Eating Our Way Across Asia: Malacca!

May 21, 2007
Malacca - Day 16

After a tiring three hour bus ride past the Singapore border this morning, the class arrived at Hotel Puri in the heart of Chinatown, Malacca. The hotel is a restored Peranakan house of a past plantation owner. It's a beautiful building and most definitely the best accommodation we've had so far. The only complaint I have is their lack of air conditioning in the corridors, although my conscience tells me it's more environmentally friendly this way.

After a quick lunch at a "famous chicken rice ball" restaurant, I ended up going with a small group to the Christ Church of Malacca - more for the shade than anything else. The heat was stifling. We then spent the rest of our time hunting for air conditioning in assorted museums nearby. For a one time payment of 5 ringgitts (around CAD$1.60) we were able to get into most museums in the city. The exhibits had a lot of replications of environments and artifacts but not many explanations on their significance or history.

At night, we had dinner at a small hawker stall tucked away in a corner of Chinatown. The area around it was empty so it felt a little dangerous walking there, but it was worth it for the food. Their menu was written entirely in Malay so I ended up repeating Jinrui's request for Nasi Lemak. It was great food and super cheap.

By the time we finished dinner at 6:30pm most of the shops in Chinatown were closed. Someone jokingly mentioned that this is why Singaporeans see Malaysians as lazy. We ended up asking our doorman where we could go and he pointed us in the direction of Jalan Hang Tauh, one of the main streets of Malacca. The only places we saw open were funeral parlors and a 7 eleven. On our way home, we heard the distinct singing of Chinese opera in a nearby building too.

I'm surprised how small and quiet this city is. Or maybe we're just not hitting the right spots.