Melaka, World Heritage City

Melaka is rich in history, having been colonized by not only the Dutch but also the British.  The ruins of the fort a’ Famosa still stand on a hill.  More walls and parts of the fortifications have been recently discovered.

A statue of St Francis of Assisi stands in the grounds of the fort.

The former Dutch administrative buildings stand out in their red color and the main building now houses a museum.

The clock tower still stands and so does the fountain.  The old Christ Church is also standing.  Other places of attraction are the Melaka River and the Water Wheel.

Old armored vehicles, an old propeller plane and an ancient fire engine are on display.

 Tourists throng the narrow roads and iconic sites.  The trishaws are beautifully decorated with flowers and they are available to ferry those who prefer to ride rather than walk in the hot sun.

Another popular photo spot is the windmill.

A non-descript corner coffee shop attracts a large following who willingly queue under the sun to try the chicken rice balls touted to be the best in the city.
There are five small balls of chicken rice on each plate. They looked like large fishballs! The chicken is steamed and is tender.

In the old days gone by, Kuala Lumpur too had a stall under a huge tree selling chicken rice balls but these rice balls were as large as one’s fist and more fragrant.  My father used to buy them for us as a special treat.

The special baba cendol  dessert was also reputed to be good but to me it lacked a good gula Melaka flavor.  Gula Melaka is a dark cane sugar which is very fragrant and is a must for cendol, small wormlike green strips of pea flour cooked in coconut milk and topped with thick fresh coconut milk or santan.  This baba cendol  version included  boiled soft red beans. Other types of dessert and laksa noodles were also served in this old coffee shop whose walls were decorated with prints.

We stopped by another restaurant for lunch where I had nonya laksa while my sister had mee siam, which is noodles cooked in brown soya bean sauce.My two nieces had to consult their smartphones to locate this particular restaurant which serves typical local dishes.

The starter my niece chose was taufu rojak which is a combination salad of hard taufu, fried fish cake, cucumber, pineapple and turnip. The rojak sauce was thick and there was a generous sprinkling of roasted sesame seeds.  I found it to be tasty, different from the usual fruit rojak. ( salad  )

Finding our way out of the city was a nightmare, going through snarled traffic along narrow streets.  It took us a good one hour before we finally hit the highway going north to Kuala Lumpur.  All in all it was a lovely day’s outing, thanks to my niece who drove us there and back.