Cuti-cuti Malaysia - Day One

I did a seven-day driving holiday trip in Malaysia recently. The itinery went like this:
Singapore- Melacca - Port Dickson- Fraser’s Hills - Ipoh - Sungai Petani - Kuala Lumpur - Singapore.

Day One

We started off driving from Singapore up north to Melacca where we stopped for a Peranakan (Straits Chinese) lunch.

The drive through Singapore and Malaysia immigrations was a breeze. Not so much waiting as it was a weekday morning. Stopped by a money changer in the southern most town of Malaysia – Johor Bahru to get some local currency – Ringgit. The number of money changers in Johor Bahru astonished us. There were just so many of them in one area. And they offer very good rates too as a result of stiff competition.

Traffic along the North-South Highway in Malaysia was smooth. The gentle rocking movement of the car made my boy slept through most of the way.

First stop – Melacca. Malacca was one of oldest places where the Chinese Immigrants first settled in. They arrived in the 1800s and cross marriage with the local Malays gave rise to a unique ‘Peranakan’ (Straits Chinese) Culture. The men were called ‘Baba’ and women ‘Nyoya’.

A few well-known Peranakan foods include Curry Laksa, Mee Siam, Chicken Buah Keluak and Ice-kacang. We stopped by a restaurant in an old shophouse behind the OCBC bank for some Peranakan food. It was not our first time there. The carpark in front of this restaurant used to be free. Not anymore. We were warned by two friendly and helpful Melaccans as we parked the car. One even offered to sell us the local parking coupons.

The food used to be tastier as far as I could remember. The Ice-kacang (an iced dessert with red beans, green jelly, sweet corn and Atap seeds topped with colourful syrup and brown coconut sugar syrup) was as mouth-watering as ever!

Next, as requested by my beloved wife, we went shopping at Mahkota Parade Shopping Mall – a huge and spacious shopping centre with lots of variety of goods and services. Prominent shops include Parkson Grand Departmental Stall, MPH bookshop, Nose Shoes, etc.

http://www.virtualmalaysia.com/directory/shopping/view_shopping_centre.cfm?ID=F295A0E7-1792-11D6-B32A00D0B78F6634

And guess what did my wife and mum-in-law buy? Let me give you a hint: Women usually have more than one of these. Different colours and designs to match their outfit. And most of those bought are worn just for a few occasions, then kept in the rack for most of the time.

Got it? Yes, shoes!

As we drove away from Mahkota Parade, we discovered looking out from the car that there is a new shopping centre right opposite Mahkota Parade – Pahlawan Square Mall. There is an even bigger local women shoe retail brand in the mall – Vinci. Looks like we will go back there for more!

http://planet.time.net.my/CentralMarket/melaka1001/pahlawan.html