Malacca - Admiral Cheng Ho Visit

My best friend registered his marriage last year. Just one day before my marriage registration. Ironically, my wedding ceremony is just one day earlier than him. So when I got to know that we won't be able to attend each others wedding ceremony I was a bit disappointed that I can't be his true brother (fist hits 3 times on the chest) on his big day. But after sharing our own story on the actual wedding day, I'm glad I escaped the torturous sister's treatment from his side.

 Since, I won't be able to witness his big day, he invited me to his marriage registration in Malacca. It was a mass wedding registration function. I reached there one day earlier. Though this is the second time he brought me about  in Malacca, it will never be enough. Food, heritage and sight-seeing is aplenty here. And when you talk about food, how can one missed out the chicken rice ball here. The last time I remembered about chicken rice ball was way back in university when I first came here with him. Boy, I must say that the chicken rice business has transformed into one copycat business. There are a lot of owners trying to dupe visitors into believing that their stalls served the authentic chicken rice ball. There's even one franchise which used Mr Sayur Rosak's name to 'claim' it was recommended by the celebrity food critic himself.

 

With in-depth knowledge of all the history in Malacca, my friend told us that there are only 2 famous shops serving the chicken rice ball. One is Chung Kee and another is Hoe Kee. And they are just a stone throw away from one another. On weekday, the queue is not that great. But come weekend, the queue between the 2 shops though are 100 metres apart, can even joined for God's sake! I observed most of the visitors are mainly from Singapore. Crowd aside, the quality of the food is balliciously executed. We waited outside for 10 minutes but the queue was shortened quite quickly. If you come here alone and don't mind sharing table, you will be seated even faster and easier.

When Malacca was listed as one of the World Heritage site, the tourism industry here has taken a boom. Of all sudden, almost every monuments in the Malacca has transformed into national treasure. Any items that look old are considered gold. The hotel business is booming too. You will find small timer hotel operator now gaining weight against the much established hotel here. Prior to my stay here, I was staying at one hotel (so-called 3 stars) for a day job trip as a translator. In short, the hotel was horrible. Anyhow, that was paid by my company so I won't elaborate much. This time, I booked this hotel called Fenix Inn from HotelClub. In short, the hotel inn was fantastic! Basically, it was the old-fashioned motel above the shop lot in KL. Just that they had done a good job on the renovation and modernised the budget motel business. That's why they don't even want to associate themselves with the name motel but rather the word inn.

  Below are the comparison:

So-called 3 star hotel vs Fenix Inn

Box TV set - LCD TV set
TV on old cabinet - TV hung on the wall (can even rotate)
Only national TV stations - Astro with Supersport!
Carpet flooring - Wooden flooring
2 bottles of drinking water - Delcol water dispenser outside (you can fill more than 2 bottle)
No ironing facility - Shared ironing facility at the aisle.
Psycho-feel bathroom -See-thru partition with Alpha water heater

No car park - Car park inside shops (need not worry your car being towed at 10.30PM)

Like I say before, food hunting in Malacca on weekend means you will be fighting for seats with others. My friend told us to be prepared when we set our time for the satay celup dinner. It was only 6PM and not even a normal dinner time for us. When I drove near the the shop, I saw a bunch of people lining up along the street. OMG! The queue for our must-try food in Malacca, satay celup had reached 3 shop lots lengths.
 

With the queue not as fast moving as the chicken rice shop earlier as they need to wait for the food to be cooked inside the groundnut filled hot and spicy, we had no choice but to wait and observe the atmosphere along the street. There is one shop which copycatted this satay celup concept which is just located 2 shops away. If I'm the shop owner I have two things in mind. One. "*&*!#% they are willing to queue up in front of my shop to wait yet they don't even want to try at my shop!". Two. "Thank God those who are not willing to wait in the queue gave up and come to my shop instead $$$".

  Well, some will be tempted to go other shop instead. But we ain't going to give up after coming all the way here. We decided to stick to our original plan. There are notices on the wall of their shop which curse claim that they don't have any brother or sister that open another branches elsewhere. Therefore, they re the only one in Malacca with the name Capitol. Capitol Sister, Capitol Brother, Capsquare, Captain America and any Cap-you-think-of has nothing to do with the owner of this satay celup. Think of celup, think of Capitol. Mr. Capitol, we heard you. 

