On Saturday, July 14, 2018, my wife Soh
Ai, our eldest son Wai Kit and I left home at 12.00pm by car driven by Wai Kit
to Melaka via Silk Highway North-South
Highway
We arrived at Melaka at 2.35pm and
immediately checked into Avillion Legacy hotel at 146, Jalan Hang Tuah (booked
and paid by Wai Kit, about RM 140 per night).
For traveling for the rest of the day, we took GRAB cars instead of
driving ourselves.
We left the hotel at 3.15pm to go to
Jonker Walk. The Grab car’s fare was RM
5.00. There weren’t many tourists at
that time.
We went for a late lunch or early dinner
at 4.00pm at “Nyonya Kitchen” (Uncle Keong Delicacies) at 108, Jalan Tokong
(almost end of Jonker Street) where we had tamarind fish (ikan assam, RM
60.00), bean paste chicken (ayam pong teh, RM25.00), fried belachan long beans
(RM 18.00), steamed spicy fish paste (otak-otak, RM 20.00), 3 bowls of rice (RM
3.60), soursop juice and buah long-long juice (each RM 8.00). The total cost plus 5% service charge
amounted to RM 149.75. The taste of the
food was okay, nothing great but the cost was felt to be pricy. We had no better choice of restaurant in
Jonker Walk and we were quite hungry then, having not eaten anything after
breakfast at about 9.30am.
After that, we walked around Jonker Walk
area and took 4 pieces of durian mochi (RM 10.00) and chendol (RM 6.00) at a
shop where a giant durian sculpture was displayed. I bought 2 packets of kacang
gula at a shop called “Old Shop” at 30, Jalan Hang Jebat. We also visited Gudang Hasil Restaurant (三叔公) and bought a bottle of concentrated honey lime juice 900g
(“一树酸柑露” 纯蜂蜜) and a
bottle of essence lime with liquorice 800g (浓缩陈年老桔) for RM 21.50 each.
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| Lobby of Avillion Legacy Melaka |
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| Our spacious hotel room |
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| Jonker Walk |
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| Durian mochi (4 pieces for RM 10.00) |
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| Chendol (RM 6.00) |
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| Soh Ai (pic right) and Wai KIt |
We returned to the hotel by Grab car.at
about 6.00pm. We went to the roof-top
swimming pool at 6th floor for a look before returning to our rooms
for rest.
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| The things I bought at Jonker Walk |
We left the hotel at 7.30pm and took a
Grab car to Impression
City
I observed the theatre was only about 2/3
full. And the approximately 70-minute long show was indeed impressive.
A bit of the background of “Encore Melaka”
is as follows:
Encore Melaka, a scenic venue
overlooking the Straits of Melaka, is a purpose-built 2,000-seat theatre, which
has been designed especially to provide a hi-tech retelling of Melaka’s rich
history.
Refer: https://encore-melaka.com/zh/%E5%8F%88%E8%A6%8B%E9%A6%AC%E5%85%AD%E7%94%B2%E5%89%A7%E5%9C%BA/
Encore Melaka (又见马六甲), helmed by China-based artistic director Wang Chaoge (王潮歌), is a state-of-the-art production of
Melaka’s beginnings and growth through a timeline of six centuries, depicted
through a myriad of compelling songs and dances.
The 70-minute long mega show recounts
the long-forgotten tales: stories of the early voyagers, legacy of Zheng He (郑和)’s diplomatic mission, indigenous settlement and
cross-cultural encounters such as the Baba Nyonya (峇峇娘惹).
Audiences will be transported through
different eras, presented in English, Bahasa Malaysia
Wang Chaoge was part of the team behind
the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
Encore Melaka is the 10th Impression
series (印象系列) established in 1998 by renowned
directors Zhang Yimou (张艺谋),
Fan Yue (樊跃) and Wang (王潮歌) and first outside of China
The Encore Melaka theatre boasts innovative
and stunning video projection mapping and multi-stage hydraulic sets, advanced
lighting and acoustic techniques and features a one-of-a-kind 360-degree rotating
audience platform. The
show features 200 local performers.
