Meals in Melaka

(click on this photo to view our full photo album!)

The second stop on our SE Asia whirlwind was a pure "food-cation". While we're eventually headed north, we decided to take a quick detour 2 hours south from KL to Melaka. Melaka is one of those places that has been ruled by every country at one point or another - the Portuguese, Dutch, British, Chinese, and Indians have all had an influence on the port, leaving a delicious combination of culinary influences. So we only had one plan for our 24 hours in Melaka - EAT A LOT. I'm happy to say it was a most successful venture (as if anyone who knows us would have doubted that).

The day started with a surprisingly pleasant bus trip from KL to Melaka for 9 ringgit ($3), and we congratulated ourselves on successfully navigating the public transport of Malaysia. But we had barely finished high-fiving and saying "We're awesome!" when we found ourselves aboard a local Melaka bus that looked as if it had been dragged out of the bottom of the canal this morning. This bus was so busted I honestly have NO idea how it was still functioning, but it only cost us 30 cents so we just laughed as we drove down the road with the doors wide open.

After a short wander to find our hostel (i swear we weren't lost, we just love strolling around in 100% humidity with 20 kg of luggage on our back!), we headed out to explore Jonker Walk with our food spidey sense tingling. Our first stop was Famosa Chicken Rice Balls for you guessed it, some of their famous chicken rice balls. Between the two of us we had 13 rice balls, so I think we can count this stop as a win. Since dessert is a separate stomach, we finished the meal with a bowl of Nyonya Cendol, an amazing Melakan specialty. It included pandan, coconut cream, palm sugar syrup, and kidney beans served over shaved ice. Don't knock it til you've tried it - it was DELICIOUS!!

Feeling stuffed and satisfied we went for a walk around the town square and stumbled upon the Maritime Museum, which happens to be located inside a giant pirate ship! It was equal parts of informative and weird, and totally worth the 3 ringgit entry.

After more wandering and a stroll along the canal, it was finally time for satay celup! This is a Melakan do-it-yourself meal where you pick skewers of meat, seafood, and veggies from the fridge and then cook them at your table in a boiling pot of spicy satay sauce. We went to Capital Satay which, for good reason, is the most popular satay joint in town and has a steady line of customers down the block. Stoked to finally get a table, we loaded up our tray with chicken, veggies, tofu, quail eggs, shrimp, and a few unidentified objects. We were the only westerners in the entire restaurant, and while we were a bit offended that they brought us so much bread and put sugar in our sauce, they made up for it by treating us (Lauren) to two giant prawns. We really went all out on this dinner and managed to spend a whole $3 each. Overall a successful but messy meal!

Me like-a Melaka. A lot-a.

Tomorrow we head north to the island of Penang on an 7+ hour bus trip, so wish us luck and we'll check back in whenever island time allows!

Fast forward!

Alright, we'll admit it: we sucked at keeping up a blog. It was a lot harder than we expected; living in a campervan 90% of the time meant no internet access. Our posts just got more and more backed-up, and, well, you saw the results.

We will get back to the Great Trip Through Oz. For now, though, we thought it best to move ahead and blog Asia as we experience it. Backpacker hostels are almost always equipped with internet, so we should fare a lot better. Apologies for skipping forward, but trust me; it'll be better this way.

So on Friday afternoon, we landed in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia! Our friends had kept us out pretty late our last night in Melbourne, so we were quite wrecked. As soon as we got to the backpackers, we "lay down" for a rest and didn't get up until 7 the next morning.

The weather sure did let us know where we were. It was like walking into a sauna every time we stepped outside. We started the day by walking in a random direction as it began to rain. This led us to a rainforest reserve smack in the middle of the city. We followed a trail through it, stopping in the middle to check out a faux Malaysian village at the Kuala Lumpur Tower. Despite warnings of snakes, scorpions, and centipedes liking the rain, we tramped through the whole park. From there we wandered to the Patronas Towers, once the tallest buildings in the world. The two towers are linked by a glass bridge, which was unfortunately closed. We just went inside to escape the rain instead and were greeted by a gigantic 5 story mall. It was strange at first to see stores we haven't laid eyes on in two years: "Look, a GAP!" "A Banana Republic!" "A Uni Qlo!" (Okay, that last one was me.)

From there we took the train back to Chinatown to find some lunch. We decided to explore Central Market, an enclosed market and food court. We got a delicious and cheap meal of chicken, rice, and egg. Then we went looking for the "fish spa." Caz had noticed it advertised on our map of the city. We found it towards the back wall: a spa pool filled with little fish ready to eat all the dead skin off your feet. We paid RM5 (about US$1.60) for 10 minutes in this spa. However, it took us about 5 of those minutes to manage to keep our feet fully submerged. It tickled so much! It was practically unbearable! Even when you got used to the tickling, the sensation of fish nibbling on your toes was a very weird one. My feet were indeed soft afterwards, but I don't think I'll seek out a fish spa again!

The sun came out in the afternoon, and we took a walk in the opposite direction. We wandered through Lake Garden. A notable spot was the Deer Park, with the small and strange Lesser Mouse Deer. It looked rather like a large rat on spidery legs. It was cute, though, in its creepy way.

After that we headed to the National Mosque. We donned visitors' burkas and had a look around. It was very wide and austere. I had never been in a mosque before, so it was interesting to compare it to other religious establishments I've seen. It was really quite beautiful.

Finally, we hit up Petaling Street, the main market road of Chinatown. This was a true market as we think of them: lots of bootlegged goods and people calling you in to their stalls as you fight your way down crowded alleyways. We didn't do any shopping, but we did splurge on food. Pieces of fresh mango, a cheesecake tart, BBQ pork buns, and a sticky rice concoction that neither of us liked very much filled our stomachs. It was an early night after that.

From here it's on to Melaka and more delicious food!

(Click on the photo at the top of the post to view our full photo album!)