Still in Malacca

Location: Malacca, Malaysia

NP: Metallica - One

Mood: Spirited

What a strangely attractive city Malacca is. It hides many little things unnoticeable at first glance. I'm not sure I'd care to leave, though I know that soon we must move on. This is my tenth day here.

I'm still discovering new things about this place every day. Just this morning I finally realized the inner workings of a place called Pasar Taman Kota Laksamana, which is a bazaar across the street from our hotel we'd never seen open. Today I noticed that it's open early in the morning and closes at midday or even before! Many customers visited the place today, but they're all gone by the time we usually wander outside the confines of Kota Lodge, our hotel.

Today I noticed them because yesterday we finally switched to a room with a window and a balcony.

Last evening we visited a gym located at the far end of Jonker Street. We had always had to walk a route that was nowhere near as straight as we would've liked, because tightly built buildings blocked direct access to Jonker Street from here. Yesterday, when on our way to the gym, we noticed an elderly Chinese woman with a bicycle and a red helmet moving through a secluded building with an open iron gate in front. She stopped by the gate and looked at us. We were still staring at her, looking puzzled. What was that building? Could we get across from there?

She said something to us and pointed on the other side of the building, to the direction she'd just come from. I asked something similar to "Can we pass through there?" to which she responded by beckoning us over. So we went through the gate, thanked her, walked through a building which housed a private parking lot and appeared on Jonker Street! Thank you, Chinese lady with a red helmet!

We've also already found no less than three favourite restaurants here: Far East Cafe, How Kuai Restaurant and Pak Putra. Each one serves excellent food that has a decent amount of meat in a portion. Far East Cafe has a Vietnamese cook, we learned, and the slightly expensive (13 ringgit - 3,25 € + extra for rice) pork dishes there are superb.

Pineapple pork and rice at Far East Cafe.

How Kuai was a strange find - it's small and often closed, but if you manage to get in, try the black pepper chicken chop. For just 5,5 ringgit (1,4 €) you'll give your tastebuds a bit of peppery heaven.

Black pepper chicken chop at How Kuai.

Pak Putra is a well-known local eatery (it's even mentioned on Lonely Planet) just on the other side of the block from our hotel. It's pretty packed every night, but the combination of chicken dishes (8,5 ringgit - 2,1 €) and nan bread (about 2,5 to 3,5 ringgit) is delicious.

Also, don't forget to try the local specialties: Nonya food (which you can get at Far East Cafe), pineapple tarts (delicious! But get them from LW Nyonya Pineapple Tarts House on Jonker Street because quality varies a lot) and Cendol (though not my favourite, it was alright and different, like a mixture between icecream and milkshake with odd bits).

I notice I'm getting hungry as I write this. Maybe it's time to wake up my snoring travelling companion and wander outside for a bite to eat.

Damn it - I forget. None of these restaurants opens before 5 PM.