AhPek Biker - Old Dog Rides Again: Cakes

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Friday, April 25, 2014

Malacca : Peranakan Bikers Day 1

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AhPek Biker - Riding Adventures

Malacca : Peranakan Bikers Day 1

Day 1 - Malacca 19th April 2014
Small Group Ride : Day 1 - Malacca City>Tanjong Bidara

Distance : 81.57 km.
Time : 8:20 am - 7:30 pm
Duration : 11 hrs. 10 mins. (including stops - eats, rest, museum visit refreshment & photo shoots)

Route Recommendations:
1. The Submarine Museum is educational and interesting. It's one of the few in the world.
2. Nyonya cakes from Baba Charlie is a close to being authentic as one can find.
3. Do take care when riding on busy trunk & main roads.
4. Don't miss out on the renown Malacca Coconut Milkshake.

PRELUDE

It's been a while since I last rode in Malacca, almost 1-1/2 years ago (well, that's a long time by biking standards). So when Chris invited a few friends for a two day ride in his home-town, eventhough that I was swamped with work, I was of very keen to join them. Managing to clear off my work, just one day before the ride I informed them that I will be joining.

On an early misty Saturday morning, I drove down to Malacca to meet up with the others.

It's a GO!

THE RIDE

View Malacca Town To Tanjung Bidara Cycle Route (81.57km) in a larger map

Cycling Route Day 1 : Malacca City>Tanjong Bidara
It will be a simple route with some riding in Malacca City for breakfast before heading via the coastal road to Tanjong Bidara about 40 km. away. En route we will visit the Submarine Museum in Klebang.

8:20 am - Unpacking and unfolding our bikes, we left Batu Berendam on the outskirts of the city. They were seven of us - Chris, Chin, Liliana, the Wong couple and me. Irene got lost a bit and ended up at another corner of the city, no worries we will all ride over and meet her.

A statue of a hornbill at one of the newer developments in Malacca City.

We did a loop of the newer part of the city to pick up Irene .....

..... and within minutes we were riding pass the maroon Dutch colonial houses of Malacca's heritage town centre. Going by these strongly coloured houses, one will definitely know that one is in Malacca, they are that iconic.

Breakfast was at Restoran Yong Tau Fu Cheng Fong nearby the Bukit Cina area.
We had.... er... what else but Yong Tau Fu. But this was slightly different, coming with a separate bowl of noodle soup. The fishballs here are excellent and fresh seeing that Malacca is a coastal city. Looks like we did eat a fair bit but then we have a long journey ahead.

Stomach full and palates sated, we are ready to begin our 40 km trek, heading down Jalan Tengkera. Along the way we will be making a few stops, some intended and some not so intended; some that we were welcomed, others .... oh... we shall see.
The first was a quick stop at the Tengkera Mosque, a noticeable landmark along Jalan Tengkera.

The next was Baba Charlie situated at a lane just opposite the Tengkera Mosque. Here they make Nyonya kueh that are one of the most authentic that I have tried (except for my Grannies one, of course). Chris has this great idea that we take away these cakes for a picnic lunch at Tanjong Bidara. Cool!

Yes, the cakes at Baba Charlie is authentic, there are even a few Nyonya ladies there, sitting down and patiently making the kueh. This friendly Nyonya lady was happy to pose with me; her warm and chatty ways reminds me so much of my late grand-mother.

Oops... a not so intended stop, and definitely an unwelcomed one.
Liliana's bike had a puncture, fortunately Wong was very adept at repairing the puncture. The culprit causing the puncture was a small shard of glass, probably from a broken car headlamp that we frequently saw on the roadside.
A word of advise: look ahead a bit when cycling so as to avoid hazards like this. Also try not to ride on sand accumulated at roadsides, on can never know what's hidden there that could possible cause a puncture.

We continued on, making our way down Jalan Klebang Besar, this is a nice stretch to ride on as one can view the sea while pedalling on. Along the way, I noticed several stall that I thought were selling some golden looking coral souvenirs.

On close-up, I found out that they were Jack Fruits (Nangka), peeled artistically to attract customers.

