Travelog - Little India & Jonker Walk Melaka

We were so bored during the long Merdeka weekend, so hubby and I decided to take a walk from our hotel to Jonker Walk. Yes, we are currently living in a hotel as we are yet to get the allocated accommodation for government servants. And why am I living in a hotel? So rich, meh? Noooo,  we are not super-rich or 'mengada-ngada'.

The issue here is, in order to get the allocated accommodation, hubby needs to get approval from the Director of the {place he was working, sorry can't disclose it} in its monthly meeting. But, the meeting has been postponed twice and so here we are, stuck in this dingy hotel. Enough rambling, back to the original story. Ah, yes! Jonker Walk & Little India...

Melaka is so hot during the day so we can't ventured out anytime before 5 pm. But, all the pa & ma shop lots along Little India area closed at 5 pm, so there were less crowd when we were exploring the Little India street. You'll definitely know why it's called Little India cause' you won't miss the lovely flower shops and Indian clothing shops along the street. There is a one nice Indian restaurant there as well, that sells yummy rice dishes on banana leaves. Sorry, I forgot to jot down the name of the restaurant, though.

Saw this ancient looking building that houses CIMB ATM. I'm not sure whether it's a fully functional bank because I only saw the ATMs, but it is interesting idea to maintain and protect old buildings in Melaka. It is part of our heritage and history. 

Moving along the narrow pavements of the shop lots, saw lots of interesting shops that you'd never see if you are travelling by car in Melaka. There's a Sikh Association, Chinese and Indian restaurants,   Tabib Cina (Traditional Chinese Healer) and it all looked so ancient as if time had stop in 1950s. Sorry, being an urbanite makes me a bit jakun (how to translate in English?).

Melaka is proud of its Little India....

I even saw this building named Bangunan Madonna. I wondered what's inside the building. I can't any info about it on Google, though....hmm 

One of the many bridges across Melaka River. I don't understand the signage in Chinese below, but it looked ancient. If you do know what it meant, do let me know in the comment ok!

This Discovery Cafe is famous among foreign tourists and received high ratings in TripAdvisor website. It looked kind of empty during the day but at night this cafe light up like Christmas tree. Maybe next time, I'll try to grab something to eat here.

There's a museum as well. I love reading about Admiral Cheng Ho and its related history with Melaka. I didn't get to enter the museum though as it's already close for the day. If you looked above to the left of the building, there are 3 stones statue overlooking above you. I was quite startled when I first saw it, I thought someone was looking at me from above. :-)

It was almost sunset when we reached Melaka river... I felt quite relaxed and happy to be able to enjoy this with hubby.

Walking along the tranquil Melaka River with lots of interesting looking building along the river. This picture captured my attention as you can see there's a guy that looked like Colonel Sanders (yes, the KFC guy) sitting there...

Awesome mural by Kiehls... Great place for your Instagram picture post! or wedding pictorial as well...

 Finally, we reached Jonker Walk. Unfortunately, I didn't get to take lots of picture as there were TOO many people. It was hot and humid, I was sweating like crazy. Girl, bring along small fan along with you as that place was super HOT even late in the evening.

 A bowl of cendol before heading home. It was super yummy!

 Gothic looking Hard Rock Cafe. Yes, Melaka do have a Hard Rock Cafe...

 I got to put in this scary looking building in my post. I don't know the name of the building but I had goose bumps when I was taking the picture.

 Well, it had been fun, scary and sweaty kind of day but I enjoyed it so much. I never know I would enjoy that walk that much as I had been living in Melaka almost 4 years before we moved to the UK. There are still things left to be discovered and explore.

Till next time, XOXO

Mini get away - Johor Bharu

My brother and his family were in town last week, so we decided to take a mini family get away to Johor. There were 7 of us so we need to rent an MPV. Yours truly was in charge of booking a suitable MPV. It was my first time trying to rent an MPV and I was overwhelmed with the choices online. I used mudah.com.my website to find a suitable rental firm. I decided on Exora as it can fit all of us comfortably plus luggage.  I booked the car quite early, almost a week early. The rental rate is  pretty reasonable of RM180/day for 2 days and their pick up point/office is quite near to my house which is a plus point. So I happily thought everything was settled but the night before the trip, I received a call saying that my car was not available due to engine failure. They offered a replacement car,  Alza, which is a class lower than Exora and the rate remained the same. I was desperate so I had to agree. But in my heart I know that I've been duped. I guess it's a tactic they used on unsuspecting and desperate customers like me. I tried to be positive and believe that the original car was really not available. But I don't want the car drama to ruin our getaway so I put it behind me and tried to enjoy the rest of the trip. Apparently, the car was not that bad but poor hubby had to squished at the back with the luggage, sorry honey!

The day was nice, not too hot nor raining, so it was perfect for a road trip. We took our own sweet time, stopped at two rest areas along the way. We arrived in Johor Bharu at 4pm and headed straight to Plaza Angsana as my mom really wanted to eat the famous Mee Rebus at one its food court stall.

We had bowls of mee rebus, yong tau foo and rojak singapore and the prices were reasonable. But I don't get the hype for its mee rebus, though. I had better mee rebus here in KL and my mom's of course.

