My Fulfilling National Day Long Weekends

Hey All!

How’s your National Day Long Weekends? Had a good rest? Enjoyed yourselves? Anyone went for a short trip?

Heehee, I did~!!!

It was indeed a very fulfilling Long weekend with my laogong!!! It was his last relaxing weekend too since his new Masters School Term is starting tomorrow! And though I was advised not to travel (by the old folks, as usual), but I didn’t want him to stay home and rot his Long weekends away. So we planned for an impromptu roadtrip to Malacca and JB, with 3 of my close friends on Saturday. On Sunday, we had a good rest and watched NDP telecast at home. On Monday, we had potluck at my laogong’s colleague house! Yummy…

Here comes the details and the photos~!!!

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Saturday, 8 August 2009

Think most of ya will know I went for my one-day Malacca cum JB roadtrip on Saturday. It was really fun~!!! Despite it was a short one-day trip and the weather was crazily HOT, but then having my close friends with me are the best part of the trip!!!

The weather in Malacca was SO HOT on Saturday...it was a 3hr drive to Malacca, and we wasted close to 2hrs stuck in a jam in TUAS... But we were lucky that we set off as early as 5.30am. If not, I believe we will be spending half a day at the causeway stuck in the jam.



*me and my Laogong*




*my dear friends who came with me on the road trip - Russ, Sandra and FW*

We reached Malacca before noon and decided to do some sightseeing before lunch...

But I think most of us wore the wrong attire…. I had this really thick ¾ bottoms on and my legs were literally leaking sweat like a tap. Russ wore this black top and jeans which I guess was the result of her mild heatstroke. Laogong had his jeans on too and I can see him sweating cats and dogs. Only Sandra and FW wore slightly more cooling attire. I had to admit it was my fault to ask them to wear less revealing attire because I presume it’s a gesture of respect to the locals. But well, there were so many international tourists in Malacca all in Bermudas and some in revealing tops or dresses even!!!

I am glad, Russ didn’t faint that day. Next time we shall revisit Malacca in sundresses, mini shorts and sleeveless tops. It’s better to be suntanned than to suffer from heatstroke. And most importantly, we must always have our water bottles with us.

Because of the horrible weather, we could only visit Christ Church and take some photos. Was rather disappointed that the A'Famosa fort is under renovation and there was no way to get in to take a few shots. I had always liked the Fort very much, for reasons I cannot comprehend. The Fort was built by the Portuguese after they captured Malacca to defend themselves. However, the Fort suffered severe destruction during the Dutch invasion. I really would prefer its destructed state because it would make it more authentic and ‘real’. If the renovation would mean rebuilding the Fort, then the glory of the Fort would be forgotten with the new wash of paint.



*Laogong and me in front of the Queen Victoria Fountain*



*Me and my Jamie in front of Christ Church*

I noticed that Malacca is doing some major heritage preservation and had built a visitor centre just across the road. I also noticed that most of the heritage attractions are nearby, mainly because the 3 different colonies (Portuguese, Dutch and British) had setup their bases and ports along the Melaka river. This was what made Malacca so special, because it is rare to find 3 different types of buildings existing on the same plot of land in the same district. Frankly, I have this very strong feeling towards Malacca and Penang. And I am still trying to understand why is this so…



*Notice for Heritage Conservation Programme*

Yeah, maybe it is simply because I really love political and cultural geography. Maybe I should read up more on it then as a pastime!
After the photo shoots at Christ Church, we walked towards Jonker Street which was just 5 minutes away from Christ Church.

There is something very interesting about the Chinese name for Jonker Street, which is known as 鸡场街. But please don’t be mistaken, Jonker Street isn’t a red light district. In fact, it was the old Chinatown where it houses some of the Malacca’s oldest dwellings or houses dating back to the 17th century. It was also known for its once rich baba-nyonya heritage and rich man’s antiques.

It is all the more famous for the rich artifacts from different periods of colonial rule from the Portuguese, Dutch, and British. If you have sufficient time to stroll through the street with eagle eyes, you can easily hunt and bargain for the unique and valuable antique furniture, Chinese porcelain, brassware, cast iron beds, lamps, coins and money notes, as well as the priceless Buddha statues.

I went to Malacca 3 times and yet each time I missed visiting the all famous Jonker street at its most happening hours. It was stated in the visitor centre that, on every Friday evenings, Saturday evenings and Sunday evenings from 6.00pm to 12.00 midnight. Traders will line along the pedestrian street and setting up stalls to sell and display products associated with or reflect the cultural colours, such as antique copper coins, local and ethnic traditional food, unique arts and crafts, souvenirs, ornamental jewelry, and wooden clogs.

Sound really fun. Hope I can visit Jonker street at night in my next visit to Malacca! There is even a Geographer Cafe located at the middle of the street is especially known among the foreign visitors, for its happening live bands on Friday and weekend nights. Oh Man…

But we did walk around Jonker street still in the ‘bright daylight’ (I mean the hot sun)… Hahaha…

And we found authentic looking bakeries, popiah stalls etc etc. Wow… so cool…those stalls are like shops in the backyard of the owners’ houses. And the biscuits and cakes look so authentic. Pity we didn’t take many photos because we were too concerned about the heat. We bought some traditional biscuits and the Portuguese egg tart… (Yummy…)

We had the all famous chicken rice ball there... yummy....

