Puya Raimondi, the Queen of the Andes, blooms only once in its 100 years lifespan.

And soon after flowering, the plant dies.

One flowering episode can generate more than 3,000 flowers & 6 million seeds.

Short beauty which is appreciated by all

Ha. I dont know who'll be reading. But nonetheless, i promised myself to blog when i'm back from malaysia. So, here it is!!

our trip started from beach road, where we boarded the coach. There was a group of middle-aged aunties who entertained us throughout the whole 3hrs+ journey with their non-stop chattering about what they will want to do in malacca; bringing their mom to cut hair......

Yup, so we reached the malacca bus terminal--- Lost. I thought that bunch of aunties are going to alight too, but they didnt. So.... we wondered around the hot & humid terminal (we weren't dropped off in the terminal itself, its like outside), and we decided to cab down to hotel puri.

Hotel Puri was just nice! It was the house which late tan kim seng used to live. A thing about the houses in malacca is that the width is small but its length is very long. Last time, taxes were charged according to width, so that explains the structure.

This is the lobby. Cool and very inviting amidst the hot & humidity of the weather.

The second lobby area

See the black stuff. Its birds! yan zi, there are many in the evening period. And the chirping is woa!!

And this is our room for 2 nights. Nice bed, but the tv channels were very limited.

Walked and walked and walked around. Just taking in the sights (melaka river, tourists, old houses) and smell (ooohh, melaka river do smells!)

Here are the food that we sampled::::::

Our first meal: Ho Kee Chicken rice. There were a couple of other chix rice stalls there, but this was the nearest. As presented, you can either choose rice in balls or normal. I would go for the normal ones next time, the ball-form is just too oily. The chicken was a little tough, maybe because of the breed of chix.

Nadeje Patisserie at Dataran Pahlawan is a cafe located at the roof top of the shopping ctr. Took some time to find it. And it was the mille crepe cake we were after. But they only had 2 ava flavours.

This is the original. Look at the layers, it has a very special texture, like you are biting into a more defined kueh lapis.

And the cream between each layer was well spread out in amounts which are adequate for you to taste. Well, for the duration we were there, people came in mostly to take away cakes. So i guess its rather popular with the residents there.

This was the dinner place on the first day.

Walked for a very long while before settling to Eleven. They serve Portuguese food. I liked the vegetables (but i forgot the name, its akin to lady's finger, but not that pretty).

Jonker 88 was where we had lunch the following day.

Its a place for chendol, laska, yongtaufu and many others. The interior was tasteful:

The chendol was flooded with the intense flavour of gula melaka. Even though the uncle making it doesn't look approaching, but the taste is definitely yum yum!

Dinnered at Calanthe art & cafe which was rather near hotel puri. The whole atmosphere there was really relaxing. Not too crowded.

Food was above expectations. And you can find the coffees of the 13 malaysia states there. How wonderful. But i didnt try any cos the rice was too filling!

And here are the places of interests visited & passed by::::

Head to the tourist office thinking there's free maps ava, but nope, so continue to walk.

Passed by the Maritime Museum. Its the only museum in the town which is air-con!

And whats more, you have to take off your shoes when you enter & you can cam whore inside. But once you are out, the blazing sun just coax you back in.

St Paul's hill

This, the Melaka Sultanate palace was under renovation. But i guess its a interesting place to visit due to the size. Apparantly, it showcases the ancient Malay kingdom that once flourished in melaka.

The Stadthuys

Sights along melaka river

At night. Super pretty. The lights & reflection

Jonker walk and others

This is actually a statue to commerate some Datuk's achievements. Not bad not bad

We walked a freaking long time in the hot midday sun to get here. Its near the sea, far from the central area. And the surrounding place is still rather undeveloped.

This is like the sg calsberg sky tower.

River cruise. There are 2 operators of the river cruise. Advisable not to go for the one which has benches. Rather, head for the one near the clock tower. It is said that the ones near the clock tower does intepretations of the sights ; even caution you to the lizards in the river. The ones that we took just stopped at the wetland.

You'll see lizards swimming. Its their home!

Yup, they are building a monorail. Woohoo, commercialisation still strives.

Thats it. But its worth to take the cruise.

So after that, we went to kl via their coach service. And food food food!! Thanks to his friend, Alan, who was especially patient & kind-hearted to drive us around.

This is the place where we slept for 1 night. Nothing to rave about, except that its near a street selling food.

Later, we went to visit the exhibition: Coffin exhibition: tradition & mysteries @ the National Museum. Nice. The 2 big boys were amazed right? Haha, hurry call me big jie jie!

 Showcased of many different types of coffins in Malaysia

The Perak man

This bull is really magnificant!

This chair coffin: used for a community in Luzon, but only reserved for aristocratic & noble classes. So where is the body stored? The body will be dressed & placed in a reserved site (in sitting position). Then, it is left to decompose & dry till the skeleton remains. These bones will then be collected & stored in jar. Wohooo. Sit till decompose, how long will it take?

Oh, and i tried my first rootbeer float!

This place, located at sungei wang shopping ctr has swings as seats.

And the last nigth was spent attending his collegue wedding at hotel equatorial

Yup. That ends the short trip. I'm looking forward to the genting trip end of june? Hopefully!