Then, we headed to our uncle's house who was paralysed from a stroke he suffered months ago. Looking at him lying there helpless made me sad as he was a bubbly person. At that moment, I was thankful to Allah that I still got to enjoy my mom's non-stop lectures and my dad moving purposely around the house, Alhamdullilah. You have to be thankful for those little moments as you'd never know when it will be taken away from you. 

We stayed at Hotel Seri Malaysia Johor Bharu for a night. We checked-in into the hotel quite late, around 8pm. But the reception just fell short of my expectation. I know it was late and maybe the receptionist just had a long day but I was quite put-off with it. But I had a long day and the only thing I wanted was a hot shower and a bed. The room was clean and a reasonable size but there were water leaking from the room above in the shower room. I hope the water was clean and I don't want to imagine where it comes from.

Started the next day with a hearty breakfast at the hotel. The breakfast buffet spread was good with variety of options of food such as nasi lemak, fried noodle, curry noodle, noodle soup, porridge, & toast. Yes, there were a lot of food and they did re-filling it non-stop during the serving period which is from 7am to 10am.

We checked out from the hotel and the process was quite fast and fuss free. So, no complaint there. We planned to visit Legoland, Hello Kitty Town and Johor Premium Outlet, so off we go. 

It was a 25 minutes ride from JB, perhaps it should be shorter but we did got lost a bit trying to find our way out of the city. The parking lot was a long walk from the entrance. Luckily, there was a covered walkway otherwise all of us would have fainted from the heat. It was so hot that I feel like my face was melting (my makeup did come off a little bit, time to buy new makeup I guess).  We didn't go into the theme park as we have not time. But the entry price was quite steep, RM170 for both theme and water park for adult. By looking from outside the entrance door, there were not many attractions/games that would interest me as I don't have any kids yet. Perhaps its target market is more of family with kids. But the pricing is too steep for a normal Malaysian family. It was quite empty even though it was a weekend. Maybe it was an off-peak season :-)

Next, we went to Puteri Harbour where the Hello Kitty Town was. It was just a 10 minute drive from Legoland. Again, we did not enter the attraction as I guess it was for kids and the entrance price is RM80/adult. My nephew is too small to appreciate such thing so we ended up taking pictures and off we go.

We were supposed to stop at Johor Premium Outlet (JPO) next, but missed the turn and too late to turn back. So we head straight to Melaka to have an early dinner there. When we say Melaka for dinner, of course it must be Ikan Bakar! Our favourite ikan bakar place is at Alai, Melaka. The price was reasonable and only cost us less than RM200 for 7 people. My favourite dish are mussels cooked with chilies and grilled stingray. After all that delicious seafood, it's time to head home. I slept like a baby in the car and woken up when we reached home. Wow, what a day! But favourite part of the trip  is the food we ate along the way. Oh oh, time to hit the gym!

London Tube Challenge : Central Line

After I completed my Jubilee Line challenge yesterday, I thought it wasn't so bad. So, I decided to attempt the Central line challenge today because I have nothing else better to do anyway. Started from stations in Essex;  i.e. Epping, Theydon Bois, Debden, Loughton & Buckhurst Hill. I wanted to stop at Theydon Bois station and have a look at the quaint village. Wikipedia stated that there's no street light along its street. But, I stopped at Loughton instead and was greeted by a large Sainsbury building just in front of the station. Where is the village and churches that I saw in the picture?? I realised my mistake when I got home and looked at my notes. When the train was travelling from Woodford to Epping, I felt like I was stepping into a different place. I'm no longer in a city. There's even cows and horses in the fields along the train tracks. :-)

Next, the train passed through Woodford, Snaresbrook & Leyton stations. There's a large TK Maxx outlet just opposite Leyton station. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough time to pop into the shop. I continued on till I reached Mile End station. Once I exited the station, there's the usual London map board in front. I walked towards Whitechapel area when I stumbled upon a strange street. I was suddenly surrounded by South Asian people and hearing different language being spoken. There's a market along the road up to the Whitechapel overground station. I saw a large East London mosque as well. 

I kept on walking until I reached Old Spitalfields market. There's a lovely church opposite the market, Christ Church. The famous Ten Bell pub was just across the church. It was alleged to have been a rendezvous of some of the Jack the Ripper's prostitutes victims, before they were murdered. 

Continued on until I reached Liverpool street station. Don't know how I ended up there but there I was trying to find my way back to a tube station.

From Liverpool street station, I headed towards Ealing Broadway station, the last station on the Central Line. Passed through Oxford Circus, Marble Arch, Queensway till I reached Ealing Broadway. Circled back on the same train back to Bank station  and head home. 

I wanted to stop at Oxford Circus but I changed my mind. I did stop briefly at Marble Arch station to take some pictures of the wall. There are artsy decoration on the wall and each are different.

I completed my semi-tube challenge (I missed some stations) of the Central line within 8 hours. I enjoyed the first part of the journey (from Epping to Stratford) the most. Once, I passed through Bank stations onwards, the train was too busy and full with people. It was warm in the train as well. I felt sleepy too due to lack of oxygen in the underground, I guess.