Melaka trip 2026

I had supposed no more trips within the country.  When the girls were younger, we had rotated between PD, Melaka, Genting and Ipoh for holidays.  Well, they are no longer little kids who enjoyed that sort of outings.  Like SE said, we had visited all the attractions.  Then out of the blue JE mentioned she missed the lime drinks in Melaka and also the satay celup.  So I thought, hey why not?  We were free for the Aug/Sept holidays as JE had exams coming up.  It could be a 'relax, study and eat' trip.  JE liked a change in her study surroundings.  It was tougher to persuade SE though she finally gave in.

So off we went.  :)  First putting a note here for future reference.  The rest-stop 30mins from home offers very decent shops - we could have lunch here next time.  

Hmm not bad

For accommodation, for once I was scouring listings for suitable study places haha.  

And here we are!  "Reserve 40 Melaka" is nice and huge, with plenty of horizontal surfaces.

Long counter here

Dining table here

There are also 2 bedrooms with queen beds and dressing tables, and one more bed in the curtained area next to the dining table.  There are 3 bathrooms (the luxury! haha)

And it is a stone's throw from the happening Jonker Street.

Off to explore the food scene

Minion

Posting a sweet photo of JE with a 'minion'.  I'm not much of a movie watcher but we have gone for all instalments of the Despicable Me franchise so far.

Me with a Minion 

JE is only in shorts as she withstands cold well.  She'd be the one in short sleeves in cold weather whilst SE would be all zipped up in a winter jacket.  My tolerance is in between these two. :)

Ah Kong’s Birthday 2026

My father turns 84 on THIS day, 19 August!

We celebrated last weekend with a Chinese course meal at Oriental Pavilion.

Now what's this? Baby back ribs with preserved plum tomatoes

Food was overall good.  Though the 'cod fish' was served fried in batter and the 'Australian scallop' was mixed like fish-paste - why waste premium ingredients?  Unless they weren't premium to begin with.... hmmmm.  

Dessert of herbal 'turtles' in mango cream

Is there enough space on the cake for the candles?  Oh yes enough haha.

84 times happy birthday!

6 grandkids - 1 has gone off to university

With everyone

My father is having some health issues which don't have clear causes and thus no clear remedies.  Docs are mainly writing it off to 'old age' at this point.  Praying this will improve.  We very much want him around for a long time to come.

Food at malls

Right after our Yunnan trip, I started a new 1-year assignment which entailed going to the client office daily.  After over 3 years of hybrid WFH/office, I could hardly believe having to fight traffic jams daily!  Driving takes up a total of 2.5 hours.  And of course I can't be surfing the net while sitting with other humans!  The work is not my cup of tea either, which is making me seriously think of retirement.  Luckily I managed to get a day of WFH a week for now. 

On to a more enjoyable topic, FOOD.  All these are at malls which win for easy parking, food variety and availability of other shops.  

Father's day lunch (yes this was over a month ago, but refer to my comment that I can't be surfing the net now in the office hehe).  A note that my sis completely misunderstood where to meet and missed this. 

Nong Geng Ji (Chinese): Overall not bad, worth repeat visits

Red Kettle: Dutch baby for me, pork buns/mantao for SE

Chica Bonita(Mexican): Corn looked better than it tasted

Aftermeal: Shaved ice dessert, hojicha flavour

Tea count

Every trip we have been, JE requests to get bubble tea or similar beverage which could have bought one a square meal.  Decided to do a formal count.  We didn't come across any tea shops for 2 days so this started the night of Day 3.

1. Day 3: 'A Cup of Dali' is the name of the shop.  JE says this is local to Dali.  Fine, trying local brands while on holiday makes complete sense. 

This one tastes like Chagee

2. Day 4: JE spotted 'Auntea Jenny' which we also have back home.  JE said something about there being options only available in China.  Well fine then.

 

This one I don't quite like

3. Later that night - she followed Google map to the Chagee shop.  Apparently this drink was only available in China.  

Chagee is the bomb!

4. Day 6: In Xizhou, another Chagee.  I had lost track of the drink names, all are tea of some sort with milk.

Another Chagee

5. Day 7: In Kunming - someone is obviously holding tea.  I had also lost track of the shop name by now.

One more tea

Total of FIVE cups.  This is already with me suddenly becoming deaf whenever she started talking about the possibility of tea shops nearby.

Day7 Kunming

On our last day, the weather turned cool.  So much more pleasant to be strolling around (check out the more smiley faces in this post compared to the previous ones!).  We went back to the Golden Horse archway area.

Us at the Archway

I liked these little baos, delicious and only RMB12/MYR7 for the lot.

Little pan-fried pork baos 

JE's favourite was this halal beef pancake - very good too and cheap at RMB6/MYR3.6.

This beef pancake is the bomb

For lunch we went for simple yet different.  This stall at the food court sold steaming hot bowls of food - you request the seller to put your selections onto your tray then bring it to the cashier.  We picked only a few since we were pretty full.  RMB38/MYR22 for 4 bowls and 2 rice - tasty stuff.

Spicy chicken, pork patties, steamed egg, corn with capsicum

All right, that's all we had time for!  It was a smooth metro ride to the airport.

Try some giant fresh figs first

And a smooth journey back home.

Our loot from China

Yes we did enjoy our trip despite the hot weather.  Green light to visit more places in China in the future. :)

Day 6 - Xizhou

Last day in Dali already.  Took a Didi to Xizhou on the west side of Erhai lake.  I did wonder if I'd input the correct destination as I was expecting something more cultural with people involved in activities other than selling things to tourists.

Another ancient town?

Everything good/Hao

Oh well, it was nice wandering around and the wares on sale were different.

Old building

Finally crossed off the last item on our list - Xizhou Baba, a traditional bread with savoury or sweet filling.  We tried both - a freshly baked savoury one with meat and green onions, then a sweet one with the rose jam common in this area - and preferred the savoury.

Babas come to us

Quite scenic ya?

Also this 

Headed back to Dali and had lunch near our hotel.  SE now has fond memories of the 'milk potato' dish (which I remember trying hard to finish heh).

Potatoes and pork ribs

Dali was definitely worth the trip!  After that it was back to Kunming via the high speed rail.