We went to Melaka by separate cars. I took off around 5:15pm from Shah Alam and reached A’famosa Resort by 7:30pm (I know, it took a while. Somebody made me go to Tower 3 when I was supposed to meet them at Tower 2. I went back and forth about 3 times. Thank you, Taufiq). Ehe.

We went straight to Umbai around 8pm via Lebuh AMJ. It was very dark because none of the street lights were switched on. It took us a while to get there as my memory remains terrible the entire time. (If you are able to recall, I wasn’t driving the last time I went there. I got caught up with the camera the entire time). So I managed to make Faizal’s driving a whole lot of mess every time he stopped for red lights. I apologize for the last minute change of routes! Nida got confused with right and left even. Pejam celik, dah sampai.

After a few wrong turns and a whole lot of illegal driving, we finally arrived at Umbai. Parking fee included. The place was crowded at first but after a few minutes it subsided. We were so hungry that I didn’t even take the time to get pictures of the food. Ahh.

^ Here’s the Chairman. A self-proclaimed chairman.

^ They served us Nasi Lemak to which Sheda and Taufiq said it tasted so much like Nasi Putih.

^ Here’s Faizal Omar. I got to give him credit for driving us around regardless of our poor navigation. Kiri kiri! Kanan, kanan!

We got ourselves back to Alor Gajah right before midnight with our happy bloated stomach.

The next morning, we checked out around 8am. Faizal drove us back to Bandar Melaka for breakfast. We followed the same route like last night to which I am glad that we did so. Since we didn’t see squat last night with all the total blackout, there’s actually a lot to see in the morning. The kampung houses, plantations, spacious fields that seemed endless; just the right therapy for a morning weekend.

^ Here is the rest of the team having breakfast.

After breakfast, we walked to St. Paul’s Church Ruins. It’s nothing more than walls now. I can feel my breakfast calories burned to bits as I climbed up the fleet of stairs leading to it. I just noticed that I didn’t really take pictures of the Church. These guys got in the way. Heh Heh.

^ Here’s one of Nida.

^ Don’t ask me what he was doing. But he did it. I assume he was re-enacting a story to Faizal – lots of actions going on there.

^ Right next to the Church is the Stadhuys. It was once a centre of the Dutch administration in Melaka and housed the quarters of its governors and officers. This massive red building was built between 1641 and 1660 on the ruins of a Portuguese fort. It might just be the oldest Dutch building in the East.

^ We came up with the last picture when Sheda wanted to mingle around with my camera. While we were exchanging the camera settings, we saw Taufiq standing beside one of the trishaw driver. So I convinced Sheda to sneak a picture. The driver then noticed that she was pointing the camera towards him; he tried to walk off. But after a while, we managed to talk him into taking a group picture with us. He didn’t hesitate.

Ahh, there! Finally I got the chance to sum up the trip. Oh tidak lupa juga, saya sempat disaman kerana meletak kereta melebihi tempoh yang sepatutnya. But I got to hand it to you guys; it was so much fun despite the limited time I got to spend there. Thank you friends. We should do this more often!

The team wrote about the trip too!
Sheda @ shedacadbury.blogspot.com
Taufiq Shariff @ experiment.fotopages.com
Faizal Omar @ 1ldk.wordpress.com