Malacca: The best attractions along Jonker Street

Day 1

We had a 3D2N short holiday at the historical city of Malacca, an UNESCO World Heritage Site listed since 2008. Malacca has a long and rich history, more famously starting with the Malacca Sultanate, the colonial era ruled by the Portuguese, Dutch and British, brief occupation by the Japanese during the World War II and now as part of Malaysia. Today, it is a very popular tourist attraction, where visitors from Singapore, China, Korea and other parts of Malaysia come here for its heritage buildings, Peranakan culture and tasty local food.

This was a family trip and we had more than 20 people, which we traveled to Malacca from Singapore by a coach from Konsortium. We left early in the morning to avoid the traffic jam. Clearance at both the Singapore and Malaysia immigration at the 2nd Link were relatively smooth and fast. We had a rest stop at Yong Peng, Johor before reaching Malacca City past 11am.

Dutch Square, famous landmark of Malacca City

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Aldy Hotel Stadthuys

We disembarked directly at our hotel, Aldy Hotel Stadthuys, which we would be staying for the next 2 nights. We had selected this hotel mainly because it is centrally located and within short walking distances to key attractions within the city, such as Christ Church, Jonker Street, St Paul's Church, Porta de Santiago and Dataran Pahlawan Melaka Megamall etc. The room rate is also cheaper and falls within our budget, as compared to other more established hotels around the same area, such as Casa del Rio, Holiday Inn, and Hatten. Aldy Hotel Stadthuys is not a big hotel, but they do have the basic facilities and services that we need. The room is clean and the size of a double room is reasonably big. The service of the staff was very good. We had some requests and they were very quick to send someone to the room to attend to it.

Entrance to Aldy Hotel Stadthuys

Bedroom

Bathroom

After everyone settled down in their respective rooms, we were ready to leave the hotel to kick-off our tour.

Lunch @ Hoe Kee Chicken Rice

We walked out of the hotel and soon we reached the Dutch Square, which is the most picturesque place in Malacca. There were many tourists around the area and we could also see many colourful decorated trishaws with various cartoon themes meant to bring the tourists around the area. After some photo taking of the area, we crossed the short bridge that spans across the Malacca River and reached another famous attraction, the Jonker Street (Jalan Hang Jebat).

Old Fort

Malacca River

Jonker Street

As it was already lunch time, we went straight to Hoe Kee Chicken Rice store located not too away from the bridge. Hoe Kee (和記) is one of the 3 very popular chicken rice stores in the area, which the other stores are Chung Wah (中華) located just beside the bridge and Famosa (古城) located further inside the street. As we anticipated that there will a long queue, we had already made reservation with Hoe Kee, thus we did not have to wait too long.

Hoe Kee Chicken Rice Store

The signature dish here is of course the Hainanese chicken served with rice balls. Other than the chicken, they also serve other dishes, which we ordered Asam fish, cabbage and black bean soup.

Hainanese chicken with rice balls

Zoom in view of the chicken

In my opinion, the rice balls are unique and the chopped chicken served in light soya sauce is nice. The chili sauce also tastes good. However being from Singapore (which hosts numerous Hainanese chicken rice stalls and restaurants too), the expectation of chicken rice quality is high and Hoe Kee still pales in comparison to some of the famous stalls in Singapore, in terms of fragrance of the rice and tenderness of the chicken meat. Nevertheless, the Hainanese chicken with rice balls is still a must-try dish when in Malacca.


Baba and Nyonya Heritage Museum

After lunch, we strolled along Jonker Street, occasionally stopping by various shops selling Nyonya snacks, deserts, apparels and antiques etc. We made the slow walk to our next attraction, the Baba and Nyonya Heritage Museum. This is a highly recommended attraction for visitors in Malacca, to understand and immerse yourself in the Peranakan culture. In fact, this place was made famous when former China's President Hu Jintao and Singapore's President Dr Tony Tan visited the museum when they were here in Malacca previously. In addition, the museum was also the filming site of the very popular Singapore Mediacorp Chinese drama serial, The Little Nyonya (小娘惹).

