Melaka

  • Malaysia,  Melaka,  Penang,  Terengganu,  TRAVEL/HOLIDAYS

    Trishaws in Malaysia

    When I look at my photo albums, I noticed that I have some trishaw pictures and decided to write about it. I am no historian but we all know that trishaw was one of the main transporation in Malaysia up to the 70s. Since then, rapid urbanisation has increased demand for more efficient public transport, resulting in the decreasing numbers of trishaws. I try to remember hard but I can only remember that I rode on one during the 70s in Alor Star when I was a child.

    Today, they are operated as tourist attraction, mainly in Melaka, Penang, Terengganu and Kelantan.

    Let’s take a look at trishaws in Melaka. I prefer it way back when it was in its much simpler state where there were no fake flower decorations. LOL. Less is more. But if fake flowers can attract tourists, so be it. I guess I can live with that. On second thought, I think the creativeness of the trishaw operators somehow made the trishaw unique. I would love to interview one of the operators one day and find out who started the trend.

    And this one was in Penang. I love the trishaws in Penang, they were quite an antique! The originality is still there, no fake flower decorations. And look at the back stand; antique and precious.

    And this one was in Terengganu when my son, Yassin was 3. Some were undecorated…

    …but some were decorated with fake flowers as well. But not as exaggerated as the ones in Melaka.

    I don’t have any pictures of trishaws in Kelantan but will definitely take a snap or two if I pass by the town. I did passed by Jeli during my road trip last February but did not went into town.

    Last but not least, let’s take a look at the one in the National Museum. Purely an antique, 1950s.

    Have you rode on trishaw before? Mind sharing the experience?

     

  • Family travel,  Malaysia,  Melaka,  TRAVEL/HOLIDAYS

    Museum of History and Ethnography, Melaka

    I went to Melaka a few times already but did not have the chance to visit the Museum of History and Ethnography. So when my family and I visited the state few months back, I made the time to visit the museum. It was because I needed to refresh my mind on what I had learned from school textbooks many many years ago. I mean, do you remember what year was it when the Portuguese conquered Melaka? Ok, ok, you know it was in 1511. ;P But do you remember when was it that the Dutch ruled Melaka? How many years? Ok, if you do remember, that’s very good but as for me the only thing that I excelled in History subject was the map drawing part. I remember my teacher said, “Emila, you should be a cartographer.” LOL.

    Anyway, visiting the museum really was a good experience. The museum is located inside the Stadthuys building which was declared as National Heritage of Malaysia under the National Heritage Act 2005.

    The exhibits inside the museum provide a reflection of early Melaka; from the period of Melaka founding (circa 1400) to the establishment of independent Federation of Malaya (1957). Among the exhibits on display are ancient porcelain ware, ancient weapons, various currencies, historical figure statues and loads of information about the history in the form of poster prints and photos.


    Lookie! Asahi Pentax leather container for UV filter (B), UV filter (F) and Lyon exposure shutter speed equipment (C).


    14th century tin money on exhibit; hen and cockerel. I can’t help but create a trading scene;
    Buyer: How much do I owe you for the groceries? Seller: 2 cockerels and a hen.


    The recognisable Stadthuys (right) in the background of a very different Melaka. Seen in the photo was a Chinese man wearing a towchang and a hat, a Malay man and a child posing with their horse carriage (c. 1880). Copyright: PERZIM


    I saw this man in Cape Town! I mean the statue.


    Portuguese ship model


    My son posing near a stone sculpture.

    If I tell you everything about the Museum of History and Ethnography of Melaka, I am sure that it’ll take a lot of pages. You need to visit and explore the museum yourself to learn more. The entrance fee of the museum is RM2.00 for adult RM0.50 for children. Do bring your kids along during school holiday.


     

  • Family travel,  Malaysia,  Melaka,  TRAVEL/HOLIDAYS

    Pirate Park, Melaka

    I was visiting a friend, Jerry DZ, in Melaka, for the weekend few months back and being a good host, he took us to the Pirate Park. Paid everything for us (or was it free, Jerry? :D) and we got on the ferris wheel dubbed as Eye on Melaka. From up there, we got to see the view of Melaka town at night.


    The famous ferris wheel.

    Jerry DZ in dark blue. My husband in white.

    Seating capacity of this ferris wheel is 64pax (16 gondolas/pods). I think the ticket is RM5 per person for a 10 minutes ride. This ferris wheel  stands at 25m high.

    My son in the pod.

    Melaka City.