There was a long queue outside the coffee shop (with no aircon). My dear friends were very worried about me standing in the sun and told me to ‘hide’ in the aircon shop nearby. Russ and Sandra then waited for about 30-45minutes before we managed to get the seats. Just as we sat down happily, poor Russ had a mild heatstroke and started turning pale... We didn’t know what we can do for her. And when she started to feel puky, the stall holders was nice enough to offer us remedies to help her feel better, instead of chasing us out of the store...



*The all famous Hainanese Chicken Rice Ball*

After lunch, we decided not to go for more sightseeing but headed towards some aircon shopping complex. Hence we went to the Mega Mall Plaza Mahkota. We bought some toiletries from Watson at half of those we can find in Singapore and sourced for some gifts before we headed back to JB for dinner.



*The old street of Malacca*



*The Dutch Landmark, The Windmill*

At about 4pm, we set off towards JB. It was another 3hrs drive back. As usual, all of us fell asleep on the way. I have to really praise my Laogong for staying awake for so many hours and managed to fetch us to and fro safely throughout the roadtrip. And ermmm, I am pretty amazed by the speed he drove at… :X

At about 7plus, we reached Taman Sentosa. I only remember one shop which we last had seafood and directed the rest to this restaurant. We were so hungry that we just kept ordering until we realized we ordered 7 dishes for 5 pax... We had oats prawns, hot plate toufu, youtiao salad, yam ring, kang kong, sweet and sour spare ribs and the all famous herbal paper chicken!!! All these for only RM113. It was a good meal.



*Laogong and his Favourite Yam Ring*



*Yummy~!!! Can't wait to eat liao!!!*



*Our Feast*

We then walked over to the nearby 鱿鱼大王shop and bought cuttle fish and 马蹄酥. The 马蹄酥 we bought was so yummy that we finished half a packet on the same night we reached home. Since it was still early, so we headed to THE STORE to buy some groceries. Wow! We were amazed that Vitagen cost only RM3.99 for 5 bottles (compared to S$3+ in Singapore). Since Vitagen is said to be good for digestion, we decided to buy 15 bottles of Vitagen. Other than that, we bought Laogong’s favourite chocolate wafers too.

It was a great one-day roadtrip. And though I had been to Malacca for 3 times, I realized I had new discoveries each time I went there. Most importantly, I went with 3 different groups of friends who are able to share the same excitement as me, in a new place, discovering new things. It’s really not where you are that matter, but who you go there with. I will be looking forward to going to Malacca again. And this time round, I will wish to try the all famous Nonya dishes and Satay Celup!!!

By the way, just like to share with you all that the exchange rate for RM is really good now. We managed to change RM at the rate of 2.42~!!! So, if you are thinking of going to Msia in the short run, do make your way to the money changers now before the rate drops~~~

Hee, and I am definitely looking forward to another roadtrip before Jamie arrives~~~



*A Healthy Cheers to our Friendship*

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Sunday, 9 August 2009

We had a very relaxing Sunday.

I simply woke up with a full body ache. And after lunch, I had another nap until 4pm.

Laogong and I were then stuck on our laptops until it’s time for the NDP telecast!!!

I must say I really like the NDP this year, especially the chapter that displays songs from the 60s to the 90s. It reminds me of the good ‘old’ days at DblO on retro nights. Hahaha…

I also spotted our PM Lee watery eyes… Frankly, it was a great show and I love the Majulah Singapura spirit we all shared. It’s true that we had been through lots of ups and downs since the independence of Singapore. And it’s because of the ‘never say die’ attitude and belief among our early leaders that Singapore is who she is now. Though a small red dot on the world map but all the great things we had achieved so far!

There are bound to be many more challenges ahead of us. Even for us, as individuals, we are bound to experience many more unexplainable obstacles in our life journey. But as long as we hold our heads high and have faith in ourselves, we can definitely be able to jump over each and every hurdle that comes our way.

Lets live on with this ‘never say die’ spirit for ourselves and for our nation!!!

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Monday, 10 August 2009

We had potluck at Laogong’s colleagues house on Monday.

But hor, ended up we didn’t need to cook anything. We only need to bring our liquor collection and buy the ice cream dessert. Thanks to Jamie. Heehee, I seemed to get a lot of privileges lately because of Jamie. Wonder should I feel jealous or not. Heehee…

Anyway, we had the great chef to cook the very yummy and spicy Black Pepper Crabs, the host who cooked the cheese-baked chicken wings and another couple who prepared the chef salad with lotsa 料! And the host’s mother even sponsored curry chicken and bee hoon! Yummy~!!!

I even get to have some wine which was believed to be good for the baby :)



*The Big Chef at work with his Black Pepper Crabs*



*Me having my healthy wine for Jamie*



*The Feast*



*Laogong helping to clean up after dinner*

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So much for my Long Weekends…

What about yours?