Baba and Nyonya Heritage Museum (Source: Photo from weekendnotes)

The museum is a converted 2-storey terrace house owned by the Chan family, starting with their first generation Baba Chan Cheng Siew in the 19th century. Today, the museum is still managed by the descendants of the Chan family.

Entrance of the museum (Source: Photo from attractioninmalaysia.com)

All visitors must join the guided tour that starts every half hourly. The tour itself is 45 min long, which the guide will bring the visitors through various parts of the house, such as the Reception Hall, Ancestral Hall, Airwell, Wedding Chamber, Birthday and Funeral showcase, Dining Room and Kitchen. Along the way, the tour guide will introduce the Peranakan's way of life, tradition and customary, the interior designs and furniture employed, and traditional accessories and tools they used. Other than the blend of Chinese and Malay culture, we can also observe the strong sense of Western influence in many parts of the house. We ended the tour at the small souvenir shop, which sells Peranakan handicrafts, accessories and related books. (Note that photography and videography are not allowed within the museum).


Cheng Hoon Teng Temple (青云亭)

After the educational tour of the Baba and Nyonya Heritage Museum, we made our way to the Cheng Hoon Teng Temple (青云亭), located several streets away. Cheng Hoon Teng Temple (青云亭) is a Chinese temple completed in the year 1673, which is the oldest Chinese temple in Malaysia. The temple is mainly dedicated to the Goddess of Mercy (Guan Yin). The architecture of the temple resembles the style from southern China, where most of the builders and craftsmen came from back then. We walked around the temple to admire the decorations and carvings on the pillars and roof, while some of us went inside to offer their prayers.

Cheng Hoon Teng Temple

Introduction to Cheng Hoon Teng Temple

After the temple tour, we were on a free and easy mode. Some of members went back to the hotel to have a rest, while the younger ones continued to roamed the streets.

Malacca Mamee Jonker House

Malacca Jonker Walk Heritage Park

Stage near western end of Jonker Walk

Dataran Pahlawan Melaka Megamall

When it's dinner time, we left the hotel and made a short walk around the foot of St. Paul's Hill to the west entrance of the Dataran Pahlawan Melaka Megamall. Along the way, we could see train and aeroplane displays in the park.

Train display

Plane display

Dataran Pahlawan Melaka Megamall

This is one of the 2 major shopping centres in the region, which the other one is the Mahkota Parade located across the road. Dataran Pahlawan Melaka Megamall is a very big shopping centre, which comprises of 3 segments. The west zone is filled with cafes, restaurants, fast food shops and fashion apparel etc. The ground level of the centre zone is a big open grass field, but beneath it, the basement is filled with numerous trendy boutique shops. The east zone is a multi-storey building linked to the Hatten Hotel via the bridge. There are restaurants, fashion apparel shops, Toys "R" Us, cinema and KTV etc. We went to the Restoran Black Canyon to have our dinner. After dinner, we went shopping around the mall, before we called it a day and returned to the hotel.


Follow the links below to the other days of my Malacca tour:

Day 1: Aldy Hotel Stadthuys, Jonker Street, Hoe Kee Chicken Rice, Baba and Nyonya Heritage Museum, Cheng Hoon Teng Temple, Dataran Pahlawan Melaka Megamall

Day 2: St. Paul's Church, Porta de Santiago, Malacca Sultanate Palace Museum, A&W, Maritime Museum, Malacca River Cruise, Dutch Square, Tang Shifu

Day 3: History and Ethnography Museum (The Stadthuys), Jonker 88

The must-see celebrities of Madame Tussauds Singapore

Day 3

Exploring Sentosa Island

It was our last day on Sentosa. We started packing our belongings ready for check-out of the hotel later. We went to the MacDonald's at the basement of the Resorts World Sentosa to have the breakfast first, before we headed towards the Merlion Plaza.


