After a hectic month, we arrived into KL having not slept for 72 hours. So you can imagine our delight when we found out the bus from the airport to Melaka was fully loaded with 'massage chairs'. We were asleep pretty quick! Upon arrival in the colonial city and a somewhat circular cab trip, we found an affordable room at rather retro looking Emperor Hotel. The yellow exterior and 1970's decor was right up our street. The view from our picture window up on the 18th floor was great for gazing out over the city. We conked out and spent the next day in bed, with short breaks for food at the night market opposite - where you could get 10 sticks of chicken satay for about $2. You could also sample tasty treats like monitor lizard curry, sweet and sour frog or pig brain soup!
You might be wondering, why Melaka? Most people only visit the World Heritage spot for a day or two - but we really wanted to just stop and chill out on the way to Oz and we'd been to KL before. We had considered flying up to Georgetown, Penang - but thought we'd save that one for another time. Maybe on the way south from our favourite Thai island Koh Lipe!
After five days at the Emperor, we moved over to the River Song Residence, a lovely little guesthouse with a balcony right in Chinatown. We discovered the most incredible brunch spot called Eat at 18 - my favourite place in all of Melaka - they also have stunning boutique rooms, so check them out if aren't travelling on a shoestring!
Rather lazily, we did some Christmas shopping in Chinatown, wandered around the night markets in Jonker Street, had massages every other day, ate delicious food, chilled on the balcony in the rain and enjoy a bit of sun by the pool.
One night we went out to Bistro 1673 and made friends with the two-piece playing live music - Joseph and Lauren, who kindly gave us lots of insider foodie tips on Melakan cuisine. We met up a couple of times and sampled everything from traditional Nyonya food, authentic Chinese, frozen coconut shakes, Durian jelly and the famous Nadeje layer cake (dozens of crepes delicately piled up with cream inbetween each layer!) Amazing.
Unfortunately, our trip to the cake shop was en-route to the bus, which our friends had kindly offered to drop us to, and we missed it due to a traffic jam! There wasn't enough time to get another bus and so we thought we'd take a taxi - but they wouldn't hear of it, and drove us two hours back to KL. What angels! Thanks J&L.
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| Strolling the canal at dusk, you can see our retro highrise hotel in the distance, and the next hotel we stayed in is just on the opposite side of the riverbank |
You might be wondering, why Melaka? Most people only visit the World Heritage spot for a day or two - but we really wanted to just stop and chill out on the way to Oz and we'd been to KL before. We had considered flying up to Georgetown, Penang - but thought we'd save that one for another time. Maybe on the way south from our favourite Thai island Koh Lipe!After five days at the Emperor, we moved over to the River Song Residence, a lovely little guesthouse with a balcony right in Chinatown. We discovered the most incredible brunch spot called Eat at 18 - my favourite place in all of Melaka - they also have stunning boutique rooms, so check them out if aren't travelling on a shoestring!Rather lazily, we did some Christmas shopping in Chinatown, wandered around the night markets in Jonker Street, had massages every other day, ate delicious food, chilled on the balcony in the rain and enjoy a bit of sun by the pool.
One night we went out to Bistro 1673 and made friends with the two-piece playing live music - Joseph and Lauren, who kindly gave us lots of insider foodie tips on Melakan cuisine. We met up a couple of times and sampled everything from traditional Nyonya food, authentic Chinese, frozen coconut shakes, Durian jelly and the famous Nadeje layer cake (dozens of crepes delicately piled up with cream inbetween each layer!) Amazing.
Unfortunately, our trip to the cake shop was en-route to the bus, which our friends had kindly offered to drop us to, and we missed it due to a traffic jam! There wasn't enough time to get another bus and so we thought we'd take a taxi - but they wouldn't hear of it, and drove us two hours back to KL. What angels! Thanks J&L.