  So, what make it so different from the "luk-luk" you have in those day  where the stalls were opened in front of the cinema. If my memory serves me right, I remembered dipping a few stick of raw food into boiling soup to cook it. Then we will put the sauce either sweet sauce, chili sauce or the favourite of all, satay peanut grounded sauce. The concept is same with the satay celup here in Malacca. Just that they skipped the boiling soup part and use the sauce instead to cook and sauced your food in one go. They mix sugar and chili into the peanut grounded sauce to your liking and resistance. 

 If you asked me what is the main difference this shop has to offer that other can't, I can't really answer that. I guess authenticity has a thing play here. Nobody remember the name of the person who reached the peak of Mount Everest second right? Another thing I can point out maybe due to the freshness of the food they offered and also the sauce used to cook the food. What I like most here was when they have this bonus hour where they will put a few stick of abalone, tiger prawn and some slightly expensive seafood on your table.

Me: Boss, this one I didn't order oh.
Boss: No worries, you eat I count. No eat I won't count.
Me: ???
 

First-timer like me for sure won't dare to even eat or even dirtied it with the sauce. Such an expensive food. After that, we came to know that this 'special' food are counted the same price as what we saw on the fridge. Yup, tiger prawn for the same price you pay the for the meatball you picked from the fridge. This is what we called bonus hour. By the time they served up this bonus hour items, we were already 80% full. And nope, you can't offered it to other table. Nevertheless, we took a few and decided to give up on the rest. It was already 7PM and the crowd grew longer to 4 shops instead. Well, it is the tougher you get your food, the more appreciative of you on the food I guess. Apart from the preservation of ancient monument, Malacca has also experienced a boom in international hotel investment like the Casa del Rio Hotel in the heart of the city. The architectural design pays tribute to the Portuguese heritage of Malacca. The cheapest room you can get is RM 388. For that you got to fake your IC to be a senior citizen.

 

Having this building along the river is truly a sight to behold. When I first saw the Malacca River during my primary school trip, it was small and of no difference with Klang River or teh tarik. It is hard to imagine that this was the same river that attracted the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British to make this place the central of trading port. The Malacca River with its cruise is the biggest surprise I heard of when my company organised the company trip a few years back. I took the opportunity this time around to experience myself  since I missed my company trip. Clean embankments on both sides stretches for several kilometres. You can even see mangrove tree being preserved to prevent soil erosion. The idea was basically to make the river pollution-free. The back of the shops had been converted so that you can have a cup of tea while savouring the breezy river brushing down your hair.

It's makes you feel like the ancient Admiral Cheng Ho having a cup of tea with the Prince of Rome.

Pearl Of The Orient

For the first time, I get to travel with my sister-in-law, my brother and her parents from Hong Kong. I think my brother was jumping for joy for this trip after spending most of his time abroad. Actually, they were here back in August last year to attend my eldest brother wedding. Well, Penang of course is the favourite choice of destination for Hong Kong people and also the obvious choice which my parents would like to showcase to them. There are more Chinese food to savour and the most important is it's a World Heritage site.

After driving for roughly 5 hours, we reached there in time to have our lunch at my famous Teo Chew porridge stall. This stall is located at Gaik Ten coffee shop along Magazine road, just opposite Trader’s Hotel. I got to know this stall through The Star newspaper's Thumbnail section where they showed an uncle eating porridge while squatting cum shitting sitting on a bench.

This time, I was staying at this so-called long long time ago when the name of the hotel is considered famous. After checking in and tried out the bed, I can actually bounce back if I were to jump to my bed. Nevertheless, my parents will killed me I were to book Tune Hotel for them. But come to think about it, Tune Hotel is even better. At least their bed is not trampoline feel.

Since my sister-in-law's parents are devout Buddhist, bringing them to the Kek Lok Si temple to witness our very own Giant Kuan Yin statue is a good idea. Hong Kong have their famous Wong Tai Sin temple and Giant Buddha. Luckily in Penang, this Kek Lok Si temple is not bad either.