Merlion Plaza

The Merlion Plaza is located just beside the Sentosa Express Imbiah Station. The most iconic feature over here is no other than the 37m tall Sentosa Merlion statue, also the tallest Merlion statue in Singapore.

Sentosa Merlion

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The Sentosa Merlion is a ticketed attraction, which visitors could watch a video about the origin and history of the Merlion and the Lion City, as well as taking an internal lift to the viewing platform to enjoy the 360 deg panoramic view of the island. We did not enter the attraction, only taking photos against the majestic Merlion.


Madame Tussauds Singapore & Images of Singapore LIVE

After the photo taking at Merlion Plaza, we took a series of escalator up to the Imbiah Lookout. We headed to the Madame Tussauds Singapore & Images of Singapore LIVE and bought the entrance tickets, which allows visit to both the attractions.

Entrance to Madame Tussauds Singapore & Images of Singapore LIVE (Source: Photo from Sentosa.com)

We had to visit the Images of Singapore LIVE first, which we waited for a while to enter in groups. We were brought into the room, where the official 'tour' began. Unlike the typical museum which you could roam around to visit the stationary exhibits, Images of Singapore LIVE features a very different concept which real life actors and actresses would lead the visitors through various scenes with special lighting and sound effects within the area, introducing the different era of Singapore's 200 years of history. Some of the themed area includes the Malay Fishing Village, Chinatown, Quayside Walk and Jubilee Cinema etc.

Scene at the Chinatown (Source: Photo from Tripadvisor)

At the end of the tour, we had to board The Spirit of Singapore Boat Ride, which took us through various famous Singapore's landmarks and different heritage themes, such as Marina Bay, Gardens by the Bay, Singapore Flyer etc. At the end of the boat ride, we were led to the entrance to the Madame Tussauds Singapore.

The Spirit of Singapore Boat Ride (Source: Photo from Tripadvisor)

Similar to many other Madame Tussauds museums worldwide, the Singapore branch features life sized wax figurines of famous people categorised in various zones such as politicians, sportsman, singers, actors/actresses etc. The popular ones include US President Obama, UK Queen Elizabeth, Tiger Woods, David Beckham, Cristiano Ronaldo, Michael Jackson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Johnny Depp, Angeline Jolie, ABBA pop group etc. The Singapore branch also focus a lot on Singapore based and Asian famous people, such as Lee Kuan Yew, Lee Hsien Loong, Fandi Ahmad, Stephanie Sun, Zoey Tay, Yao Ming, Jackie Chan, Andy Lau etc.

Lee Kuan Yew and his wife

Yao Ming - NBA Star

Jack Neo - Singapore Movie Director

Bruce Lee - International Movie Star

In the middle section, there's a series of displays on how the wax figurines were made, starting from the small details on the facial expression, to the hair style and the eye colour etc.

Steps in making the wax figurine

Mould of Stephanie Sun (Singapore Singer)

Making of Stephanie Sun in progress

The whole tour is mainly queuing up to take photos with various "celebrities". The whole area is smaller than the London main branch that I had visited previously, but the Singapore version is more interactive, where there're props that you can play with. For example, you could pick up a golf club and pretend playing golf with Tiger Woods.


Sentosa Nature Discovery

After the fanatic photo shooting session, we exited Madame Tussauds museum and headed to our last attraction, the Sentosa Nature Discovery. Sentosa Nature Discovery is located at Imbiah Lookout area too, and within short walking distance from Madame Tussauds Singapore. This place was relatively quiet, away from the tourist crowd, which presents a totally different side of Sentosa that we know of. There's a static exhibition that showcase the island's natural geology and ecosystem. This is also the start point of the Imbiah Canopy Walk, which visitors could get close to the canopy ecosystem. We did not see many birds, although we saw two squirrels running across the walkway.

Entrance to Sentosa Nature Discovery (Source: Photo from Sentosa.com)

Exhibition at Sentosa Nature Discovery (Source: Photo from Sentosa.com)

After walking for a while on the canopy walk, we returned by the same route back to our hotel and check-out the room. It's time for us to bid farewell to Sentosa after 3 days of fun-filled staycation.



