Stop-overs in Malacca during pilgrimage

My final instalment about our pilgrimage to some Catholic Churches in Malacca last December, during a short 2-day/1-night stay (just for record) that included the following:

1. Good Shephered Catholic Seminary where we stayed comfortably for the night.
2. St Paul's Hill/Church's ruins & St Francis Xavier Church where St Francis Xavier's Feast day was celebrated.
3. St Peter's Church for Sunday Eucharistic Celebration.

Pilgrimage tours where the primary focus is on our Heavenly Father are unlike normal tours! Hence, the itinerary will cover more places of worship, and evidently, visits to other interesting places are secondary and much reduced to fit in the tight schedule.

Nonetheless, we were happy to be able to relax and experience a little of Malacca's night life and visit some interesting places!

After the feast day celebration ended at St Francis Xavier Church, we adjourned to Honky Tonk Haven Cafe, located at 68, Jalan Hang Jebat for dinner. A simple meal, yet enjoyable with a delicious spread of rice, fried meehoon, curry chicken, vege, toufu etc. Here too, we were able to get a view of the Melaka River and the River Boat cruising by. After dinner, we strolled to Jonker Walk, an open air night market that was packed with food stalls and shops selling all kinds of interesting and attractive things. So crowded with people, that can be likened to our Petaling Street in Kuala Lumpur, that usually makes me so dizzy! A blessing in disguise that my beloved John had leg pains and we managed to borrow two stools to rest from a kind 'Samaritan' manning his stall nearby.



Late morning the next day, after attending the Sunday Mass at St Peter's Church, we had the opportunity to try out Malaysia's first revolving 'Gyro Tower' at Menara Taming Sari, which is located at Jalan Merdeka, Banda Hilir, Melaka. The 110-metre viewing tower is equipped with an air-conditioned cabin to accommodate 66 persons at any one time and from a height of 80 metres, you'll get to enjoy its scenic and historical beauty, the Straits of Malacca and its waterways, plus other rapid development around its city below. It was a first-time experience for John and I, and we enjoyed the smooth and gradual revolving ride to the top and back to ground-level. The ride just cost us RM8/= per pax, being privileged senior citizens...hehe!

Before long, it was time for lunch at Amy Heritage Nyonya Cuisine, located at 75 Jalan Melaka Raya 24, Taman Melaka Raya, 75000 Melaka (Tel: 06-2868819). Nice little cosy eatery that serves a wide range of nyonya dishes and delights. Food was very tasty and appetizing, and the cendol (a sweet dessert of coconut milk and gula Melaka, with some green noodles) was simply sublime! Pity though that it was served in small bowls and only one helping per person. Hmm...just enough to tickle our taste buds...wanna have more!!

Next stop-over before leaving Malacca for home-sweet-home was at Tan Kim Hock, Malacca's main products center. We headed straight for its cendol, since our earlier craving was unsatisfied! What a great disappointment! Gosh, can you imagine eating flaky pieces of frozen coconut milk in what was supposed to be one of the most favourite and mouth-watering dessert in Malacca? We, tourists have been obviously fooled! But, once bitten twice shy....never will I allow myself to be cheated here again! And, somehow that disappointed feeling killed our desire to buy anything from that shop! Aren't they silly, deprived of potential sales at the expense of a cheap bowl of cendol at RM3/-?

Anyway, comparatively the prices of products are much higher at Tan Kim Hock and you can get them cheaper elsewhere in Melaka! The only advantage that I can see is that you can easily get almost all of Melaka's products under one roof, and there are countless, to say the least!

Goodbye Malacca, until we meet again! Hope to see more of you in our next visit!