Has there been enough news on the great welcome for the historic cities Melaka (Malacca) and George Town being jointly inscribed as UNESCO Cultural World Heritage Sites? Ya I think whoever that read yesterday’s and today’s Malaysian papers will not miss out this news, as it has been covered quite extensively.
Melaka and George Town are jointly inscribed as historic cities of the Straits of Malacca, enjoying the fame of being the first cultural World Heritage Site in Malaysia. Even though these 2 historic cities are about 500km apart by driving distance, but being the earliest most-developed trading ports during foreign colonization age, they jointly mark the most important historical timeline of Malaysia.
Out of the 10 selection criteria of World Heritage Site, Melaka and George Town meet the following:
to exhibit an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning or landscape design;
to bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared;
to be an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates (a) significant stage(s) in human history;
Congratulation to all government and non-government organizations who have contributed to bring this wish into a reality. It has been a hard effort of 7 years, since 2001, before these sibling cities are successfully recognized by UNESCO for its heritage values.
After the recent fuel price hike that caught most Malaysians by heart attack, many sectors are started to take advantage to increase price of products and services. While inflated prices is expected, but some greedy Malaysians are exploiting this opportunity to gain leaping profits; increasing prices by 30% even though the actual impact is only 5-10%.
Last weekend, I’ve done quick verbal check on taxi fares with some taxis at Melaka Mall and Melaka Sentral. With comparison to the fares that I’ve learned before fuel price hike, the finding shows that most of the taxis surveyed have already increased their so-called “standard faresâ€, by average of RM1 or RM2, for destinations within Melaka town.
My question is, are these taxis affected by the fuel price hike? Correct me if I’m wrong; from my knowledge, most if not all, of the taxis in Melaka Tengah are already fixed with NGV parts to run on natural gas for vehicle. And the fact is, price of NGV is NOT affected by the recent fuel price! It’s only RM0.635/litre.
On what basis are the taxi operators inflating their fares, when the operating cost remains the same?
Take for example, the taxi fare from Melaka Mall to Bukit Beruang, which is only a journey of about 2.6km, was charged at RM7 (again, according to the so-called “standard rateâ€). However, after the fuel price hike, the same journey will now cost RM8! This is a lot more expensive than the metered taxis in Kuala Lumpur and Klang Valley. As comparison, for the same distance in KL and Klang Valley, we will only be charged about RM5 by metered taxi. (more…)
If you think that Melaka Nyonya laksa is the synonym of curry laksa, you’re wrong In fact, the genuine Nyonya laksa is enriched with various spices but cooked without curry powder.
There are many places in Melaka serving Nyonya laksa, but Donald & Lily’s is one of my favourite.
Donald & Lily’s Corner is located at Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock (Heeren Street), within walking distance from Jonker Street and the reddish Dutch Square. However, the location of Donald & Lily’s Corner is less noticeable. You must walk to the back of Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock, or go to Kota Laksamana car park, and you can find Donald & Lily’s Corner as shown in the following picture.
The dining area is located at the upstair of an old house built before World War II.
Nyonya Laksa (RM 3.20) is undeniably the signature dish here. Tasteful and spice-rich gravy, complemented by juicy clams (si ham), is enough to make you drool when thinking about it. (more…)
Wake up in the morning, breakfast plays the most important role in bringing good mood for the whole day. If you have passion for food, a set of satisfying breakfast will surely make you happy, trilled, and energized. Last time when I was a kid, bread was hardly appreciated by me, as I had breads with butter spread for almost every schooling day during recess time. However, now that breads are not as cheap anymore :p after working, a set of mouth watering roasted breads or steamed breads (must be tasty la hehe) is undoubtedly a great breakfast.
Though wholemeal bread is undoubtedly more enriched in terms of nutrition facts, but it can never replace the role of the traditional white bread for making steamed bread with butter and kaya spreads. Combination of butter and kaya spreads is known locally as kahwin.
Where in Melaka is your favourite kopitiam?
When I’m back to Melaka during weekend, I like to visit Siang Chiang for breakfast. (more…)
Melaka’s latest tourist attraction, Menara Taming Sari (Revolving Tower), is expected to open to public on 7th Apr 2008 (Monday).
Menara Taming Sari is located at Bandar Hilir, beside Dataran Pahlawan Megamall. This 110m high revolving tower was built using Swiss technology at a total cost of RM23mil. It is the first of its kind in the country with a revolving observation cabin, which provides a breathtaking 360-degree view of the entire historical areas in Melaka city.
