taken at "The Baba House". A very nice authentic Perankan theme hotel that we stayed in previously. It is only a road away from the infamous Jonker street. The last time I stayed here, room rates were around S$40 per room per night. More information could be obtained from www.melaka.net/babahouse.

Growwwwwwl... After the long journey.. we are all hungry like crazy now... We decided to settle for the Museum Cafe (recommended by Fangz during our last trip to Malacca.) From the sight of the crowd hoarding outside, you can tell how popular the place is for its food. You can go to its website: http://www.jonker88.com/ for more information.



After queueing for a pretty looonnggg... time (approx say 30 minutes..) Our food is finally here. Yayyy!!

Food prices are extremely reasonable. Ranges from RM 3.00 to RM4.50 for a bowl of laksa, noodle or a plate of rice. The ayam goreng is RM 3.00 per plate (mixture of fishballs, tauhu, etc and accompanied with its homemade sauce). Not bad for the price you are paying. As the Nonya laksa (sweet version is sold out), I went for the Assam one instead. (Warning: Its very sour. Not recommended if you are not a person who likes sour stuff). I had a rather hard time finishing it). Too stuffed for chendol.. unable to comment.

Some food cam-whoring pictures... haha...

Now that we are so full... We need some form of digestion exercise... Let's go Shopping!!! Jonker street is buzzing with night market stalls every Friday and Saturday nights. Its a must go attraction if you are in Malacca during the weekends. The stores usually opens till rather late in the night.. We were there till around 10.00pm and the streets are still filled with activity.

After all the shopping at the night market, we went to the supermarket to get some food stuffs for our breakfast over the next few days. Needless to say.. the rest of the time was spent..zzzz...

Day 2 (19 July)

Woke up bright and early... Apparently, we were all supposed to be up by 7.00am. Not having any alarm clock, both my aunt and I slept right through till around 8.00+am. It was only after my mum started rushing through our room and chided us for not being up and ready when everyone else are already done with breakfast and ready to go.... Oh no..

Finally... ready to set off for the highlight of the trip. SHOPPINGG!!! As my uncle has some difficulty in road navigation, dad suggested that we all bunked into his MPV to faciliate travel. We were supposed to go to Central Market for breakfast. However, as the usual roti prata store was no longer there, we ended up at a coffee shop outside Central Market instead. (Food was not as good as the good 'ol Roti Prata store though)...

Managed to grab some bargain items here. One of the shops in Central Market that sells accessories was having a storewide 50% sale.. Bought some stuff there.. Super cheap!!

Some pictures taken at the Roti Prata store during breakfast.

Was raving about the KL deer park in the car whilst we were on our way to Plaza GM. Out of curiousity, the gang decided to pay that place a short visit. Unfortunately, we were there on the wrong day.... Due to the Malaysia flower festival, the deer park was charged a nominal fee of RM3. Well.. Its not really the admission fees though.. the problem was we need to go all the way to the front to get tickets (= waste time)... With not much time in hand, we decided to give that a miss. Took some pictures in front of the Orchid Garden instead.

Finally, after all those trouble, we arrived at Plaza GM. Found out about this place over the internet. Its a 7 storey wholesale building near Chow Kit station. If you are looking for handbags, wallets, sunglasses, accessories, etc.. This would be the place you could go.

However, please go in a group of minimum 6 shoppers. The minimum quantity required for wholesale prices is 6 or 12 pieces (can mix designs). Should you wish to purchase only 1 piece of the item, the price will be charged at double of the wholesale price. It was claimed to be the largest wholesaler in Malaysia. Well... I dont think its that impressively big compared to the platinium mall in Bangkok. Nevertheless, the things are rather cheap. You can refer to our shopping damage checklist further down in this blog for a gauge of prices. For more information of this place, refer to http://www.plazagm.com.my/.

If you are more interested in clothes, you may visit another wholesale area in KL instead. Its at Hang Tuah station. Its a row of shophouses located behind some "HDB" look a like blocks. I had been there once. The clothes are rather reasonable in terms of prices. They usually cater to wholesalers. However, some shops are willing to sell you 1 piece only if you are willing to pay a little more. According to one of the newspaper article found online, this place will soon be redeveloped into a one stop wholesale shopping mall. It is estimated to be ready by 2010.