Chin seems so happy here as we made a short detour onto the reclaimed land here, which cyclists wouldn't be when they get to cycle on a nice stretch of beach.

That short detour brought us to the Submarine Museum which displayed the SMO Ouessant (S623) an Agosta Class French submarine. Good, I can be an old salt of the sea for a moment, while I imagine myself exploring the Seven Seas just like those mariners of the Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea TV series.

We are out of the city, leaving the high-rise towers behind riding now pass kampong houses.

1:00 pm - Making a left turn into Road M143 we headed for the Terendak army camp.
Chris was hoping to cut through the camp to head for Tanjong Bidara which is just on the other side of the camp. This short cut should save us several kilometres of riding; it would be a most welcomed short cut as the weather was getting hot.

What is seen as a public road is actually one that runs through the camp. Chris went to talk to the guards at the guardhouse to see whether they will allow cyclists to ride through.
Well, while waiting must at least take some photos of these armoured car parked at the entrance.
Chris came back looking forlorn, "Sorry, they don't allow cyclists to go through". And "We are not allowed to take photos here." Security sure is strict at this place, it's enforced even before one goes in.

Ok. Let's look at the brighter side. The longer route will give us an opportunity to ride pass the cooling Sungai Udang Forest Reserve.....

... and a chance to savour Malacca;s renown Coconut Milkshake from a road side stall.
Cheers, mate!

These Coconut Milkshake are made by blending together coconut flesh with vanilla ice-cream. Some coconut water and condensed milk is added too.

They look refreshing especially to us tired, hot and sweaty cyclists.

2:40 pm - We are at Tanjong Bidara Beach. Time to break open our take-away Nyonya kueh and have our picnic.
Chris is all smiles. He's a jovial person and when it comes to eating he's is even more jovial. He eats with gusto, cleaning up every tasty morsel. Watching him eat one can't help but smile or even laugh, his eating style is that entertaining.

Our beach time was to last an hour. Chin took the time to do some meditation and catch up on some sleep.

Tanjong Bidara faces the Straits of Malacca which is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. Very often containers ships and tankers can be seen sailing in the horizon. It is one of the few sandy beaches on the southern west coast of Malaya. There are not many such beaches as most of the west coastline are lined with mangrove swamps.
Local tourist comes often to swim and play on its beaches.

Its a favourite for campers too.

4:20 pm - Leaving Tanjong Bidara, we headed back for Malacca City. Our route back will be a different one. It will take us away from the coast through the Cheng Corridor and pass the airport. By the time we drew near to the city, the evening sun was casting long shadows.

But before ending the ride, Chris had another treat for us, another eats! I did mention that he loves to eat. This time it's for late tea at the Thong Shui House at Batu Berendam. Hot and cold desserts are served here.
I had this towering Ice Kacang Special. It had all sorts of filling from the read bans to sago seeds to sourish lemon strips and crowned by a scoop of ice-cream.

Till Tomorrow then, Adieu!

- this blog comes in two part, click here to go to Day 2.

Related Blogs :

Peranakan Bikers - Day 2: 20th April 2014

Our second day in Malacca, and we did a leisurely ride around its
historic centre and its beautiful riverside. Lots of eats thrown in too!

Nyonya Kueh @ Baba Charlie

Looking for good & authentic Nyonya Kueh? Go to Baba Charlie,

where they have a good range of these kueh - Malacca City, Malacca

Submarine Museum @ Malacca
Klebang Beach, Malacca : April 2014
Visiting this educational submarine museum rekindled my old salt of the sea spirit.

Malacca : Peranakaan Bike-Packers Day 1

Malaysia - Streets & Riverside Of Malacca : November 2012

Scenes from the streets & riverside of Malacca

Friday, November 30, 2012

Malacca : Peranakan Bike - Packers Day 2

You are at - Jotaro's Blog / AhPek Biker / Cycling Malaysia / Malacca / Peranakan Bike-Packers Day 2
AhPek Biker - Riding Adventures
Malacca : Peranakan Bike-Packers

13th-15th November 2012 : Day 2 : Ride Around Malacca Town

Bikers at A' Famosa

Small Group Ride (This blog covers Day 2 of 3)

Bike Ride Around Malacca Town

Cycling Distance Day 2 : Approx. 50.00 km. for day & night (per MapMyRide App)
Ride Start Time : 8:00 am till night
Time Taken : Who cares! It was a sight-seeing joy & eats ride

PRELUDE

We had bike-packed down from Kuala Lumpur to Malacca the previous day (see Malacca : Peranakaan Bike-Packers Day 1). It was a tiring ride but I was glad that we did that, having that feeling of achievement now.