Follow the links below to the other days of my Sentosa staycation:

Day 1: Resorts World Sentosa (Festive Hotel, The Maritime Experiential Museum, S.E.A Aquarium, Hard Rock Hotel Swimming Pool, Crane Dance)

Day 2: Sentosa (Palawan Beach, Fort Siloso, Starz Restaurant, Lake of Dreams)

Day 3: Sentosa (Merlion Plaza, Madame Tussuads Singapore, Images of Singapore LIVE, Sentosa Nature Discovery)

Family fun at Palawan Beach and explore the historic trail of Fort Siloso (Sentosa)

Day 2

Exploring Sentosa Island

We had our bread that we bought from Breadtalk last night as breakfast. We then changed to light attire and prepare for our trip down to the beach. From Festive Hotel, we walked to the Waterfront Station and took the Sentosa Express monorail to the Beach Station. From the station, visitors could either turn to the Siloso Beach on one side or the Palawan and Tanjong Beach on the other side. Siloso Beach is the most popular beach of the three and is also the longest. The hotels like Siloso Beach Resort, Costa Sands Resort Sentosa and Shangri-La's Rasa Sentosa are located along the beach front, thus also explains for the large number of tourists at the beach. There're a number of attractions located at Siloso Beach as well, such as the Wings of Time, iFly Singapore, Skyline Luge Singapore, Wave House, and The Flying Trapeze, along with many other beach bars and cafes.


Palawan Beach

We headed to the less crowded Palawan Beach. Along the way, we passed by the new attractions such as the KidZania and Port of Lost Wonder, which both are meant for children.

Palawan Beach

Port of Lost Wonder

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We found a shelter on the beach and settled down there. My kids quickly took out their sandcastle set that we brought along to start playing with the sand and building sandcastles and other figures. Not far from us, we saw a group of young men and women having their "beauty pageant contest" near the water, most probably from a local polytechnic or university. Others were observed having picnic, swimming in the water, canoeing, sunbathing, taking beach photo shoot and playing Frisbee etc. It was an enjoyable sight to see people of different ages having fun at the beach.

Water Playground

After our kids were done with their sandcastle building, we washed up and continued along the beach towards the Southernmost Point of Continental Asia. From the beach, there's a suspension wooden bridge that leads to an islet. Via different land bridge links connecting the islet, Sentosa Island, Singapore mainland and Peninsular Malaysia, it is technically the southernmost point one could walk to on the continental Asia.

Southernmost Point of Continental Asia

Suspension bridge to the islet

View of Palawan Beach from the bridge

On the islet

The islet has two outlook towers, which we climbed up to enjoy the scenery. On one side, one could see the busy Singapore Straits filled with many commercial vessels. On the other side, we got a different view of the Palawan Beach, as well as other Sentosa icons such as the Sentosa Merlion and Tiger Sky Tower.

View of the suspension bridge

View of Sentosa from the outlook tower

After this, we returned to the beach and took the beach tram back to Beach Station. We returned to our hotel room to wash up and change up.


Fort Siloso

We had our lunch at the Resorts World Sentosa Ding Tai Fung (which its Hong Kong branch was awarded one Michelin star). We had our favourite Xiaolongbao (steamed pork dumpling) and the fried rice with pork chop. After lunch, we headed to the Resorts World Sentosa basement to take the Sentosa Bus 2 to the Siloso Point. This is the place where visitors could reach the Shangri-La's Rasa Sentosa  side of the Siloso Beach, the Underwater World and the Fort Siloso. Visitors will be immediately impressed with the 43m high Fort Siloso Skywalk Tower, which the skywalk links the Siloso Beach to Fort Siloso.

Fort Siloso

Fort Siloso Skywalk Tower

Introduction to the Skywalk Tower

The tower has lift access, which brought us up to the skywalk bridge. The skywalk bridge is 181m long, which along the way visitors would have a stunning unobstructed view of the Singapore Straits, Siloso Beach, Harbour Front and the Keppel Bay.

