Malacca 14-15 Nov 2014

Hotel: Vintage Eleven, Malacca, The Explorer Hotel, Malacca

Back to Malacca again.  This time, we went as a whole family because I got a package from Visit Malaysia fair for Vintage Eleven Boutique Hotel at an unbelievably cheap rate that you won't be able to find online.

To cut cost as well as for ease of travel and because there are so many of us, we decided to drive from Singapore to Malacca. 

Upon our arrival in Jonker (where the hotel is located), we went for Chicken rice balls.  Yes, this is something everyone need to eat when you land your feet in Malacca.  Let's just put it this way, if you haven't eaten Chicken rice balls, you haven't been the Malacca.

We had our Chicken rice at Famosa Restaurant.  It's not difficult to recognise the restaurant as it's entirely red with a pic of Cai Lan (Hong Kong celebrity chef) on the entrance.  As we wanted to try everything, we ordered both steam and roast chicken.  As usual, it's delicious.  After meals, we went up to the second floor where there is a small museum. I have been there countless of times so didn't take pics. Most pictures were in my mum's camera.

The first hotel we stayed in was Vintage Eleven which is just a corner off Jonker Walk night market. I thought it would be noisy due to the night market but was really wrong. This quaint little corner was quiet in the night and we were able to sleep really well.  The living room is like a 5 star hotel lobby and beyond the living room door, you'll find a separate area with spiral staircase leading up to the second floor and a swimming pool with Jacuzzi function.

 



On the second floor, there is a resting area with a fully equipped kitchenette that comes with microwave oven pots and pans, cutlery, drinking water dispenser, champagne glasses (yes, I'm not kidding you...they provide champagne glasses perhaps for honeymoon couple).  But of course, if you want any other drinks from the fridge, you gotta pay. It'll definitely be cheaper to get some drinks from the supermart.  The fridge is huge enough to stock up lots of drinks.   And from the open walk way, you can also see the Jacuzzi pool on the ground floor.

The master bedroom comes with an attached bathroom (one glass panel is missing from the bath tub and the tap is pretty lose...they need to do some upkeeping here). But the view is rather pretty as it faces the mezzanine. The other bedroom is huge.  I mean...really huge! Besides the sofa bed, there is 1 king size and 1 queen size bed in the same huge room.

The mezzanine looks pretty in the day and magnificent at night with all the lights lit up.  We got adventurous and decided to do some Jacuzzi soaking in the middle of the night complete with wine and chocolate.

No complains about the hotel except that there's more mozzies than human! Wifi is stronger in the living and super weak on the second floor.  But the staff is really friendly and helpful and he is just a call away :)

Woke up early for some yum cha breakfast just a few steps from our hotel. The price is extremely cheap and the food is so filling.  We couldn't stuff in any lunch after that.  After breakfast, we checked in at another hotel nearer to the shopping belts.

Arrived at The Explorer Hotel.   I have a fascination for new hotels. So needless to say, I book it because it's new.  Yah...even the café is not really done up yet.  Simple and no frills hotel.  The good part is that it is so near to all the malls.  We are right next to Mahkota Parade! After short rest and some shopping around the malls, we got ready to move out for dinner.

We arrived at Portuguese settlement for our seafood dinner a tad too early. The place was still very bright and quiet. My favourite shellfish shop is still not open yet. It will only be opened around 7.30pm but we were more than an hour early.

Alright, besides the 4 dishes shown, we ordered oysters as well.  But we kindda gobbled the whole thing up before any one of us remembered to take pics.  Shells weren't really fresh that day for some reasons coz all who ate them ended up with food poisoning. The previous time I ate was ok. Not sure what happened.  Nonetheless, due to the crowdless environment, we didn't really enjoy it this time. But as usual, the moment we drove into the area, we had a whole bunch of really helpful folks leading our car to the parking lot and then tried to psyho us to eat from their stall.  We still went for Stall no. 1. 

After dinner, we hung around Jonker night market until it started to drizzle and followed by heavy downpour -.-" The entire trip concluded with a pot....I mean, I cup of ice cream that looks like potted plant.  The soil looking thingie is actually crushed Oreo cookie and the plant is mint! :)

More photos available here

Link: Portuguese Village