Dawn at Kota Laksamana

Good Morning!
Unusually of me, I woke up quite early and went down to the lower floor of the duplex apartment that we were staying in. I was greeted by a beautiful dawn - it will be a great day to ride!

We were staying at one of the Chin Apartments. It's a maisonette unit at the first floor of a block. There's a living/dining room, kitchen, bathroom & 1 bedroom at the 1st floor with a balcony. At the second floor there are 3 bedrooms. We all stayed at the second floor.

It's not very large, but the living room was big enough for us to park our 4 bicycles and still leave ample space.
We decided not to fold up our bikes but that meant we had to carry them up 1-1/2 flights of stairs.
Haha! We exercise our legs riding AND now we exercise our arms too!

Chin Apartment is located at Section 3, Kota Laksamana within easy cycling distance to Malacca Town (about 15-20 minutes).
Rates are : RM40-00 per pax/room or RM35 per pax for twin sharing.

THE RIDE
The ride blog will be in three post :
Day 1. Trip Down from Bandar Tasik Selatan, Kuala Lumpur to Laksamana, Melaka
Day 2. Biking Around Malacca
Day 3. Trip Back from Laksamana, Melaka to Sentral, Kuala Lumpur

DAY 2: 14th November 1012 - RIDING AROUND MALACCA TOWN

Peranakaan Bike-packers : Day 2 Ride Route Malacca Town Ride (click for Map Link)

Today's iternary :
1. Go buy bus ticket for Siew Yung as she will be leaving for KL today.
2. Ride around Malacca Riverside.
3. Lunch at Aunty Lee Nyonya Restaurant, Ujung Pasir.
4. Visit Portuguese Settlement.
5. Tea At Nadeje Cake House.
6. Send Siew Yung Off.
7. Night Ride to Malacca River, A' Famosa, Jonker's Walk

Okay, first thing first again, must not forget about the two Brompton ladies, Siew Yung & Rita. We rode over to meet them and then it was off for makan (Malay for eats)!

We went down Tangkera again. This time round I managed to get a better photo of the Tengkera Mosque's Minaret. It's architecture seems closer to Indian mosques.

Breakfast was at the Tengkera Food Court, quite close to the Mosque.

Kookkeong had broth. Rita eyeing that and probably thinking "Hmm... looks good, I will go for that too."

I had prawn mee soup from this stall. I was discussing on how to make good prawn mee with this vendor.
He gave me that look which meant "Young man, don't try to teach my grandmother how to suck eggs."

Siew Yung?
Siew Yung had her Brompton for breakfast!
Okay, jokes aside, she did eat but was keeping a watchful eye over her new bike.

We left the food court, heading towards the Malacca Sentral Bus Terminal. Siew Yung will be going back to Kuala Lumpur today, and she needs to get the bus tickets.
Along the way we, cycled pass by one of those flowery Malacca beca (trishaw).

Also passed by this Satay Celup stall. It was closed as they usually open for dinner.

Quite soon, we reached the Malacca Sentral.
It's huge mono-pole signboard states that it is a terminal, market and bazaar.

Here's the four of us waiting for Siew Yung while she went to buy her tickets, sitting in the style of the Kapitan Cina's of old - arms akimbo with clenched fists on the thighs of our spread legs.
It was a close emulation, but we shouldn't have smiled as those Kapitans were rather serious fellows who ruled the life and business of historical Malacca Chinatown with a firm hand.

Having done the needed, we were ready to leave for our next destination - the Malacca Riverside.

On the way, we passed by the Aeon Jusco shopping complex.

Some colorful high-rise apartments.

