By now, the boys are so used to taking coaches. They even can tell which is Five Star Bus, Grassland Bus or Transtar Bus... When I told them that we would be going to take either of these buses, they knew they were going to 'hotel' again and they enjoyed staying in the hotels. Asher would be counting down the days to take the Grassland bus this time. He also knew exactly where we would take the bus - Beach Road, Golden Mile Complex, as he would "direct" us there.
Though we had to take the "single deck" coach again this time, as there was no "double deck" coach going to Malacca, the boys still enjoyed the ride. Yes, the "single deck" coach still didn't look as nice as the "double deck" coach, and the seats, though spacious and reclinable, were also not as comfortable. Anyway, its only a 4.5 hour ride, shorter than the journey to KL or Genting.
Before we even went to Malacca, MIL already was not very excited about the place, after hearing from her friend that there is "nothing much" there, no shopping and nothing for children to play. Her interest is only SHOPPING. She is not interested in sight-seeing, be it nature or historical buildings, beaches or adventures. She only take Chinese food, limited to no milk, no cream, no butter (ie. even bread or biscuits with slightest butter flavour), no cheese, no potatoes, no ham, no saugage, no raw food, no Japanese, Western, Thai, Indian, Malay food, no burgers, no fries, no Bah Kut Teh, no Laksa....(much more to add on). Kind of difficult to choose a place for her to enjoy her holiday, except Hong Kong. As for the children, I am less worried, cos they just need either rice or noodle and they enjoyed Mc Donald Kids Meal, otherwise, snacks and tibits can fill half their stomaches. "Nothing for children to play", yes , I know that, but why should we always choose places which have theme parks. The children should get the chance to look at other things. Besides, our hotel (Mahkota Hotel) have 2 big pools and children pools for them to enjoy. By just staying in the hotel, the boys were already in high spirits. Since we had been to KL, Bangkok and Genting, we do not have any other "interesting"nearby place to go, unless Disneyland, which Kenny could not afford the time.
Anyway, I didn't let this affect my mood, and we went ahead with the plan. We stayed in an apartment style (with 2 bedrooms) hotel. The hotel is located at the coaster area, next to a jetty (suppose to be for cruise to stop there, but I had not seen any cruise stopping by in that 3 days, except a few vessels which stationed far away from the coast). So, there was a pleasant sea view, as well as city view from our room on the 6th floor. However, the tap water was scarily yellowish, which I insisted for the safety of the children, we should consume only mineral water which we purchased (about 20 bottles in total) from the convenient stalls nearby.
There were 2 big shopping malls across the road from our hotel, which I purposely chose this hotel for the sake of MIL. Though nothing exciting to buy there, the game arcade occuppied my children attention and time as there were children rides for them to play, while the ladies went shopping.
Next to the shopping mall was the non-aircon food centre which were divided into 2 sections, the Muslim and Chinese food. The food there was rather delicious and cheap and had good varieties. In fact, even the breads and pastries from the small counters in the shopping mall also tasted very good. We also went for the Malacca's famous chicken rice - F'amosa Chicken Rice. Tried the rice balls, which was their specialty, but didn't know how to appreciate it, we still enjoyed the typical loose rice with their very tasty dishes, soya sauce chicken, char siew, roasted meat, super soft and smooth tofu, fishball soup, fried bean sprout, yummy.
The transport there sucks, cos we hardly see any taxis moving around. On the second nite of our stay, we had a really hard time looking for cab to return to the hotel, and we ended up walking around so long till we almost dropped dead. Kenny couldn't take it as he carried Aron (who refused to walk) and walked a long way, while he endured the pain from the wounds he got from falling down earlier that day. Finally, we found some very beautifully decorated trishaws near the night market street, and we were so glad that we didn't care how much they were going to charge us. In fact the trishaw cost more than the taxi, we went there in 1 cab which charged us RM12, but the 2 trishaws which took us back cost RM15 each. So my advice to those who want to go Malacca - be prepared to walk or please drive your own car there.
Luckily the trishaws took us back in time before the rain started. In fact, to our pleasant surprise, there was a fireworks right in front of our window and balcony, with no blockage. It lasted about half an hour, even longer than what we can see during our national day. The fireworks continued to blossom and boom in the dark sky, despite it poured so heavily halfway through the process. Till now, I couldn't find out what was the occasion. But for a small town to have such elaborate celebrations, its really impressive.
When I was dying not to miss any of the single firework that shot up to the sky, both the boys were frightened to death. Asher clinged on to me so tightly that I almost lost my breath, and I had to comfort and calm him while I covered his ears, with my eyes stucked at the window. Aron ran to the other bedroom and played his newly bought toys with his dad and refused to come out as long as the sounds didn't stop. Poor daddy, had no chance to video tape down the beautiful moments, but only to snap a few shots for the last 2 minutes before the fireworks ended.
Yes, in deed, the boys weren't interested in the sight-seeing at the historical places as we were walking up the fort or walking around Churches. Neither was MIL excited, but was "forced" to follow us. FIL was not so resisting, as he tried to catch a glimpse of the things he walked pass, while having to keep an eye on the boys.
Luckily, the hotel swimming pools could make it up to the boys trip. This mummy had cleverly bought 2 ring floats and a pump at very low price, before leaving for the trip. After having a couple of fanciful floats (such as the life-jacket floats and the sit-in floats), I finally realised the simplest type of floats make the most comfortable and enjoyable swim, which the 2 boys had not removed them throughout the time in the pool.
While we were in the Grassland bus, on the way back home, Aron didn't want to come home, he gave me the very pitiful look and said he wanted to go to another hotel. I had to pacify him by telling him that I need to go home and buy tickets first.
Till today, the boys still look forward to taking the Five Star bus and Grassland bus...
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