We went up to the new pavilion where the Giant Kuan Yin statue is still under construction. I would say 90% completion. Once on top, you could enjoy the picturesque view of whole Penang from there. Not so long ago, I was given a clip from Youtube regarding a documentary talking about Penang from TVB show. That documentary was never shown in Wah Lai Toi though it is part of the channel's show. In that documentary they drew a similar comparison of Penang with Hong Kong judging from economy, lifestyle and history.

Come to think about it, it indeed true. Let's draw a list of similar item you can get in Penang and in Hong Kong

Hong Kong vs Penang

Giant Buddha = Giant Kuan Yin


The Peak = Penang Hill

The Peak Tram = The Penang Hill Tram

Both also have Sun Yat Sen museum and both also have been visited by the person himself.

Though Hong Kong people are not famous of spicy food. But no one can resist the spiciness of a good sardine-rich bowl of assam laksa from this famous stall in Penang. My brother's in-laws finished till the last drop of the gravy.

I visited so many Sleeping Buddha. From the the famous Buddhist religion country of Bangkok to the Islamic state of Kelantan. I was surprised when I noted that there is another one at Penang in Wat Chayamangkalaram.

I kind of like this shot down here. This picture depicts as if the Buddha had received enlightenment. Now this is what I called a picture speaks a thousand Buddhas.

We visited another temple nearby. The Burmese Temple (Dhammikarama). Looking at the temple, one would wonder. Why I need to go to Thailand to visit their temple when I can find aplenty in Malaysia!

That put my sister-in-law into great thought. Hmmm, maybe you are right.

Now, the next destination we planned to visit was Cheong Fat Tze mansion. It became very famous that no photos are allowed inside. And also so "action", that it only open after 11am. As we reached there quite early, we don't bother to wait another 30 minutes for it to open.  Though I must admit the view and the painting job they had there is marvellous. Nippon paint maybe? To me, it is just another someones house which we would rather pay the amount of the entrance fee to a hotel. And yet we can sleep, bathe inside, 2 bottles of free water and trampoline to exercise.

So we decided to head back to our hotel which we paid for something where we could do which the latter can't. After checking out, we head to this famous and headline grabbing char keoy teow stall at Lorong Selamat. So famous that people wrote on newspaper and blog condemning the price and attitude of the owner of this stall.

I once told my wife, that if you don't like someones food or attitude then just don't eat. No need to go to newspaper over such a small matter. After all, it's just a plate of char keoy teow. My wife replied me that human are sometimes very funny. They loved to being scolded. This is what we called "fan chien". The char keoy teow was good but maybe a bit overrated. But one thing I must respect her. How can her hat can bend forward yet didn't cover her face?

In Penang, the naming of the street is very funny. Magazine Road does not mean you get a lot of stall selling magazines. Lorong Susu does not mean there is a lot of people drinking milk and I can't even find one milk related item there. Actually, when it comes to milk, one can try Hokkien speaking Indian guy selling milk at Air Hitam. If he were to open his stall at this Lorong Susu, I'm sure this signboard won't be bitten off like this.

One can really see the transformation the state had experienced once it achieved the status of World Heritage site. Those ancient building which we had aplenty in KL has been injected life back into life. Just look at this old era building which I'm quite sure the building in front of HSBC HQ in KL are of same architectural design. But one is post Jeremy Lin while the other is pre-Jeremy Lin.

You know what? I've been to Penang a couple of time. But never a time, I stood still to observe their building and architectural brilliance for one until they was drafted in the World Heritage site. I guess that's human. When you are just the normal stuff and no other people take notice of you, nobody will even pay attention on you. Just when you were recognised from people outside your own circle and all of the sudden, if you farted people will think it smell like Enchanteur.

And why on earth there is a grayscale Pakistan house doing nearby to this vibrant and colourful city?

Sitiawan - Swiflet City & The Venice Of Perak

Since Han Ching moved to her new job, she gets to travel more on local scene. Though this time is not China, Pakistan, Indonesia or Thailand on wings but instead Perak, Penang, Johor, and Selangor on wheels. As I still have leave to clear from last year and after a hectic an d sleepless month working for ironically a project in Perak, I was surprised to go back to the town where this project was. Manjung. I dropped Han Ching off to the factory in Sitiawan and began to loiter around Perak not-so-famous-for-tourism town. Happened to be the town is so dead and quiet that the focus is more to industry-driven purpose. Wondered how they claimed themselves to be Venice of Perak.