Sadly, as we had spent too much time at Plaza GM. Plus the wrong trip to deer park earlier, we were unable to make it to the wholesale area in Hang Tuah. FYI, wholesalers usually close by 6.00pm and closed on Sundays. Be early, if you want to go there.

After the shopping, we proceeded to Chinatown for dinner and more shopping!!!

Mum cam-whoring with the menu

4th and 6th Aunt

Jeral in the night scene of Chinatown hawkers

The food is here!! Yummy!!

Can't quite remember the name of this restaurant... But this place is very famous for this black kway teow that I am having here. They started off as a small roadside stall just outside Hong Leong bank in Chinatown till now... the occupants of a newly renovated restaurant on the 2nd floor. In fact, their premises is so big that they still have several tables by the roadside on level 1. Prices are very reasonable. For a table of 8, we spent about RM140 in total. They are located in the centre T-junction of Chinatown.

After eating, we went shopping at the stores of Chinatown. Was being chased out by one of the shoes store owner as we bargained way below his budget.. He claimed that we are not interested in buying things from him.. Was so affected by the case that we do not dare to check on prices until we are very sure... When told to quote prices, were afraid that we quoted too low and get scolded... Sighzz...

There was an accident on our way back from KL to Afamosa that I would like to blog here. 2 dead cow carcasses and an unidentified item were found lying on the road of an express way. There were several cars parked at the side of the road. Dad was trying to brake to avoid the dead cow and woke everyone up. Thinking it was a road block, I peered my head out and saw the body of the dead cow. The scenario could have been like this:

The cow was trying to cross the "extremely dangerous" expressway. It came out of now-where in the dark night. The cars which saw it were trying to avoid it and got into an accident with other cars instead. Unfortunately, the cow still end up not able to leave the expressway alive and had to meet its maker there. It leaves with it, several accidents caused from either trying to avoid hitting it or trying to avoid its dead body... Sad case...

And now... we would like to present the shopping steals of 6 women in 1 day!!!

Ta-DA!!!!

Here's our shopping checklist over the past 2 days. (FYI, the 3 of us did not manage to buy anything on the 3rd day. As for the 3 aunties, they bought lots more stuff than us 3 gals. They had a seperate shopping checklist to account for). Jeral claimed that there is nothing much to buy at Plaza GM, take a look at her shopping checklist.

Yaling's Shopping Checklist

1. 2 flower hairclips (Malacca, RM 6 each, S$ 2.50)
2. 1 packet of aroma therapy herbs (Malacca, RM 10, S$4.20)
3. White Sling Bag (Plaza GM, RM30 each, S$ 12.60)
4. Men's Leather Wallet (Plaza GM, RM5 each, S$2.10)
5. 1 spectacle and 1 sunglass (Plaza GM, RM 5 each, S$2.10)
6. 1 cute T-Shirt (Plaza GM, RM 8 each, S$ 3.40)
7. 1 white vest (Plaza GM, RM 15 each, S$ 6.30)
8. 1 Leather Wallet (Plaza GM, RM 10 each, S$ 4.20)
9. 1 pair of Sneakers (Chinatown, RM39, S$ 16.30)
10. 1 Sports Blouse (Chinatown, RM 18, S$7.50)

Jeral's Shopping Checklist

1. 1 flower hairclip (Malacca, RM 6 each, S$ 2.50)
2. French Manicure Kit (RM 9.90 each set, S$4.15)
3. White Sling Bag (Plaza GM, RM30 each, S$ 12.60)
4. 1 spectacle and 1 sunglass (Plaza GM, RM 5 each, S$2.10)
5. 1 Cute T-Shirt (Plaza GM, RM 8 each, S$ 3.40)
6. 1 Kitty Singlet (Plaza GM, RM 8 each, S$ 3.40)
7. 1 Leather Wallet (Plaza GM, RM 25 each, S$ 4.20)
8. 1 pair of Sneakers (Chinatown, RM39, S$ 16.30)
9. 1 Women's Work Bag (Chinatown, RM 80, S$35)

