Visiting Malacca: A Unesco World Heritage Site & Foodie Favourite

Malacca is always packed with tourists during the weekends. From Singapore to the historical city of Malacca, all it takes is about 3.5 to 4 hours via bus. It is no wonder then that many Singaporeans enjoy visiting this Unesco World Heritage site during the weekends.

As a Unesco World Heritage site, this means that any renovations to the existing buildings needs to adhere to strict rules. As such, any new hotels, restaurants and so on, including Malaysia's third Hard Rock Cafe (which will be facing the riverfront) has to be planned properly. This latest addition to Malacca will soon open in early 2013.

Recently, I visited Malacca (or Melaka). If you head here via bus, you will stop at Melaka Sentral bus terminal. From here, we took a cab to our guesthouse near Jonker Street (or Jalan Hang Jebat).

As it was about 1pm by then, our first stop was at the Famosa Chicken Rice shop for the city's famous delicacy: the chicken rice balls. We also ordered steam chicken and vegetables to go with the rice balls. And at each table, you will be provided with delicious spicy chilli sauce.

After a satisfying lunch, we then walked down the street towards San Shu Gong, which sells lots of local snacks and a local brand of coffee: Lau Qian. Samples are provided generously and you can try all you want before making any purchases.

From here, we crossed the river and stopped for photo-taking opportunities at Christchurch and the Stadhuys. Nearby this area are the other famous tourist attractions such as the A-Famosa Ruins and St Paul's Church.

As this was not our first time in Malacca, we decided to skip these and headed instead to Dataran Pahlawan Mall for some shopping and to hide from the scorching sun! Here, we obtained great bargains at a Factory Outlet Shop, where clothes were selling from RM3 onwards. After shopping, we then relaxed while having dessert and then caught a movie at the Golden Screen Cinemas located within the mall. For those who would like to continue shopping, Mahkota Parade is just across the road.

For us, we decided to head to Capitol Satay Celup for dinner. Unfortunately, the queue was extremely long by the time we arrived. Hence, we changed our plans and tried satay celup at the Famosa Satay Celup Restaurant, which is just a few shops away. The sauce which is made up of many different spices and peanuts was really good. Here, you choose the food which you want to cook, and then bring it to your own table. Then, you place them into the boiling pot of sauce and wait till it is cooked for a delicious meal. Each stick costs 70 cents (as of August 2012).

Next, we walked over to the Jonker Walk Night Market which starts at about 6pm. The roads will be closed off to traffic as stalls will be setup along the street. Be prepared for crowds and the heat. There are stalls selling snacks, souvenirs, clothes, accessories and so on. Take your time shopping as we spent about 2 hours here. If you feel tired, just stop by one of the nearby pubs or cafes. For us, we finally decided to stop at about 10pm and headed back to our guesthouse for a well-deserved rest. Continue reading to find out what I did on Day 2!