Malacca River, the bikers have arrived!
The above is one of the many unique bridges spanning over the river. This one is named after the legendary Malacca warrior Hang Tuah.

Malacca Riverside is such a beautiful place to visit. The river is very clean, devoid of those odd flotsam, jetsam and what-nots that blight many river.
On both sides are nicely paved and landscaped walkways. Certain areas even have boardwalks.

River Cruise Boat along the Malacca River

One can take a nice walk along the riverside, or even take a river cruise.

OR BETTER STILL, cycle along the riverside just like we did.

Along one side of the river, there were many colorful wall murals that added life to the place.

Some depicted Malaysian tribal culture.

Others showed the history of Malacca.

And yet others gave us a chance to explore our artistic side, heh... heh...

And also our dramatic side.

Some distance away we could see the spires of the St. Francis Xavier Church.
St. Francis Xavier was a Christian Brother who traveled to Malacca with the Portuguese and then onwards to Japan.

Off the riverside are nice, cute little alleyways.
Malacca is a hodgepodge of Malay, Chinese, Portuguese, Dutch & English, all of whom have colored it's past.

Fookkeong had an important task to carry out, so we had to leave the beauty and serenity of the riverside behind us and head on.
It was getting closer to noon, and we were lucky that we were cycling as the traffic was getting horrendous.

Shopfront with hand-prints, wonder what they are selling, gloves?

Though in a rush, I managed to take in the uniqueness of Malacca old town area.

Nice and colorful cheong-sams also caught my eye.

We stopped by this stall selling Chinese medicinal herbal tea, to quench or thirst.
The medicinal quality of the tea sold here should do us good...

... so should the lottery tickets that the vendor was also selling. I bought a few.
The top prize of this lottery goes to above RM10 million.
I hope that I strike, but I am not greedy - something just enough for me to get one of those Bromptons.

And here's Kookkeong's important task -
A brotherly duty to visit a sister.
She operates a shop selling bags. Special discount for Kookkeong's cyclist friends! (of course Kookkeong must come along to vouch, heh heh!)

Next to her shop, across a side-lane is the Tai Chong Ice Cream Shop.

We sat ourselves down and had Rojak, Cendol.....

..... and whale-mouthfuls of ice-cream sundaes!

The nearby area was also interesting - the above is an old style barber shop with an old balding barber! But those barber chairs and the barbers will soon be a thing of the past, as new hair styling saloons with foreign trained cutters are the in-thing.

A spiral staircase standing out in a dark side alley.

We have to move along now, as we have to ride over to Ujung Pasir for lunch.
Aren't we glad we are cycling when we meet traffic jams like this.

Along the way, I made short stops to take photos, like this one of the Christ Church, which is of Dutch design from the era of the Dutch rule of Malacca.
"Hey, AhPek! We have to move along, we don't want to be late for our lunch, reservations have been made for 12:30 pm at Aunty Lee. We will be riding pass here again later." my co-riders remarked. So no more photo stops then.

But I still managed to take some shorts while cycling.
This one is of a "DUCK" amphibious boat, it can move on land and also be a boat.
These vehicles hails from the World War II period, and were actually landing assault vehicles but are now used as a tour bus/boat.

We managed to reach Aunty Lee Nyonya Restaurant on time.
Siew Yung had made reservations for an earlier time as this place do get pretty packed after that.

Among the good food we had, was this delicious otak-otak. Looks good & tastes good too!

Assam curry fish - the fish was very fresh and the curry superb!

And Ayam Pongteh (stewed chicken), a local Malacca favorite which lived up to its reputation.

To round up the meal, for desserts, it was Malacca Cendul.
We also had cincaluk omelet & stir-fried kankung belacan. I even got to meet the auntie herself (read more at YummY! - Nyonya Temptations @ Aunty Lee)

As nice as Aunty Lee was, we had to leave.
And headed for the Portuguese Settlement. This is a settlement of the descendants of the Portuguese who colonized Malacca centuries back.

But I was sad to see that the place have changed much from the memories I had of it when I last came here almost a decade ago.
It is now a much more modern place, so modern that it does not have any feel of a settlement anymore. The only thing giving that feel were the houses along the road leading in.