Vivien's Shopping Checklist

1. 2 flower hairclips (Malacca, RM 6 each, S$ 2.50)
2. 1 Straw Hat (Central Market, RM 7.50each, S$3.15)
2. White Sling Bag (Plaza GM, RM30 each, S$ 12.60)
3. 1 Laptop Bag (Plaza GM, RM30 each, S$12.60)
4. 1 Checkered Sling Bag (Plaza GM, RM 30 each, S$12.60)
5. 1 Cute T-Shirt (Plaza GM, RM 8 each, S$ 3.40)
6. 1 white vest (Plaza GM, RM 15 each, S$ 6.30)
7. 1 Tissue Box (Plaza GM)
8. 1 pair of Bling Bling Sneakers (Plaza GM, RM28, S$ 11.70)
9. 1 pink blouse (Plaza GM, RM 19, S$7.90)
10. 1 pair of casual pants (Plaza GM, RM 28, S$11.70)
11. 1 checkered blouse with belt (Plaza GM, RM 28, S$11.70)

Day 3 (20 July)

With the incident on day 2, several people came knocking on my room door that morning to wake Aunt and I up. Jeral, Yaling and I had made a pact to wear the same dress code for the day. Barbie T-shirt, Shorts and Sneakers. Just in case you are wondering how the chalet looks like, here's some pictures of it.

The Front Porch

The Kitchen

The Games Room

The Dining Area

The Backyard

Whilst on our way to Mini Malaysia (One of Malacca's attraction), we stop by the roadside and enjoyed some kampong version durians.... (Not for me... No thanks.)

Savouring the durians...

City Kids - These are how the fruits are grown



Back to the Kampong Days

Mini Malaysia - Theme park showing houses of Malaysia's states in a "Make to Life" miniature version. When I was young, my parents bought me here twice. Entrance fees were only a few RM in the past. Today, they are charging an exhorbitant rate of RM 12. The worst part is, they also charge for cameras (RM3) and video cameras (RM5). We ignored the equipment charge and paid for the entrance fee only. If you are thinking of coming here... DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY... Its not worth it!!

Some pictures of the mini houses exhibited in there. Note: Both the interior and exterior of the houses are rather similar across states.

Free Ride Anyone??

Finally... The last section of this blog entry... also one of the trip's highlight...Fish Spa!!! (Very tired writing this liaoz.. )

I had read about it, I had tried it. But I have not tried the full body fish spa whereby you dip your whole body in.. And in Malacca, we finally had such a chance to experience it ourselves. The whole group of ladies are first timers in this fish spa thingy except me.

Dr Fish Spa is located at Taman Melaka Raya, rather near the Palawan Shopping Centre in Malacca. Refer to http://www.gml2u.com/drfish or the advertisement below for more information. They are not located at a very strategic location, hence, you might have difficulty getting there if travelling by public transport.

The usual rate is RM 40 per person per hour (S$16.75) or RM 300 for 10 sessions. In Singapore, the lowest is S$10 per 30 minutes for feet only. As there were 6 of us, we bargained pretty hard for RM35 (S$14.65). Please note that prices are subject to 5% taxes.

Bring your swimsuits if possible, as that would gives you the flexibility to dip your whole body in. If you forgot, you may request for a pair of tights and T-shirt. Lockers, towels, slippers and shower facilities are provided. Hence no worries about having fishy smell or leaving the place wet.Having done prior research of the place, we went there prepared. We changed into our swimsuits and start plunging ourselves into the pool.

Lo and Behold!! The fishes are soooo... BIG!! They are twice or thrice the size of the fishes in Kampong Therapy. Rather intimidating... Being fearful, most of us start with level 1 by dipping our feet into the pool first. As it was rather ticklish, we keep sticking our legs out after a short while.. This moment was constantly repeated. We end up spending about 30 minutes warming up.. before we are comfortable enough to dip the rest of our bodies into the water.

Based on observation, the fishes prefer to nibble on the skin of the hands and feet. Feet especially.... They seldom nibble elsewhere... I tried dipping my chin into the water but they never come... Smooth skin...keke... They sure know their stuff... I sure wouldnt mind trying this again. To me, fish spa is more of a form of entertainment than therapy.. Sure enjoy it!!

After the fish spa treatment, we went for more shopping at Palawan Mall and then headed back to JB for dinner. Lucky for us, there were no traffic jams that evening. Able to be home by 11.00pm. In time to see my dear husband whom I have not seen for a week!!! Honey, I am HOME!!!