The theatre building was designed by
Wang Ge from the Beijing Institute of Architectural Design which occupies 15
acres and overlooks the scenic water view of the Straits of Melaka. Its modern
structure of white porcelain exterior and blue shades welcomes guests with an
organic canopy entrance leading to a blue foyer, the main facade.
The theatre is located in Melaka’s most
prominent site, along the city’s waterfront, 3.5km from Jonker Street Impression City @ Kota Syahbandar, 75200, Melaka , Malaysia
Photos and video recording are not permitted
during the performance, although a few audiences were found taking pictures
with their mobile phones but they were not stopped by the staff.
I found “Encore Melaka” very entertaining
and enjoyed the phenomenal experience of the rotating audience platform, multi-layered
and multi-leveled stage, excellent audio and visual effects combined with contemporary
choreography and artful delivery. The
water dance scene at the finale was most impressive.
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| The theatre of "Encore Melaka" |
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| Ticket for the show |
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| Finale of the show |
After the show ended at 9.45pm, we took a
Grab car to go to Jonker Walk again. The
night market there was crowded and there were many snacks to eat. I took 5 pieces of skewers (each RM 1), a cup
of mango juice (RM 7) and shared with Soh Ai a plate of fried egg-oysters (RM
10).
We returned to the hotel at 11.30pm
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| Night market of Jonker Walk |
On Sunday morning, July 15, 2018, we went
to Restoran Nasi Kandar Subaidah along Jalan Hang Tuah for breakfast at
10.15am. The food comprising a few pieces of curry mutton, curry fish, chicken,
boiled eggs, rice and teh tarik cost us RM 30.65.
We checked out of the hotel at
11.45am. We planned to patronize Baba
Charlie Nyonya Cake before returning to KL.
Along the way and while waiting at a traffic junction, I found a large
billboard advertising The Tun Abdul Ghafar Baba (former Deputy Prime Minister,
1986-1993) Memorial and asked Wai Kit to drive in for a visit.
The Memorial is a single-storey (with a
mezzanine floor) timber building. As I
found the door closed and was about to leave in disappointment, a caretaker
opened the door and invited us to go in for a visit. Entrance is free of charge.
I was told that this was the residence of
Tun Abdul Ghafar Baba after being appointed as the Melaka Chief Minister
(1959-1967). He used this place to meet
the people too. The exhibition space is
divided into two main parts. The lower
level showcases his personal items during his service with the government as
the people’s representative, the Chief Minister of Melaka, Cabinet Minister and
subsequently the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia
I posed for a photo with the friendly
caretaker before departure.
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| Memorial Tun Abdul Ghafar Baba |
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| A pose with the caretaker of Memorial Tun Abdul Ghafar Baba |
There was a mistake on my part in setting
the WAZE’s location of Charlie Nyonya Cake to Its night market location every
Wednesday at Jalan Emas 9 which not far from Memorial Tun Abdul Ghafar
Baba. Upon arrival only did I realize my
mistake as it is a residential area. A
reset of direction took us another 15 minutes to Baba Charlie Nyonya Cake at
72, Jalan Tengkera Pantai 2C. It is a domestic
nyonya cake-production house and was packed with customers when we dropped in
at about 12.40pm.
We bought 4 packets of 5-piece kuih (each
RM 6.50), 4 pieces of nyonya chang or dumplings (each RM 5.50), durian dodol
(RM 7.50) and original dodol (RM 7.50), totaling RM 63.00.
Wai Kit proposed to go the nearby Baba
Charlie Café at 631, Jalan Siantan Seksyen 2 for a drink. Actually they also sell nyonya cakes there
but the varieties and quantities are less than their production house.
We had nyonya otak-otak (RM 15.00), nyonya
chang (2 pcs RM 11.00), nyonya popiah (RM 3.80), kuih (RM 5.50) and 3 glasses
of kopi ice (RM 9.00), totaling RM 44.30.
We left Melaka at about 1.30pm and
returned home at 4.00pm.
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| Baba Charlie Nyonya Cake (30 years' history) |
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| Long queue to buy the freshly made nyonya cakes |
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| Baba Charlie Cafe (in operation 2 years ago) |
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| Our snacks at Baba Charlie Cafe before returning home |