Gone are the wharves with the fishing boats. Instead in their place is modern walkway with an adjacent large car-park.

Seems like the settlers livelihood is not in fishing anymore, but in the pure commercialism of a tourism industry.

How I lament this lost of identity. But I guess they have to adjust to the practical present day lifestyle as the younger generations seek better harvest than that offered by the sea.

There's even a spanking new hotel, the Lisbon Hotel.

And a museum with a souvenir shop.

We opted to take a photo at this archway that closest resemble something Portuguese, but please excuse those advertisement boards.

Time to leave the settlement and my laments behind, and head for our next stop - St. Paul's Hill via Kampung Atap. The houses here seems more interesting.

Reaching the foot of St. John's Hill, Andrew gives the thumbs up!

The ride up was along a nice, shady slope.

It was a hot day and at the top of the road, one will have to climb further on foot to the fort.
Rita and Kookkeong being more adventurous (or should I say more lively) went up the hill.
The rest of us lazy lots, just sat and rested.

At the fort, Rita was having some fun with some big guns... huge guns really!

Leaving the hill, we headed towards Plaza Mahkota as Siew Yung has a last thing to show us before she goes back to Kuala Lumpur.

And that place was Nadeje - a pastry shop selling wonderful crepe cakes and others.

Crepe cakes are layered cakes, with cream in between the layers.
Among others we had the Strawberry Crepe cakes. As one takes in the cake, the cream slowly oozes out. YummY!

Rita, the Pink Lady, was naturally attracted towards....
... what else but PINK!
She found it in this refreshing drink called Calpis Pink Guava.
(for more on the cake house read YummY! - Crepes Layered Cakes @ Nadeje Malacca)

Now we are back at the girls' hotel, for Siew Yung to collect her luggage.
Now there are SIX of us, sitting there at the hotel front, taking a memorable shot.

All of us rode to Sentral Melaka to send Siew Yung off.
Goodbye Siew Yung...
... Goodbye Guys!

Having said our goodbyes, we rode back to our respcective hotel and apartments for a badly needed rest before we head out again at night.
And now there are FIVE of us.
We will miss our biking buddy!

8:00 pm - we went to the Kota Laksamana Coffee shop again. What can I say, they have lots of stall selling many different food.
And it's nearby.

This time round, we had lor-mee. It tasted okay only.

Char Keow Teow..... Looks GOOD!
And also Singapore Fried Prawn Mee, sorry no pix on this one as I walloped it too fast and forgot to snap one.

After that, we went on a night ride of Malacca town, wanting to see how it is at night.
Here we are at Jonkers Walk, we were there at 9pm and surprisingly the place was quite quiet. Didn't see the crowds.

At Jonkers Walk we visited the Taman Warisan Dunia, it's a small park dedicated to a local who won the Mr. Universe Asia body building competition.

Andrew gangnam danced here!

While Kookkeong decided to release his pent up strength by taking the bull by its horns.

We met some colorfully lighted trishaws.

And here's the AhPek Biker the Trishaw Biker, considering a new career in line with cycling.

Rode by a restored Portuguese Man-of-War warship. These were use to invade Malacca centuries back.

And met some lady bikers from the local university at the Christ Church area. We exchanged pleasantries cordially.

Andrew led us in a gangnaming stint here too.

As it was dark at the parks, we ingeniously shone our bike lights onto a plane to take this group photo. Posing with serious looks and arms folded, do we remind you of someone? - Hint: he's into biking and camping too.

Rita did a pole-dancing stint on a fire-truck.
We bikers know how to have fun too!

We ended our night tour with a visit to the Malacca Riverside. It is even more romantic during this hour (Mental note to myself : bring wife here next time.)

The Casa Del Rio looking very grand in the evening.

11:00pm - We finished off our day back at the Laksamana Coffee Shop. Now there is a singing stage show and the place was packed as there was also a lucky draw on.
Many of the prizes were large umbrellas. Luckily we did not win that, as it would have been odd, very odd to carry one of those huge ones while cycling, Hahaha!

We have a long ride back tomorrow, so it was back to sleep then.
Good Night...

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