the first family vacation

reminiscing about dis brought the happy feeling back again.. ok, actually ada keja sekoyan.. but i really am in need of a break.. i need 2think about happy moments i had in life so i can continue n be happy with what im doing.. (alasan)

ok, dis entry sepatutnya dh lama diceritakan. but ive been busy (bila yg tak ntah..) so here it goes, about our (the 3 of us) first family vacation. i ‘stumbled’ upon Melaka 4d destination of my family vacation early dis year. I had 2bring a group of participants from a regional training course, they were here 4a working visit for one whole week. We went 2a lot of places, sleep over kt Dorani Bayu Sg. Besar, (nice place, ada chalet terapung), pi Perak, Johor n sempat singgah di Melaka 2bring them have a look at the historical city. Not just historical city, its UNESCO World’s Heritage site ok? One we should be proud of because its internationally recognized (plus get funding of). When our group went there, we don’t really hv time 2go 2all those interesting places. We went up d fort, looked @d sunset, went down, took some photo in front of A Famosa n off we went for dinner in front Dataran Pahlawan. That’s all. So i saw road signs of "River Cruise” yet we didn’t go there cz thr was no time. So, hati sudah tekad, next time, must come here n enjoy dis place.

Finally, last ramadhan, soulmate n i planned for a short vacay. Since we will not b going back 2Kedah, n we hv quite a long Raya break, we thought, maybe we could just go 2Melaka. I know, its crazy 2b going 4a holiday time beraya. But its d only time we have n 4some other reasons as well. So we did it. Booked our room early, n wait for it to happen. (dh nekad, if we were 2go, we go as a tourist. just go with d flow n have fun). So on d 3rd Raya we started our journey 2Melaka, thinking dat we will arrive just in time 4check in (after 2pm). Turned out we arrived early n so, after searching 4our hotel (yep, we didnt even know whr d hotel was, kami guna our own GPS which was ‘you look at left side, i look 2 right’) we went straight 2Dataran Pahlawan 4our recce session. My dobot was behaving so good (slept throughout the journey), smp terus menyusu dlu, then we decided nk naik Menara Taming Sari. Tengahari remang ok! but who cares! parking was free dat day. Got d best parking spot n kami naik la menara tu. So cool it was, we got d whole view of d places we wanna go 2 n dat really helps a lot sebab we went utk redah sahaja! in fact we took a map so we will plan whr 2go as we go along. of course i have my mental checklist of whr is d MUST GO places. Then we had our lunch there n went  2hotel 2 check in n have a rest. (but turned out no rest cz dobot was running around d room melompat2 n our nap time cuma angan2 saja!) so we decided 2go out 2town again. So merayau la kami di A Famosa n then siap smyg n dinner kt the mall before naik beca pi river cruise..

dobot was so excited, his 1st beca ride! kebetulan, beca guy pasang hindustan (most of them does) dobot yg pertama kali dgr hindustan telah berjoget2 atas beca spnjg jln.. so cute. walaubagaimanapun, sesampai nye kt jeti river cruise, d long queue! n they even stopped selling tickets cz too many people alredi. so we didnt get 2go 4d cruise, so we took another beca n got back 2our car. akhirnya, blk hotel dat night 4a rest.

d next morning we started early. before 9 we have alredi arrived at Dataran Pahlawan. Got d best parking spot, we planned 2buy the duck tours ticket but it was still closed. (pg sgt la pulak kn?) so we went 2Muzium Samudera. Its the replica version of d Flor de La Mar’s ship. It was an interesting experience. U got 2see d interior of d ship, where d bilik tahanan is, captain’s deck is, etc. n its so clean, u have 2remove ur shoes. they’ll provide u with a plastic bag so u can carry ur shoes. of course they provide a place 2keep it, tp letak la kalo berani ek.. ehehe.. we were so caught up looking around (kata tourist kn?) when we got 2 buy d duck tour ticket, d first ride dh terlepas pn. since we dont wanna go for d ride masa tgh panas terik, we decided 2buy d ticket n booked d evening ride. so, 2past our time, we decided 2go 2taman mini malaysia.

