expiration date 

we woke up early enough to have breakfast, but immediately went back to bed afterwards… i guess ari and i aren’t made to wake up before 10.

ari’s parents left the hotel early to meet up with their business partner.

we were on our way to lunch at the old city when ari got a phone call telling us that we should join them for lunch, as the business partner’s family would like to meet us… (or something like that). after unable to refuse, we finally agreed to have them pick us up at the office.

originally the plan was going to have lunch at Peranakan Restaurant at the old city. the restaurant was very pretty… it was situated in a large shop house, and they decorate it in such ways that as you enter the building, it feels like you’ve been transported to a couple hundred years back. they have Chinese bride palanquin as a decoration. the floor was done in old and pretty tiles…

but the place was completely full, so we had to go somewhere else. so, we went to Ole Sayang, another restaurant serving peranakan food (by the way, Peranakan culture is overseas Chinese culture that has been mixed with the local culture, in this case, Malay culture). supposedly, Ole Sayang cooks better food, but the restaurant looks like a regular restaurant… the decoration is not as fancy as the other place.

after lunch, we had extra full stomach, thanks to the over-generous host (ari’s father’s business partner and his family) who keeps adding more food into our plate, no matter how much we try to refuse… the food was good, though. so, i shouldn’t complain :)

Mr. Malik, their driver who picked us up at the bus station, drove us around the city to various historical places. first visit was St. John’s Fort, which was located a little far from the old city. it was originally a Portuguese chapel, which later reconstructed into a fort during the Dutch colonial time.

after that, we went around the Bukit Cina, a hill dedicated to Chinese Admiral Zheng He, which later become an old Chinese cemetery. on the bottom of the hill is located a small temple made by the Malay King for his Chinese wife. within that temple, there is a large well where supposedly, if you drink the water of that well, you will return to Melaka again. unfortunately, the well was under construction, so we couldn’t even go near it… oh well.

Mr. Malik dropped us off at the old city. we then stopped by the Peranakan Restaurant to take pictures of the building (which you see above). we then spent the rest of the afternoon at Zheng He museum, watching the movie about the admiral, see the old porcelains and silk, and admiring the view from the building.

after that, we went back to the hotel, because as usual, the pregnant lady is exhausted and need her rest.

photo album: is in flickr Melaka 2006 set.