On top of the Skywalk

View of the Siloso Beach

View of Underwater World and Harbour Front

View of Keppel Bay

Walking on the bridge towards Fort Siloso, we also found a number of displays by the side introducing the history of the fort and the artillery gun emplacements.

Fort Siloso was built in the 1870s by the British during the colonial period, as part of a series of other coastal batteries built in various parts of Singapore to protect the new colony from seaborne attacks. Today, it is one of the best preserved fortifications in Singapore that is open to public. At the end of the Skywalk, we entered the yellow zone (one of the 3 zones classified at Fort Siloso).

Fort Siloso Map

The upper area of the yellow zone consists of the Tunnel C Complex and several gun displays. The tunnel facilities are the mainly meant for ammunition storage and visitor could learn the mechanism the soldiers used to transfer the large heavy rounds up to the firing platform.

Artillery Gun Display

Tunnel C Complex

Re-enactment of soldiers loading the shell to the hoist mechanism

At the lower area of the yellow zone, there are more guns and there's the guard room where the Combat Skirmish LIVE attraction is located. In the red zone, the key attractions are the Fort Siloso Square and the Surrender Chambers (separate entrance ticket required). At the Fort Siloso Square, there is an old military barrack turned exhibition hall, which showcases the Singapore's history during the World War II, and the history of Fort Siloso.

Fort Siloso Square

Fort Siloso Square Exhibition

Model of Fort Siloso

The Surrender Chambers focus on the re-enactment of the scenes during the British and Japanese surrender of Singapore during World War II, with wax figurines.

Scene inside Surrender Chambers (Source: Photo from Sentosa.com)

The blue zone is located at the furthest western end of the Sentosa Island, which mainly comprise of the Fire Direction Tower and the Tunnel A Complex. After the tiring walk up and downhill around Fort Siloso, we traced back our route back to the Skywalk and took the Sentosa Bus 1 back to Resorts World Sentosa.


Starz Restaurant

After some rest in our hotel room, it's time for dinner. We went to the Starz Restaurant at Hard Rock Hotel for the international buffet. Once we were allocated with the seats, we set off to explore the food available. At the cold dish section, they have a good variety of salad options. The seafood section is typical, with snow crabs, cold prawns, clams, and mussels.

Starz Restaurant

Sashimi and sushi choices are quite limited, with salmon, tuna and a few types of sushi rolls. There's also the bread and cheese section, although small, but they do offer a good variety of cheese. At the hot dish section, there's roasted beef, fried finger food, spaghetti, laksa, chili crab, steam fish etc. The India food selection is small, but the curry and tandoori are tasty. There's a wide variety of deserts like cakes, tarts and puffs, but what really stands out is their ice cream There's a wide variety of ice cream flavours and the staff will scoop the ice cream for us. Overall, we were satisfied with the meal. Although the variety of food choices might not be as many as other hotel buffets, but the food quality is good and would really commend on their ice cream section. The ambience of the restaurant is good and the services of the staff were great too, attending to our needs promptly.


Lake of Dreams

After the buffet dinner, we strolled around The Festive Walk to help in the food digestion. We stayed around at the Lake of Dreams to wait for the performance at 9.30pm. The Lake of Dreams is a 15 min musical show coupled with the special effect of fire, water and light. It was designed by 4 times Emmy award winner Jeremy Railton.

The show was the last activity of our day, which we returned to our hotel room after the show to call it a day.



Follow the links below to the other days of my Sentosa staycation:

Day 1: Resorts World Sentosa (Festive Hotel, The Maritime Experiential Museum, S.E.A Aquarium, Hard Rock Hotel Swimming Pool, Crane Dance)

Day 2: Sentosa (Palawan Beach, Fort Siloso, Starz Restaurant, Lake of Dreams)

Day 3: Sentosa (Merlion Plaza, Madame Tussuads Singapore, Images of Singapore LIVE, Sentosa Nature Discovery)