First day @ Malacca

Leng and mum were going for a 3D/2N cruise to KL over the National Day weekend. She jioed us but i don't really fancy cruise so decided not to join them. I went for a cruise to nowhere few years back. It was boring! You do nothing except eat. With en then, I can't go to the casino nor the lounge. The swimming pool was so small and so were the rooms. Dad was quite excited about this trip as he can do his favourite thing, gamble.

I told YP we should also go somewhere as it will be boring to stay at home over the long weekend. We settled for Malacca as we saw a few new shopping complexes during the stopover at Malacca on the way to Port Dickson the last time. It's not too far and economical. YP did some research online and found out there is a new resort, Philea Resort & Spa and there is a 2 nights for the price of 1 promotion going on. We made reservation and informed the kids about it. As usual, they were very excited just like for the past trips.

The night before we departed, I went online and did a research on the good food in Malacca. On Saturday, we woke up at around 7am, took breakfast at CSM Kentucky and headed towards our neighbour via the second link. There was a massive jam at the Malaysia customs and we were stuck there for an hour plus. By the time we reached the resort, it was about 2pm. The check-in was fast and we were brought to the room via a buggy. The buggy used in the resort was ugly looking and unsophisticated, lots of grinding noise when on the move. I took a glimpse at the country it was produced in. True enough, there is a '.my' at the end of the company url.

The room is very clean and nice much to our delight. It is fully made of wood and feels very exotic. After that, we made our way to the lobby cafe and decided to have our overdue lunch there as we were famished. The cafe was about half full and we ordered 2 dishes to be shared among us. After waiting for about 30mins, our 1st dish finally came but our 2nd dish was no where in sight. I looked around and realized that the other patrons also waited very long for their orders. Few of them even went into the restaurant (we were sitting outside) to ask about their orders. I asked a waitress about my 2nd dish and she replied she will check for me. She never came back! I couldn't take it anymore and asked to cancel my remaining order. Just imagine, the place is not even full and they can't even handle. What will happen if it is full? They either suck in service or they are understaffed in the kitchen. Poor us, 4 ppl sharing one dish. The waiter kept apologizing but that's all he did, never bother to do any damage control. We had to return to the room and finish up all the snacks we bought in Singapore to last till dinner. I told YP with such service, we definitely have to go to Malacca town for dinner.

Then we did some swimming at the pool. The resort is quite quiet on a weekend maybe because it is new or it is too expensive for the locals. There were some malay ladies swimming and I was surprised to see that they were wearing swimming costumes with a tudung. interesting...

After bathing, we headed towards the town which is about 15 minutes away. The town was very congested and I noticed there were many many singapore cars. With the help of GPS (thank goodness), we went to 3 places recommended on the net. Firstly to Aunty Lee Nyonya Restaurant where we were kena turned away because the lady boss cannot handle the orders. Then to Capitol satay celup where the queue was like super duper long and lastly we couldn't find Lu Yeh Yen Seafood Restaurant. In the end, we ended up in Taragon Nyonya Restaurant along the Malacca River and chendol at San Shu Gong. The food at Taragon was so so only and I don't find it authentic at all. I was pretty disappointed as I really wanted to try the lok lok which has disappeared in Singapore long long time ago. YP promised that we will return tomorrow and go early to queue. Then we also shopped at the super duper crowded Jonkers night market.

As it was a long day, we headed back to the resort. While sleeping, I realized that there is a very serious flaw in the design of the rooms. You see, there are altogether 4 rooms in one building, 2 rooms at each level as seen from the photos. Our neighbours upstairs returned late in the night. Guess what? They can be heard thumping loudly above our heads, every single footstep. Buay tahan, very noisy. I mean knowing that everything is in wood, why can't the developer build a better soundproof structure between the floors? Really give up. Fortunately the people upstairs went bed within a short while and we could continue our sleep peacefully.