Where to go next ah? River cruise!

About 10 mins away from Taman Buaya was the main port of the Melaka River Cruise. You need to have a maximum number of pax per boat before it can begin.

While we waited for more people to arrive, the camera came in to good use. Plenty of stumpy coconut trees around that provided shade on a very sunny Saturday afternoon.  

There were many boats parked on the side but not many 'sailors' to man it. So we had no choice but to wait until we got enough people to occupy the boat.

Tourists like us had to pass time by posing for their camera person. These uncles and aunties got summoned RM 10 each. Group photo mug shot...

This is our model mocking the uncle and aunty tourists. Haha, however his summon is double (coz gotta pay for me also la).

We ended up sharing the boat with 20 Standard 3 kids and Miss Lim. You can imagine how noisy it was!

The river cruise lasted about 30 minutes. You should go on the cruise without any expectations. The problem with four of us is that we had some pretty high expectations. Wouldn’t you be when the Melaka river is tagged as “Venice of the East”? If you have been to Venice or have even watched what Venice is all about on TV, I’d like to say that this is a far cry from what we like to depict the straits of Melaka to be. 

The most common view was the backside of the many shops and restaurants built by the side of the river. Must have been a very busy alley during its hey day.

The water was calm. On the way there, we did spot a couple of heads bobbing around... heads of swimming monitor lizards, that is! Too bad, I didn't manage to capture pictures of them.

After a while, the scene remains unchanged. There were some construction going on at the banks of the river. Hopefully, in future, it'll make the ride more interesting.

Me into you into me

Overall, I personally thought it was a pleasant ride. Chip commented that the river smelled but I didn't think it was that bad. I guess the only exciting part about our trip were the appearance of monitor lizards at the river bank. I guess the exuberance is amplified when you have Standard 3 kids screaming with excitement.

Our verdict: Melaka River Cruise (2/5)

to be continued...

Where to go next ah?

Taman Buaya!

Yeah, we absolutely went all out to do all the touristy thing. Let’s check out what Malacca, the newly sanctioned Heritage City by UNESCO has to offer.

The Taman Buaya is located about 20 minutes away from the city centre. Well, we did take longer than that because we got lost we were exploring the roads of Malacca. You would probably not miss this park if you enter Malacca through the Ayer Keroh highway.

At the entrance of the park lies Johnny; a stuffed crocodile that used to be a resident of this park. Johnny was huge and he must have been the largest crocodile that ever lived here. Here I am resting my fingers in his opened jaw. Like so brave kan?

Johnny is so popular that tourists flocked to take pictures next to him. He must have been a a star!

Unfortunately, Johnny's stardom was shortlived. He died due to the park’s negligence. According to what we heard through the grapevine, the new ‘house’ that Johnny got was so badly designed that left him to lie on the cement pavement for 2 days without any water.

Tsk. Oh wait, it’s not something we heard through the grapevine. There was actually a sign next to Johnny to state why he died. OMG. What is the management trying to say?!

At RM 5 per pax, I rather pay an entrance fee of RM 10 just so to ensure that these crocs will be well taken off. Even the crocs I wear on my feet is properly treated and not trampled on. How utterly embarrassing to have visitors to pay to witness such sorry state the crocs and the park are in.

The crocs are skinny and lazy. 

Safety is not a criteria in this park. Some cages are left without any locks. Anybody could unlatch and enter, or let a croc escape (for their own good maybe). It's an accident waiting to happen.

On one side of the park, you have REALLY cheesy entertainment stuffs inherited from the 80s. You know those kinda rides and shows that you have in those freak circus? Things like Cermin Ajaib and Rumah Hantu with badly painted skulls and blood just don't make the cut anymore. IT DOESN'T!

At the end of the park was a mini water playground for kids. From afar, it looked like the only new feature of the park.

But about 5 feet away, you will understand why it still looks new. The plastic cover that wraps the décor and equipment is not removed completely, leaving the remnants floating in still water.

The water reeked and was littered with all kinds of rubbish. There were tadpoles swimming and sediments at the button of the pool indicating the length of time any maintenance or cleaning was done.

Question: What is the function of the mini playground?

Whatever it is, it must have made someone VERY rich. I am truly appalled. It was a white elephant just ready to crumble one of these days. I wouldn’t be surprised that the next 10 years I visit, you’ll still find this place as is. Shameful.

To be fair, there was another side of the park that was completely new with water, sand and palm trees. I can't even tell if the crocodiles are even healthier there but they don't look as pathetic as their friends on the other side of the hood. It was like Manhattan vs the Bronx.

What made us chuckle was that the park had a type of croc only - i.e. Saltwater Crocodile. But they tried to make it look as if they had a variety of crocodiles by including some retarded ones e.g. the tailless croc and the croc with a hump. Haha.

