砂漠のJeffire

Jeffirean Stories

Tuesday, June 29, 2004

Tadaima!

I'm back! (in one piece!)

Okay, Malacca is quite a safe place to go. The bus ride was very long, but not very tiring. Tried to stay awake looking at the plantations but fell asleep eventually. Unfortunately there were many people taking the same bus at Larkin Terminal, so I didn't get a window seat. The fortunate thing is one seat beside me was a pretty girl all alone. She didn't look Singaporean so I didn't talk to her. Sigh! We had 4 stops, 2 for those alighting halfway, 1 for a stopover rest, and 1 at the petrol station. Reached Malacca Interchange around 3pm. Apparently they have now changed to a new integrated complex for all the interstate, domestic buses, together with a market, and the taxi station. I didn't know which bus and how to take the domestic bus (go counter buy ticket or pay as you board?) so I took a taxi instead. It cost me a bomb! RM15. Sigh. Anyway I reached the tourist information centre and got a map of the area. Then I started following the trail. You can see the photos (jumbled up halfway, apologies) of the trip under the sidebar where you see "My Photo Album". There are 88shots in all, and it was very tiring having to edit all the title and comments. I hope you like it.

I lost my way midway but saw other non-tourism related stuff, like motorshops, shops, etc. Stopped at a shop (along Jalan Portugis) selling nyonya stuff, bought RM43 worth of food, including pineapple tarts, coffee, ginseng tea, etc. Not really alot of food. However I felt it was stupid of me to buy so early... now I had to drag around with that extra baggage.

Walked back to the trail and saw the rest of the heritage stuff and the Dutch area. The Portuguese Settlement area is very far away, at the far eastern side of the town, so I didn't go. However at night when I went wandering around, I saw that on the way to the Portuguese area, there were plenty of nightspots around, like pubs, restaurants etc.

How I wished I stayed near the shopping centres instead of the inn I decided on impulse. I was too tired then..sigh. And it was not value for money - RM65. A tad too expensive for such a lousy place. I wished I bunked in at a guesthouse instead, maybe could have known some people. Sleeping alone was quite difficult because the room was entirely dark. However I just shut my eyes till I fell asleep. Woke up a few times, including after having a nightmare on cockroaches... I realised my hp was out of battery so I couldn't tell the time. I thought I would switch on the tv but guess what, I switched on my digital camera instead for the time. Slept till 5+ and couldn't sleep anymore. I washed up till around 6am and went down. Sigh, the staff were all sleeping. Actually this little hotel (motel ba) isn't 24hr, so too bad huh. The receptionist was an Ah Pek, so he woke up, kept my key and opened the door for me. That's when I went around taking all the dark photos you see.

I didn't manage to have breakfast. Do you know why? Apparently I spent all my money last night on the toothpaste, and forgot to change for more ringgit so I couldn't enjoy sitting down in their old old kopithiam for a coffee and food. SIGH. That was the biggest regret I had, worse than my choice of accomodation.

After the morning photo taking, I returned to the hotel around 8pm and went to bed in a bid to pass time because none of the money changers worked early. Slept till 10am and then checked out (2 hrs earlier than the stipulated time) then finally got some more cash and started to hunt for food. However the ambience was gone because most of the kopithiam were empty....SIGH. Ended up not eating breakfast at all.

I walked all the way to the shopping area, Mahkota Parade. Actually I was there the day before, but didn't buy anything because I didn't have enough ringgit changed. However I made a note of the stuff I thought I could afford, so now I could buy them all. While choosing the stuff I forgot about my camera and left it somewhere at one of their counters, luckily they found it and returned to me. PHEW! $500 leh. The salesgal advised me to keep in my bag. They weren't friendly at all, but never mind, I bought RM105 worth of gifts. Well, so many people in camp but not enough money, so some people aren't gonna get anything lor... too bad.

After buying everything I could afford, I took a taxi back to the interchange. This time the indian driver charged me RM12. Then I took the bus back to Johore on a window seat and an extra seat! Hee. Not many people on the bus mah. So heck la, put my stuff on the seat. From Larkin I took the bus back to the customs and Kranji, and finally took a taxi home.

2 regrets, aching hands and legs, and a burnt pocket for an interesting trip. I think it was quite worth it. Next time maybe I would go there only for the food and the shopping, en route to KL maybe. And I hope it will be by car! The bus ride is so tiring...but a real eye opener.

Ok, so you guys are wondering how much I spent... I spent nearly RM300, so that makes it about $140 SGD. Luckily I won big money for the Czech quarter finals so not too bad la. Hahaha. I guess I should had spent more on buying the local produce, oh ya, they sold lotsa preserved stuff there like prawn paste etc...

Guess I'm not a very good writer but heck la, if you got questions just ask me. Think the photos should suffice..if not let's find one day to go down again lor.

Oh that adds to the regret list. I went ALONE. Pathetic hor....what to do. I picked the wrong time to go. Ya, like I said, maybe next time ba.

Acknowledged my existence at
10:59 PM