Port Dickson Food and Visiting with Locals

On Sunday, Eric’s cold was much worse when he woke up. He was feeling awful, and wasn’t up for going anywhere or doing anything, so we had a quiet day aboard Kosmos. On Monday (yesterday), he was feeling somewhat better, so we ventured out. The first outing was to a strip mall we had seen from the taxi on our way to Melaka that looked like it was within walking distance. It turned out to be about a mile walk. In the strip mall are 4 restaurants, a small grocery store, two small mini-marts, a clothes store, fishing store, and a store that sells cameras and does portraits. Across the street from the strip mall is a hospital. Up the street we could see an office building. Not much for excitement, but at least there were a few restaurant choices.

We chose an Indian restaurant called Cahaya Musthafa. We each got an order of paratha bread Christi egg and Eric plain and we shared the entrée, murtabak paratha. We were expecting small fried pieces of meat baked into the bread. It was actually a patty with the different meats all ground into it, along with seasonings, and the patty was in the center of the bread. It was very good and cheap. The whole meal, including three beverages came to USD $2.50.

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Our next big outing was Continue reading

Museums of Melaka – Baba-Nonya, Sultan’s Palace & More

Continued from yesterday”¦ This house is actually three shop houses side by side, with doorways through the structural walls so one can walk through all three houses without having to go outside. Two of the houses were for the family, and the third was the servants quarters. The outside looks similar to all the other Chinese shophouses, with European style shuttered windows and relief style decorations designed into the exterior walls. The doors are made of a heavy, dark colored wood and intricately carved. The foyer is in the center house, and as soon as you step inside, it is clear that all the furniture in the house and many of the dividing walls are made of the same really super intricately carved dark wood. The furniture is inlaid with mother of pearl and gold and silver leaf, as are the walls. The glass is etched with designs. Quite large and expensive tapestries decorate the walls. The floor is tiled. It is the kind of place you are terrified to bring your young children because there are so many breakable things around, and it is hard to believe that young children once lived in this house.

We got to see the kitchen with all of its old school appliances hand crank ice cream makers, hand crank pasta makers, wood fire stoves, ice box, mortar and pestle for grinding up food, and all those other things that make a woman so thankful for modern day appliances. Upstairs, there were displays of Continue reading

Museums of Melaka – Maritime Museum, Customs & Baba-Nonya

The hotel we stayed at is called the Herring House and it is quaint and charming. Christi’s allergies started bothering her in the night, so in the morning she was looking forward to a long, very hot shower to clear her head. No such luck. There is a water heater mounted to the wall of the shower and she couldn’t figure out how to turn it on. Neither could Eric, so we both wound up with cold showers. Well”¦ cold is the wrong word. We’re in the tropics, where cold water doesn’t exist. Tepid would be the appropriate word. But it still didn’t have the safe effect at clearing out your sinuses that a hot, steamy shower has.

Eric had been saying for several days now that he thought he might be fighting off a cold. This morning he felt like the cold had won the battle. He was not feeling good at all, with a sore throat and achy back. Christi was sneezing and sniffling and loudly blowing her nose. We were quite the pair.

We were meeting the crew of Shayile at the Maritime Museum at 1000. With a little time to kill before our meeting time, we wandered around the corner and down a street we hadn’t explored yet in search of an ATM. This street is a main drag. The side of the street we were on had a nice park and a brand new mall. They are also in the process of building Continue reading

Exploring Melaka, Malaysia’s Most Historic City

Continued from yesterday”¦ We headed another block or so down to the town square. The downtown area is actually quite small. It begins at the mouth of a river and is built mostly along the river. The east side of the river has the old Dutch buildings and a few Portuguese ruins (most of the Portuguese buildings had been destroyed by war). The Dutch buildings are all painted a brick red color, which we are told is how they looked when the Dutch controlled the area. The west side of the river is Chinatown, which has endless rows of two story row houses.

The town square has a church and an old government building that now houses three museums. The road in front of it is cobblestone. There is a round about with beautiful flowers and a small windmill. There are tons and tons of rickshaw bikes lined up on the inside of the roundabout, waiting to be hired. The rickshaws are little two person carts attached to a bicycle, and you sit in the cart and have your driver pedal you around town. The rickshaws in and of themselves are quite basic, but, like the bemos in Kupang, the rickshaw owners have totally decked out their little vehicles. Most have umbrellas, fake flower arrangements, tinsel, and other bits of flashy décor to try to get your attention.

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We went into the Continue reading

Exploring Port Dickson City and Melaka City

The first task of the day was to go to Port Dickson to check in. The marina charges an $5USD surcharge if they call the cab for you, so we decided to walk down the road to the taxi stand marked on the map the marina gave us. The tree lined, nice looking road we were on let out onto a main road with blocky, unattractive military housing dominating the other side of the street. The “taxi stand” was really a bus stop. In Singapore, you never waited more than a minute for a taxi at a stand. After 10 minutes, only two taxis had passed, both full, and we began to wonder if not paying the surcharge might have been a mistake. Should we go back to the marina? Fortunately, a cab pulled up right then.

The taxi driver asked us where we wanted to go. We said Continue reading