I got back last night around 8.30 pm. Trip three has been great and really tiring - a shorter one, 1 day and 1 night short - extremely 'damaging' for the trippers with very interesting discoveries. :)
Saturday, March 4
I left USJ with a bad cough and a nose running the track mill. The drive to Seremban was uneventful but Seremban was extremely damaging. Expecting a maximum of 2 long rows of shops to shoot, we found a huge fishbone with extras at the side. Determined I started and ended approximately over 2 hours later. Happy discovery - 2 nice graphics of the word 'chicken' and 'duck' in Mandarin! Fiona's mom was saying her goodbyes to the paper stuff for the dead. She's just hilarious le.
We wanted to head to K.Pilah but decided against it. Headed straight to Malacca and reached the land of wonderment. I love Malacca. This would be my 6th time in Malacca and I still love Malacca just as much. Checked into Baba House and started the shoot.
Here's a list to share! Things I saw that evening at Jonker Walk and Heeren St.
- A fireplace for pizza at Coconut House
- Aunty making O-chien (if you're doubting the meaning, ask Just.)
- Cute puppies posing for photo sessions - 2 bucks per session. :)
- Trinkets, toys, old stuff, books, Malaccan crafts
- Dim sum (grabbed some!) and man tao hotdog
- Suen Pun Zhi and Chai Kueh.. (Fiona did the grabbing), I just ate.. :)
- More food and more and more.. Sotong Bakar!
- Palm readers
- Lots of people of all color and smell. Eeeee...
- Cute bug magnets! (I got one for my fridge) and many, many wonderful things.
I'd like to share but my memory's pretty fried by the sun.
Had Nyonya food for dinner and that's what I call home-cooked food!
I hit the bed after a flu pill and listening to Chicken Little sing.
I love Malacca so much!
Sunday, March 5
Woke up late. Aduh. No one blamed me, flu's the excuse. :) Ate breakfast, bought some bus tickets for Fiona's mom and sis, got back, and started shooting. It was a really LONG and TIRING shoot and I got roasted and eventually burnt. Fiona bought some arm cover thingy to keep me from all these charcoal-ing activities.
Hoe Kee welcomed us with good food of chicken rice ball and assam fish head. YUM. Life is just SO beautiful when food is SO good! :) Shoot continued and the burning did too. Stopped at Jonker Dessert for Baba's Ice Kacang and Cendol. Oh sweet! I've never liked gula Melaka but this place made the consuming experience so overwhelming. :)
Sent Fiona's mom and sis off before heading to shoot at Alor Gajah. Coming back we headed to Tengkera Street where damage was really, really bad. Had to walk 2/3 of the whole long street. At least the sun wasn't scorching.
More Jonker Walk in the evening. And I must say, I love Malacca.
Ate Suen Pun Zhi again with chai kueh and onde onde in the hotel room. Was nice. And I knocked out early.
Monday, March 6
Good things about these trips.
1) Hotel Air Con
2) Nice hot showers
3) New Food, goooooood Food!
4) Seeing different people and things and not just pollution.
5) Our little discoveries.
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Again I woke up feeling as though life should just end then and there. I LOVE snoozing in hotels but work had to be done. Breakfast was consumed fast and work began at Heeren. Was nice finding all the beautiful craft of ancient Chinese people in Malacca, decorating their houses and shops. Capturing history makes my role important and finding all these beautiful workmanship is all great. Unfortunately for me then, my bladder was also full and needed some space.
Dropped in a very ordinary looking kopitiam but found out it belonged to the President of the Peranakan Club. A true baba. :) We also visited Malaqa House and found very interesting work done by others who truly appreciate history and art.
Chilled @ Limau- limau savouring Dragon Fruit Lassi. Yum. Gulped fast and left for lunch. Ate @ Nancy's Kitchen - Pong Teh Pork & Popiah. :) Rushed back to the hotel, had a quick shower and proceeded to buy more pineapple tarts from Christina Ee.
After letting her ramble on and on promoting products and persuading us to buy more, we finally left for Jalan Bunga Raya, Jalan/ Lrg. Bukit Cina and Jalan Temenggong for more shots. Did accidentally stumble past some 'worth a few shots' buildings at Jalan Parameswara.
Discovered 2 REAL JEWELS at Jalan Bukit Cina. The terrace buildings had extreme decorations of food, flora and fauna splattered all over the front facades and the best thing was that they were properly preserved. They also had very cute figurines of Chinese people (from all hierarchy) and their activities and environment as decorations at the edge separating the roof from the walls. All these were glassed up and preserved. Had a blast taking those pictures. It was so different from the normal point and shoots (and get bored...) routines for these trips. I could admire the beauty of these buildings and learn some history as well. Finally left for Muar around early evening.
The 30+ kilometres were easily covered and we eventually drove past the border of Malacca Johore. Was greeted by a huge 'beca Muar' and some boys who hit on Fiona! :P Gee, I really wonder whether he has reached puberty.
Entering Muar, we were both shocked and amazed at the old shophouses that they had, that I had to cover before daylight leaves the little town by the river. Slaved really hard to cover the huge fishbone leaving the main street to be covered for tomorrow. Was extremely exhausted and burnt to feel much for dinner but had a good one anyway. Otak- otak in Muar is really different and yummy! Also ate fried oysters, kueh chap (that was a huge disappointment), 6 flavored soup (a dessert, actually..) and horrible chee cheong fan.
The hotel was OK - Riverview, but I think the 'club' that it owns is actually a brothel. :P After some Oscar and chit chat, I konked out.
Tuesday, March 7
Woke up, took pictures.. had a nice portion of roasted pork and char siew with curry gravy that only costs 2 bucks.. walked some more, more pictures... and we left Muar for Batu Pahat.
Batu Pahat didn't look great but had a big fishbone as well. The sun was scorching and I was getting really tired so when the shoot was done and Fiona bugged me when we made a turn into the housing area to get to the other part of the town looking for MarryBrown - I snapped back and said some mean things. Well, MarryBrown cheered me up and we gossiped bout college rumors bout seeing happy gay bunnies hop and other interesting stories. For awhile there I could forget about shooting shophouses and stupid one way streets for Batu Pahat.
The journey heading to Yong Peng's toll was filled with more stories to tell and we continued the story- telling even as we drove on the PLUS highway. After a very long time we reached Seremban and made a bad, bad trip to Kuala Pilah and back. Kuala Pilah had a bit to offer for the shoots but as it was getting dark we made our way back very soon after we reached.
Passing Seri Menanti, we just HAD to see the grand palace so we did. The little kampung road to Seri Menanti was a bit winding but we were amused by cows who ran by the car and little goats (or were they sheep??) who got freaked out when I pointed my camera at them!
I got to see the palace and I also offended a Seri Menanti kid who was blocking my shophouse view so he now appears in the picture looking blur. I wanted to ask him to move aside politely but my Malay words came out twisted and he looked even more blur after that. Gee.
Nice discovery was that N9 has Dragon Fruit plantations and dragon fruit plants look like cactus. Made the long way back to USJ after that, passing very horribly winding roads that almost made me puke and a pretty eerie highway. Lightning was flashing in the dark and it was raining but we made it back safely to a dry USJ.
So the trip ended and a very dried out Vicky came home to sleep that night.
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