The air-conditioned revolving viewing cabin is equipped with 80 seats. It revolves as it rises from ground level to the top of the tower. Each viewing session would last 7 minutes. The tower is expected to serve 3 viewing sessions every hour. (more…)
Melaka Mall located opposite Jusco Melaka and Dataran Bandaraya Melaka, which is reconstructed from Kotamas, will have one of its anchor tenants - Parkson, opening on 8th Apr 2008 (Tuesday).
This also means that, Parkson will have 2 stores operating in Melaka. Another existing Parkson store is located in Mahkota Parade.
About 10 months earlier, the MBO Cineplex Melaka has started its business in Melaka Mall, marking the presence of second modernized cineplex in Melaka. Now that Parkson is also opening in Melaka Mall, it makes Melaka Mall more strategically positioned to attract tenants. At present, quite a number of outlets in Melaka Mall are under renovation; I’m sure most of them will be opening very soon, hoping to share the potential flow of shoppers that will be brought by Parkson.
On this auspicious event, one of the most awaited agenda is the fireworks display at Dataran Bandaraya Melaka. Residents at the neighboring areas, such as Bukit Beruang, Ayer Keroh and Taman Merbok (behind Melaka Mall), will be able to enjoy the picturesque sky from the comfort of their home, especially those staying in higher buildings, such as Ixora Apartment. In my opinion, the roof-top car park at Jusco is one of the most strategic locations as well.
Workers setting up stage and facilities at Dataran Bandaraya Melaka
“Malacca Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam said the state had fulfilled the required criteria for Unesco’s consideration and was confident of a favourable outcome from the World Heritage Site Committee meeting later this year.”
One of the uniqueness of Melaka, is the presence of Baba Nyonya heritage and cultures. From spoken language, to living lifestyle and food, there are distinctive attributes that make Baba Nyonya a special community. Though the population of Baba Nyonya descendents is relatively small, but their authentic recipes are especially known in the food heaven.
Cooked dishes aside, Nyonya kuih is another well sort-after Nyonya food in Melaka. Many people, both visitors and Malaccans, just couldn’t stop loving the savory Nyonya kuih.
Though there are plenty of places selling Nyonya kuih in Melaka, but there are very few decent-scale producers. If you’re planning to indulge yourself with Melaka Nyonya kuih during your next visit, you may try visiting a Nyonya kuih production house located at Tengkera (a suburb in between of Old Melaka section and Klebang), during day time.
Address:
72, Lorong Pantai Tengkera 2C, Tengkera, Melaka.
As shown in the location map, you may get to Tengkera from Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock (Heeren Street). If you’re coming from Old Melaka town, it will only take you about 5 to 10 minutes. (more…)
GPS, which stands for Global Positioning System, is getting more common and popular in our region, thanks to the affordable pricing of GPS-enabled mobile phones and GPS units, as well the comprehensive GPS maps of Malaysia and Singapore contributed by Malsingmaps community.
Just taking my workplace into consideration, about 20% of my colleagues own a GPS device. I’ve also recently joined the troop, by getting the QStarz BT-Q818 GPS receiver to pair with my Sony Ericsson P1i.
I’ve already revised most (not all yet) of the previous posts with relevant GPS coordinate at the last sentence of each post. If you have a GPS device as well, hopefully the GPS coordinate given could ease your routing on the road. However, to those who don’t possess this gadget, I’ll still carry on providing a conventional map.
I’ve been convoying with my colleagues for a few road trips, which were heavily dependent on GPS for our direction. The most challenging one was done in Krabi, a place of total geographic unfamiliarity to us, with a total of 4 cars driving out of the city. Though common sense and some good guesses are needed at times, especially at places with under-developed map features, but still, GPS works great and help a lot in our leisure.
If you’ve been to Melaka during Chinese New Year, or 3 weeks before this auspicious celebration, you have surely witnessed the appealing Chinese New Year street decoration at the Melaka Chinatown area, such as places like Jalan Hang Jebat (Jonker Street), Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock (Heeren Street), Jalan Hang Lekiu and Jalan Bunga Raya.
Never missed, this Chinese New Year street decoration initiative has been successfully carried out from the past 7 years (correct me if I’m wrong with the year). This year, the Melaka Chinese New Year Street Decoration 2008 was officiated by Dato Seri Ong Ka Ting on last Saturday.
Marking the first official day of the light-up, lion dance troops were invited to further condense the Chinese New Year atmosphere.
Take a look at some of the pictures I took at Jonker Walk, don’t you feel like wanted to be physically there as well?
Has there been enough news on the great welcome for the historic cities Melaka (Malacca) and George Town being jointly inscribed as UNESCO Cultural World Heritage Sites? Ya I think whoever that read yesterday’s and today’s Malaysian papers will not miss out this news, as it has been covered quite extensively.
In fact, the genuine Nyonya laksa is enriched with various spices but cooked without curry powder.
