2D1N Melaka

We drove to Melaka from the south at 10.30am and on the way made a short detour to Tangkak to try the famous beef noodle.

The shop is right in the city center. After you exit the toll, turn right and go straight all the way. At the first traffic light turn right and the shop is there on your right. Some say it is as good as Vietnam's beef noodle but what say you? I've tried and ....

Next, we left for Melaka.

We arrived at Puri Hotel around 3.30pm. Now, Puri Hotel is located at the busy and narrow Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock. You can't stop on the road or you will be blocking the traffic. The hotel's car park is limited and is a few doors away. It is on a first come first serve basis and there aren't many parkings available on the street. I think the car park can accommodate about 15 cars only. So when you arrive at the door step, just call for the hotel staff and he will lead you to the car park and open the door to the car park for you. It is a private car park for Hotel Puri's guests only.

After that we have to walk from the car park to the hotel and be careful here as there are many cars passing by this street.

Found it!! This is the hotel. Puri Hotel ....

A nice view greeted us as we entered the hotel. We were impressed with the hotel's peranakan look and feel. It is different from all other modern hotels that we have stayed before. While waiting to be attended at the reception, we took some pictures.

This is the second lobby behind the reception area, on the way to our room.

You will notice the birds (swallows) making their nests on the ceilings of the hotel. Next to it is a picture taken outside their restaurant.

We booked a family room with a double bed and two single beds. It has a mini living room also. The room is very clean and spacious and overall the stay is quite comfortable although it could be better if they provide better service. On a number of occassions we were rather disappointed with their service and staff's attitude. We booked for an extra bed and was told that it would be delivered shortly but when we came back to the hotel at 11.30pm that night there was no bed yet. We went to check with the reception and the staff gave an annoying look to her colleague and told us that she will look into it. Then they sent two men to the room to fix the extra bed and guess what, my mum has to rearrange the bedsheet and blanket after they left as they placed it upside down. Shortly after we asked the reception for a lighter or matches to light the candle for the birthday cake but they just plainly told us that they do not have. When we asked if they could help us to find one they directed us to check with the strangers outside the hotel instead. I think if you just stay there and minimise your encounter with the reception it would be fine but I also notice that they tend to be more polite to overseas guests than the locals. Well maybe we were just unlucky that day ....

This is the view from the bedroom's window.

This is the courtyard.

The hotel also has a mini museum on Melaka's history.

We went for a walk after a short rest. The Baba Nyonya Heritage Museum is only a few steps away from the hotel.

The location of the hotel is quite strategic as most of the places of interests are merely walking distance from the hotel. This is Melaka River.

At the other side of the Melaka River is a mini Fort.

After visiting the Fort, we decided to take the 45 minutes Melaka River Cruise. After all it is only RM10 per person. Initially it was quite interesting but soon everyone was bored. I think for a ride like this where the only scenery is someone's backyard, 45 minutes is too long. Oops, sorry ....what I meant is that you will see many old houses and old buildings such as the ones in the pictures below.

We alighted at the Maritime Museum but were not keen to pay a visit to the Maritime Museum.

The craft center was just opposite the Maritime Museum and behind the craft center is the Revolving Tower, as you can see from the picture below.

That evening we had our dinner at the famous Nancy's Restaurant that serves peranakan dishes. We ordered some vegetables, assam fish and eggs but sad to say though they are rather popular, the food was quite tasteless to us. The restaurant is very near to Puri Hotel.

After dinner we walked the famous Jonker Walk. It is actually a night market and is very crowded on that Satruday night.

The Arena at the Jetty was next. Nothing much here unless you want to visit a Club. You can have a nice night view of the Eye On Malaysia from here though.

Since there aren't much things to do here, we decided to try out the Melaka's famous fried oyster (or chian) and drove to Taman Melaka Raya. We waited for 25 minutes as there was a long queue. Well, it is definitely different from our very own home town. That was our first day at Melaka.

The next morning, we had buffet breakfast at the hotel. Choices were rather limited. There are congee, bread, coconut rice (nasi lemak), hotdog, eggs, chee cheong fun and a few others.

We continued our last walk around the city that morning. We head to Jonker Walk, passed by an antique shop and went in to have a look out of curiosity.

We stopped by A Famosa Chicken Rice Ball for a short break and have the nyonya cendul. The cendul costs RM3 per bowl.

We then continue our walk to St. Paul's Church. On the way we passed by the Melaka's famous chicken rice ball shop. Can you see the long queue of people outside the shop?

That's to St. Paul's Church.

Behind me is the St. Paul's Church.

And this is the St. Paul's Church. The church was built on a hill by a Portuguese captain and has a nice view of Melaka city from here.

From St. Paul's church, we walked down to A Famosa (Porta de Santiago). This was a fortress built by Alfonso d' Albuquerque, a Portuguese admiral in 1511 but was damaged during the Dutch invasion.

From here, it is just a short walk to Stadhuys. The Stadhuys was an official residence of the Dutch governors and their officers during the 1650. Next to it is the Christ Church which was also built by the Dutch. You will see many beautifully decorated trishaws here.

The last leg of the 2D1N trip is to try the Melaka's famous Lo Han Ko drink.