on d way 2taman mini, ttba soulmate nmpk sign ‘taman rama-rama’, he swivelled d car exactly at d last minute n went 2wards it. dats d benefit of pegi bcuti sendiri dan bkn berkonvoi ye.. cz u changed direction sesuka hati je xikut plan pn org xmarah.. haha.. so we spent our time there. turns out its not really a butterfly park. its a mini zoo as well. dobot cried tgk butterfly but was so cool ms tgk harimau ngn crocodile.. punya pelik anak aku ni.. aftr dat we wanted 2go 2taman mini, tp it was closed 4upgrading. so we went 4lunch instead. then we went 2river cruise from d spice garden jetty (turns out its better 2go frm jeti taman rempah sbb tak ramai org pn). so sunny it was but dobot enjoyed d cruise. i did too.. cz the view of kampung morten is actually very beautiful. n if u got a chatty boat guide, d better. cz he’ll tell u extra things other than d recorded explanation. do u knw dat they purposely ‘ternak’ biawak2 kt dlm sungai melaka tu? they feed them with chicken ok? n biawak nye size dh mcm anak buaya pn ada!

after dat we went back 2 Dataran Pahlawan 2catch our Duck Tour ride. Funny how inconsiderate people just cut d queues. one pakcik (race not stated cz dont wanna sound racist) was complaining, he said dia dh beli tiket dr pkul 3 lg. sib baik mood i baik tau.. dia tak kira kami beli dari pkul 9pagi? nyampah! so berjaya kami naik duck tours wlupn duduk blkg skali. our guide tak brp best sgt. mcm mabuk pn ada. ckp mcm weng2 sket. history tok kaduk apa suma crita dgn mata pejam smbil tangan mcm karam singh walia. dh mcm tak enjoy pulak blabbering dia. dobot buat hal sket but behaved smula slps upah dia biskut coklat kegemaran dia tu. then we went back to hotel semayang n freshened up.

final night we went back 2town, n pi naik beca lg. since we have promised nk posing kt muzium umno, jd kami gagahi jg xmau pki stroller bw si dobot. (btw, dobot terkena angin manja, ms raya byk berdukung, jd ms trip pi melaka, angin berdukung melekat, xrajin dia nk bjalan wlupn dh dpt kaki). then we went 4dinner kt ns lemak antarabangsa yg sungguh xsdap tu! bluerghh.. pstu, we decided 2go again naik menara taming sari utk tgk night view of Melaka. Pengumuman ye : tiket menara taming sari 4 night n day lain harga. n night time they give u a goody bag 2go n u’ll be on d menara 4extra 2 minutes as compared 2 naik ms siang, dats why mahal sket. then we naik beca again pstu blk hotel.

next morning, after breakfast terus je blk my parents’ house sbb tak beraya lg situ n 2avoid traffic jam. since its still raya weekend, takut jg kalo we will be on d road 4hours jz because we’r stuck in traffic. turned out, xjem lgsg! smp umh parents i pn awl gila. kalo tau, pi smbg jln2 dlu.. hehe..

things i didnt get 2do are a walk at Jonker’s street, all those perigi stuffs, taman mini cz of d renovation, zoo melaka (which ppl say is awesome too) n a look at d house / living muzium kg morten. actually thr are more.. only thg is, if i put it in a list, surely i have 2go there again 4a week or so cz there r so many thgs 2do! but yep! i wanna go there again!

anyway, i wanna share some tips 4 d vacay, especially in Melaka :

1) get any hotels nearby town. no need 2b choosy. u dont wanna b in d hotel all d time anyways, u wanna b around town. even if its a 3star hotel, its Melaka ok? d hotel is not so bad cz they hv tourists all year round, so they kept it clean n such. Seri Costa is d nearest hotel 2Dataran Pahlawan punya area, d best spot, but not sure about parking. very convenient, bt i didnt stay there, so im not sure of drawbacks. d point is, its very, very close 2d tourist area. 4those of u yg xtau Dataran Pahlawan, its d centre of Melaka’s attraction. Its where the menara taming sari is located at, the duck tour ride starting/drop off point is, within walking distance 2muzium tldm, muzium samudera. in fact if u dont mind walking, its not so far away from A famosa fort, clock tower / Stadhuys a.k.a Red Square and river cruise jetty.

2) river cruise : try from jetty tmn rempah. less people, easier access n parking

3)  b a tourist! jz take time 2explore everything like a real tourist does. go for beca ride, cruise, etc. take photos even if u are local cz ppl pay a lot 2come all d way 2dis side of d world. its heritage site, it must meant somethg.

4) enjoy! dont care about d time (kcuali wktu semayang la weh), dont go rushing into things. relax n enjoy d scenery, d vacation n d time u have with ur loved ones!

ok then.. next time i might blurt out about my recent trip 2mexico n my ‘an evening in Paris’.