Our verdict:

Crocodile park / Taman Buaya Melaka (0/5)

To drive all the way to the park and drench ourselves with disappointment, the only satisfying moment was quenching our thirst at the neighbouring McDonald's. Ahh.. cold, icy Coke.

to be continued... The Malacca River Cruise 

I don't know about Chip but I slept very well! I think it must have been because I slept very early too. While waiting for the rest, I took a couple more pics of the hotel. Here's one:

We took 2112 to Jonker Street so that we can have our chicken ball rice at Chung Wah which is the corner shop just after the bridge. It was the same place I went to about 10 over years or so.

We had five servings of rice ball and a plate of half a chicken. Seriously, the chicken isn’t anything to shout about and I can recall from my last time I had this meal, nothing much has changed. It was good that it wasn’t so filling because then we can work our appetite to have more!

Most food critics or bloggers would usually comment on the rice or the chicken and often neglect one of the most important components of a superior chicken rice and that's the chili sauce. If there was a need to say something good about this place, it had to be the extra spicy and garlicky chili sauce which is worth going back for.

Just a few doors away, we got a little greedy when we saw the Tart Tart shop. I know, it doesn’t sound too decent when you say it really fast --- Tat Tat!

They had an assortment of Portuguese tarts and we thought that since Melaka had such strong influence of Portugal in this state, the tart ought to be authentic and good!

It was such a disappointment! The pastry was hard and the egg crumbly.

So far, the first half of the morning meal has not lived to our expectations. Perhaps we should just forget about food and continue with a day of sight seeing in Melaka.

A couple of steps away, we stopped by the Museum of Admiral Cheng Ho. Although the museum was opened for viewing and the workers were hard selling us the entrance fees, we chose to just hang around the area. What's still around is a well that was used during the Admiral's time. The water inside is still clean and clear. I don't know if the well is still in use... well maybe as a permanent puke pot.

Down the street, you'll find the famous Orang Utan shop. You'll never miss it because of it's brightly painted walls and that huge orang utan staring right at you. Notice the ghost behind us?

If you are looking for souvenir tees, you should step in. It's also quite a fun place to pics too.

The gatekeeper. It's on Jalan Tukang Besi, just in case you are wondering.

The set of the chinese version of "Kami". I'm absolutely thrilled with brownie's wide angle.

While on the way back to our car...

What to do next ah?! ---> Taman Buaya! (Crocodile Park)

to be continued... because complaints deserve a page on its own.

We departed KL around 3:20pm. Traffic was heavy at some parts of the highway but overall it was pretty smooth. We arrived downtown Melaka 2 hours later. Our hotel was right smack in the middle of the historical district just opposite St. Paul's Hill and Stadthuys.

Welcome to Aldy Hotel on Jalan Kota.

For RM 160++ night, you pay for the location. The room was small but clean but it didn't have much of a view since it only had two narrow side panels they call windows. Most important, bathroom was super clean so I have no complaints!

Although it was drizzling, the tour guide (me me me!) made sure we had enough umbrellas for two couples. We took a short walk to Jonker Street. There were some stalls settling up for the night market but because of the rain, there wasn't any crowd.

Good for us because we got a seat at

Although this was the only place that we tried their chendol, I'd say it's yummy already. Topped with gula melaka (palm sugar) that was gooey and sticky, the ball of ice shaving soaked up the thick santan above the usual pandan flavoured chendol and kidney beans. The ingredients wasn't fantastic but you just can't resist the gula melaka.

Mmm.. can you imagine tasting this?

I wasn't that hungry so I though I'd share the noodles with Chip but he was too hungry on the other hand and couldn't say no to the Nonnya assam laksa! Good choice baby! The broth was thick and the har koh (shrimp paste) was already stirred into the soup because you could whiff a hint of that sweet but pungent smell.

Unlike the Penang assam laksa which we are more familiar with, the Nonnya version comes with hard boiled egg, thin slivers of cucumber and onions, fuchuk (bean curd sheets), and pieces of prawns. The broth is slightly darker and it could easily be mistaken as a prawn mee (the KL version).

The other dish we had: yellow noodles blanched and topped with a scoop of Nonnya curry with chicken. Most of the dishes came with their signature fuchuk, hard-boiled eggs and fishball.

If you aren't early, you have to queue up long, long time just to order like these people!

Overall, mmmmm... the Melaka trip was already satisfying!

While walking along Jonker Street, there were many shops selling souvenirs. Price wise, it was like shopping in Petaling Street in KL so I didn't bother getting anything. Food wise, there were vast selections of Melaka's must-buys like cincalok, blocks of gula melaka, wooden clogs and pineapple tarts.

Some of the other colourful stuff you can find during the night market like:

Photos of ol' Melaka

Wooden Clogs

Orangutan tees

Here's a pic of us on the bridge overlooking the Melaka river.