    Attraction at Pirate Park includes Pirate Ship, Rock Climbing and Flying Fox. This park which is situated at Jalan Tun Ali, Melaka, operates daily from 5am until 12 midnight. Do take your kids here and don’t forget to take loads of pictures.

    My son wanted to go on the Pirate Ship but I was afraid. Had a similar ride during my teenage years (at Yaohan the Mall) and I felt like I was going to be thrown off the ship. fter the ride was over, I puked. That was when I swear to not have the ride or any similar ride ever again.

    Have you ever rode on one? How was it feel? If you feel like sharing, do drop me a note in the comment box.

    Pirate Ship.

     

  • Family travel,  local events,  Malaysia,  Melaka,  TRAVEL/HOLIDAYS,  video

    Releasing baby turtles

    Extending our holiday in Melaka was indeed a very great idea because we got to help release baby turtles to have their first swim in the ocean.

    We were about to check-out from the Inn on Monday (Dec 6, 2010) when we overheard a group of children talking about the release of baby turtles at 6.30pm by the innkeeper. Having no encounter at all with turtles face to face, we excitedly extended our stay for one more day and waited eagerly by the beach sharp 6.30pm.

    According to Ruhaizan Omar, one of the inn’s employee, a hawksbill turtle made its way into the inn area and laid some 70 eggs there in September 2010. The eggs hatched on December 4.

    baby baby oh!

    Yassin holding hawksbill baby turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata). The 2 days old baby turtles were so tiny and I think each one of them weighted more or less around 20 grams.

    babies!

    My husband holding our adopted tiny babies, named Squirtle and Blastoise by Yassin.Yes, too much Pokemon.

    Hawksbill turtle has heart-shaped carapace

    Ruhaizan told us that the turtles will be back home in 15 years’ time. Let’s pray that all 70 babies will have a safe journey living their destined life in the ocean so that they will come back safe to Pengkalan Balak shore.

    I did some readings about hawksbill and found out that in 1982, The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has red-listed hawksbill species as Endangered and it was upgraded to Critically Endangered in 1996. This is due to the fact that many adult turtles have been killed by humans, both deliberately and incidentally. The eggs are eaten as delicacy and some have been harvested for their beautiful carapaces. Their shells were even made as jewelry, combs and brushes. This reminds me of the fact that Leatherback turtles are not returning to Terengganu due to excessive egg-collection, fishery-related mortality (for example, accidental mortality in the nets and long-lines of fishing fleets), pollution, and coastal development.

    Also found out from Save Our Sea Turtles that over 400,000 Sea Turtle eggs were being eaten each year in Terengganu. Only 1 in 10,000 Sea Turtle live to adulthood.

    So, lets help save the turtles. Do not collect or eat their eggs. Please educate yourself about turtles. You can find a lot of information about them on the internet. For a start, you can read here, here and here.

    Ok, last but not least, I managed to record the baby turtles using my phone! Enjoy!

    More pictures of our overall journey and route map soon in another post. Come back here often ya.

  • family,  Family travel,  Malaysia,  Melaka,  TRAVEL/HOLIDAYS,  yassin,  zaim

    A full weekend

    We went back to Tangkak last weekend to attend a small family kenduri in conjunction with father-in-law’s birthday. Our family took the opportunity to celebrated the birthday of Cuman (my bro-in-law), Ayu, Adah and Nani (our nieces) as well.

    cake tok abahthe yummy ice-cream cake from secret recipe (pic by Zaim)

    bday boys n girlsfrom left: nani, ayu, cuman and father-in-law. Adah was not seen in pic as she was in Kulim, still in Kulim as she is attending UniKL in Kulim. (pic by Zaim)

    On the way back to KL, we dropped by Melaka. Took that ride up on Menara Taming Sari.

    gyro revolving towerinside the gyro revolving tower

    These are views from up the tower:

    gyro2 view of pulau melaka view of dataran pahlawan

    Later, we went boat cruising along the Melaka River.

    rivercruise1Melaka River Cruise (pic by Zaim)

    We also took Yassin to visit A Famosa Fort and climbed up St Paul Hill.

    famosa fortA Famosa Fort

    famosaSt Francis Xavier statue behind Yassin (pic by Zaim)

    Before we wrapped up the day and headed back to KL, we dropped by Blue Lagoon, Port Dickson. We had Ikan Bakar and reached KL an hour before midnight. It was really tiring but we had great time.

    pdsunsetYassin and his dad enjoying the sunset