Harvesting bird nest is one of the activity you can relate with Sitiawan. I took a drive along an "abandoned" shop lot a distance away from Han Ching's factory. I was hoping for some places for food. To my astonishment, the brand new shop lots were all closed. Shut doors! Gee, the business must be really bad there. Upon looking closer, the windows were fully opened. Weird thing was though it was opened it was blocked by brick wall laid behind the windows.

After making one round of that eerie feeling shop lot, I came across the word Taman Eko Burung Walet on building which means Swiflets Eco-Garden. The name is nice. Eco. Good enough to fool people and birds by the fact that it was meant to be a bird nest harvesting ground. This shoplot isn't catered for human dwelling. It was built for the purpose to lure swiftlets to built their nests in it and while they are away hunting for food on the daytime, harvesters will come in and stole away their nest. Poor birds. I'm sure the swiflets must be furious like an Angry Bird when they got home.

I wound down my car window and I was treated to relentless sound of birds' chirping indicating to me that more than hundred of birds dwelling inside the buildings. With no sign of human beings, I drove down to the nearby town and I came across many abandoned building converted as the harvesting ground for bird nest. It's very simple to notice one along the road. Their windows was opened with brick wall (sometimes with opening through it) laid behind it. The door was closed. Nope. Not "chicken" ground. But multi thousand dollar business ground. Recently, some of the bird nest from Malaysia has been banned from other countries due to the authenticity issue. It's just not so "natural" anymore.

As it will be quite a while before Han Ching finished her work, I tried googling the web for some local delicacy to be found in Sitiawan. Guess what? I'm doing it with my "baling-anjing" Nokia phone. And I came across this shop called Sin Lay which is supposed to be famous for making "kon pheah". I bought myself a few pieces of the pork-lard oil infused, caramelised onions stuffed biscuits. I asked for the shop's staff for permission to snap some photos of their making process.

One could feel an ancient taste of how this biscuit was made by sticking the biscuit inside the wall of the oven filled with burning charcoal. The taste is awesome yet traditional. Pork lard tastes so good that you never thought to be guilty eating it without someone telling you that's it's unhealthy. I saved some for Han Ching and by the time she managed to get a hand on it, the whole car smell like one of the biscuits. I would recommend those who dropped by the shop to eat it fresh or while it's hot as once cooled, the biscuit is a bit chewy just like a hardened fat.

A few biscuit does not satisfy my stomach. As I was hunting for another famous eateries shops, most of them was either closed or still haven't started their business. I was left with disappointment. Both my GPS and baling-anjing Nokia phone couldn't find me anymore specialty food around. With no major entertainment around except Tesco Manjung, I drove down to Lumut to catch a glimpse of the harbour nearby. I parked by the river side and took a stroll while watching big vessels docking in and out. Frankly speaking, there is nothing to see and buy as souvenir in Lumut.

Except some "ham yue" (salted fish).

Food T(r)ail Of Feline City - Eating Out In Kuching

So, what food you need to try in Sarawak?

1.    Sarawak Laksa at Chong Choon Café at Abell Street

Sarawak laksa is a bit different from the asam laksa in Penang. Here, they put lots of pepper into it. I guess the famous place to get it is at Chong Choon Café. The locals like here as well. At Chong Choon Café, you can try their toast as well. Thumbs up for me. As for the Kolo mee, I guess every shops sell it. Though this shop belongs to a Chinese, don’t be surprise there are Malays eating inside it. Here, they serve no pork but with no halal logo. But, they don’t create much fuss here.

2.    Lao Ya Keng Food Court at Carpenter Street

You will hardly miss this shop. Shared the same compound of a Chinese temple, I found this shop from the tourism brochure of Kuching. When we were there, there were journalists interviewing the owner which reflects the popularity of the stall I guess. I find the fish cake and fish ball served to be very tasty, soft and tangy as well. Beside the noodle stall, stood one stall which sell pork satay. The taste is not bad if compared to the other type of meat I tried before this.

