If you’ve been to Melaka during Chinese New Year, or 3 weeks before this auspicious celebration, you have surely witnessed the appealing Chinese New Year street decoration at the Melaka Chinatown area, such as places like Jalan Hang Jebat (Jonker Street), Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock (Heeren Street), Jalan Hang Lekiu and Jalan Bunga Raya.
Never missed, this Chinese New Year street decoration initiative has been successfully carried out from the past 7 years (correct me if I’m wrong with the year). This year, the Melaka Chinese New Year Street Decoration 2008 was officiated by Dato Seri Ong Ka Ting on last Saturday.
Marking the first official day of the light-up, lion dance troops were invited to further condense the Chinese New Year atmosphere.
Take a look at some of the pictures I took at Jonker Walk, don’t you feel like wanted to be physically there as well?
From my childhood till adolescence, the Sungai Melaka (Melaka River) I grown up with was dirty, smelly, and poorly maintained. However, in recent years, thanks to continuous state government and city council initiative, Sungai Melaka is now given a fresh new picturesque appearance. This is an applauding change for the benefit of Melaka tourism.
5 years back, I wouldn’t agree to take a river cruise at Sungai Melaka, or spend an evening strolling along the riverside. However, now that Sungai Melaka surrounding environment is upgraded, and I’m glad that it’s worth spending some relaxing free time at Sungai Melaka riverwalk without hesitation.
Sungai Melaka conversation exercise is not just confined to the area around Dutch Square and Old Melaka Town historical site, but the whole route of river cruise. One fine Friday evening, I went to the riverwalk at Jalan Bunga Raya opposite Kampung Morten for a stroll. A boardwalk is built along the riverside, by the muddy riverbank. This 380m boardwalk has its entry point situated behind Southern Hospital.
Sungai Melaka is known as one of the very few natural habitats for mudskippers. So, at the boardwalk, it’s pretty easy to spot mudskippers skipping on the muddy ground. (more…)
Christmas celebration at Portuguese Settlement (located in Ujong Pasir) is an annual tourism attraction in Melaka. What makes the Christmas decoration at Portuguese Settlement a worth mentioning event, is that it is a community initiated effort, contributed by every home within the settlement.
This year, Portuguese Settlement is not exempted from this annual tradition as well, as it is the only concentrated area in Melaka with the most Christianity followers.
I’ve visited Portuguese Settlement on last Friday evening, to capture its Christmas atmosphere at dusk.
Though a few houses have added some new ornaments, but most of the decorative items are reused. Well, this is reasonable though, even the renowned KLCC Suria is using the same tall Christmas tree that I’ve seen for the past 2 years. (more…)
Hasn’t been officially opened for public, but a new (but abandoned?) man-made island in Melaka, known as Pulau Melaka, has quietly emerged in the geographical topology of Melaka state.
Since this new man-made island is still unoccupied at this moment, except some constructed commercial properties, I thought it would be a good time for landscape photography without hustle of crowd.
What caught my attention in the serene Pulau Melaka is not the developed real estate projects, but a visually appealing mosque at dusk. This mosque, a new landmark in Melaka, is known as Masjid Selat Melaka (Melaka Strait Mosque).
As its name suggests, Masjid Selat Melaka is built along the coastline of Strait of Malacca, at the water level of the sea. So, in the evening at high tide, Masjid Selat Melaka looks like a floating mosque. (more…)
Due to foreign colonization during the age of Malacca Malay Sultanate, Melaka is enriched with trails of western foreign influences; most significantly being the Dutch, Portuguese and English. The invaluable foreign trails left in Melaka, are ranging from the ancient architecture, to traditions and cultures, drooling foods and etc.
In Melaka, to date, there’s still very few Dutch restaurant. Though The Windmill Station was once (many years back) being themed as a Dutch restaurant, but eventually, its menu is now very much generally westernized without any specific country’s food in theme.
Months back, when I was driving along Jalan Laksamana, the presence of DHC has caught my attention, as it seems to be primarily focus on Dutch-themed foods. Looks interesting to me, and so I visited DHC with my girlfriend for dinner.
Good Dining Environment
DHC has three dining sections - indoor dining area which has the most number of tables, garden dining area which has 4 tables, and riverside dining area along the Melaka River walkway.
View from The Riverside Dining Area
Garden Dining Area
Personally, I prefer the garden dining area, which is accompanied with some greenery. It is a good place for tourists to take a break in a non-crowded environment, sparring some sweet time planning for their itinerary. The riverside dining area is good, only if it’s not a sunny hour. (more…)
As far as I’m concerned, public facilities like MITC (Melaka International Trade Centre) and Melaka Sentral are both equipped with free Wi-Fi hotspots, managed by the same provider – Melaka ICT Holdings (MICTH).
Coming to Melaka, if you’re a non-Halal visitor, satay celup is another must-eat. In fact, till now, I still believe good satay celup can only be found in Melaka, and nowhere else, unless I’m proven wrong one day. Never leave Melaka without the savory satay celup
There are a number of satay celup shops in Melaka. But, with Capitol Satay Celup at Lorong Bukit Cina and Ban Lee Hiang (万里香) at Jalan Ong Kim Wee being the 2 most talk-about ones.
If you ask me which is the best satay celup in Melaka, my personal ultimate preference goes to Capitol Satay Celup, the pioneer of satay celup in Melaka, and remains good until today. I’m reluctant to go Ban Lee Hiang, even if Capitol Satay Celup is crowded with long queue.
What is Satay Celup?
No surprise, there are still a lot non-Malaccan Malaysians who are uninitiated about what exactly satay celup is. I’ve got a number of friends visited Melaka, and asked me how satay celup looks like, before I brought them to indulge the savory and to-die-for delicacy.
With layman descriptions in Malaysian’s context, satay celup is served and eaten like lok lok and steamboat, except the main difference in sauce. Instead of boiling pot of soup, satay celup is cooked by dipping or dunking sticks of raw foods into boiling pot of aromatically rich and spicy peanut sauce. (more…)
Some might have heard of D-Paradise Melaka, while majority are still unaware of this currently less known but emerging attraction in Melaka.
4 years back, when I was once frequently traveling to Sungai Udang, a small township where Petronas refinery complex is located, the D-Paradise Melaka was just merely being positioned as a tropical fruit farm.
Now, whenever you’re passing by the main road of Melaka Raya at night, I’m sure your sight will be attracted by a new cozy restaurant which has strikingly pinkish interior.
Seriously, if it wasn’t the signage of Cosmo Noodle Bar (å…«é¢çŽ²ç“), I would not have associated this pinkish shop as a dining place. The owner of this restaurant must be a freak for pink. However, I must admit that this bold design concept is an advantage to Cosmo Noodle Bar, or else it might not have attracted my attention, so do other new customers.
Cosmo Noodle Bar is a double-storey premise, with the upper floor suitable for group gathering functions. As suggested by the restaurant name, Cosmo Noodle Bar is mainly serving noodles of various cooking styles. The menu is kinda comprehensive, categorized into dishes of Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, Taiwanese, and Italian. Besides noodles, a lengthy list of snacks is also available. (more…)
