The meal in the evening, however, was quite the antithesis of the one in the afternoon. Where we had to wait eons for the first dish to come for lunch, the food for dinner came almost too quickly. Although the spread was good and the food decent enough, one wonders if they had already prepared the food in anticipation of our arrival, in contrast to lunch where one could tell that it was painstakingly prepared so that it would be hot on our plates when served. Pros and cons, I guess.
To start, we had a mixed platter...
An unlimited supply of rice and plenty of what I imagined to be sharks fin soup, for it tasted generally like it, but I could not really feel the fins. You may also notice the Kang Kong in the background but again, no comment, no picture, for I am carnivore.
There was also Tofu....
Fried squid....
Pork chop....
Fried prawns...
Steamed fish....
And dessert!
Not too bad, right? Ok, granted that a lot of the dishes weren't piping hot and a lot of stuff was fried (if you get what I mean) but how much would this cost in Singapore? And the portions were very sufficient such that we could not finish everything.
For our after dinner activities, we were dropped of at Jonker Walk for some OT2 (own time own target {"But be back by 9.30 hor!").
Jonker's Walk at night is touted as one of the 'must-sees', especially to Western tourists. It is naturally very crowded and resembles Singapore's Chinatown, only with a more 'down-to-Earth' feel, without the subtle glitz and gimmicks which make it very obvious that the primary purpose of the vendors is to snare tourists.
Food is obviously a predominant source of the commerce that goes on around there, with an abundance of stalls lining the long street selling all manner of digestables.
But that does not mean that there wasn't anything else, for there were lots of other stalls selling souvenir items, from wired paraphernalia...
To general souvenirs....
To small cosmetic jewellery, accessories and trinkets...
And even replica (fake!) weapons...
Which could have something to do with the stall being right in front of the various guild and clan houses (synonymous with martial arts practice?)
These mixed very nicely with vastly different buildings such as niche art shops...
Which stood alondside more stately buildings...
There is also a lane where all the pubs and/or watering holes seem to be situated but it wasn't very occupied when I passed by. Too early perhaps?
Walk further down and one comes to the of Jonker Walk and the bank of the Malacca River, from which one can opt to go on a River Cruise.
Walk even further on and one comes to the Maritime Museum, which is in the form of a ship....
As well as the old town centre, where the iconic 'red buildings' of Malacca are situated...
Walk further on and you reach some sort of a market selling clothes, handicrafts and other items.
I know a few of my friends who would spend a lot of time looking for trinkets here but I was not one such person, so I walked on...
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