3.    Nasi tsunami at food court along Brooke Street

My brother told me to try out this rice before I depart to Kuching. He was there just one week before me. At first, I don’t fond of the name because when tsunami happened, it was a catastrophe event which claimed thousands of people lives being swept to the sea. To translate that scenario into dishes... urgh… Nevertheless, I still give it a try. Taste just like the Chinese version of Cantonese noodle gravy serves with rice. The food court here serves quite a variety of food ranging from western, Indonesian and Sarawak. Try their ‘midin’, a green jungle fern that grows in Sarawak is a must have vegetable here. Kuching is famous for salted ikan terubok as well. But be careful when you try it. Chinese has a belief that the tastier the fish the more bone it will have. This fish fits the bill. ‘Umai’ is also served here and it is basically origin from Iban tribe. To me, ‘umai’ is actually the local sashimi. Last but not least, give the 3 layers tea a try. With the milk (white), dark brown sugar, and tea (brown), it forms 3 colors in your drink.

(in response to Han Ching's comment)

Ayam pansuh is another typical dishes among the people in Sarawak. The dish is prepared by cooking chicken meat in a bamboo and stuffed with water (which later will be the soup), seasonings and covered with tapioca leaves (later could be eaten together with the cooked chicken). Though it is a signature dish, you hardly find it easily available as the way of cooking it requires time and of course bamboo. So, if the restaurant claimed that they serve this dish 24/7, ask them to serve with the bamboo instead of serving you on the plate. I was told that I need to make a reservation in a hotel restaurant in order to taste it. But when I ventured along the Brooke Street, there is a stall selling authentic ayam pansuh. How I knew that? They were setting up a fire and rows of bamboo were aligned the fire.

4.    Ayam Penyet at Simpang Tiga Street

As Sarawak is located near Kalimantan Indonesia, ‘ayam penyet’ has been absorbed into Malaysia lifestyle. The ‘Ayam Penyet’ franchise you get in Peninsular is not as tasty as the one I found here which was recommended by the reception lady in my hotel. Sometimes, to try to best local food around, you just need to ask the local people rather than believing what’s written in the tourism brochure. You see, the locals like me won’t go to Jalan Alor in KL to eat. Still, there are many tourists got “slit on their throats” there. Why? Because Lonely Planet told them so. As for the name of the shop, sorry as I forgot to note it down. What I can recall is this shop located a few blocks away from a Chinese restaurant.

5.    Lui Cha at Pisang Barat Street

Made famous by Axian. This is the only Hakka dish that does not involved meat. With a mixture of vegetables, beans and herbs, the strong smell of the mint leaf soup either make you loathe it of love it. If you want to be healthy and go smooth in the toilet after all the rubbish you gobbled down the day before, give this a go.

6.    Layer Cake from Aunty Cynthea at Kapor Street

The gift you shouldn’t miss bringing back home as souvenir is this. There are so many shops and stalls selling this cake. But which one serves the best when guys selling aphrodisiac medicine along the street sell layer cake as well. Different from Appollo layer cake, it is made from much denser and more layers of cake that are compressed and formed a rainbow color pattern. To me, Axian has shown me the best and most characteristic layer cake shop house. Meet Aunty Cynthea. When my GPS brought me in front of 2, Taman Top Green Literature Villa, Jalan Kapor, I cursed the GPS for not doing his job well. 

Luckily, we got Aunty Cynthia hand phone as well and decided to ring her. Soon, there’s one old lady opened the wooden door and wave at us. Shoot. The shop we were looking for is actually a double storey rich lady house. Yup, she sells layer cakes. We were invited inside and for the first time I spoke the most Cantonese language during my stay here. That aunty is a Cantonese. She was so kind to us and began to relate her humble stories which she was once asked to prepare 1Malaysia logo cake to the Prime Minister. Trust me; this aunty is no ordinary aunty. Her connection with the politician’s wives even is better that Streamyx line.

I found the Chinese food in Kuching has a lot of influence from the Hakka community while the Malay food has the influence from Kalimantan. When it comes to food, different people have different taste, view and judgment. Just like durian. I dislike it but others worship it so much. Even my blogspot spell check does not recognise the word 'durian'.