I was here when my children were young so it has been awhile. A lot things have changed from the last time I was here :I could see the back alleys are cleaner, the streets and streets parkings are more organised, the river is well decorated but not as clean as it should be. The longkang smelled terrible as always. I walked along the river and the cafes seemed busy from last night but still closed for the day. It was 8 am.
The presence of Chinese vibes has been overwhelming. I guess Bingbing as the tourism ambassador for Melaka knows how to attract big-pocket tourists from the Mainland. Seeing Jonker Walk became all red with horse statues and dragons, I felt heavy inside with a mixture of sadness and excitement. For one this old city is not dead or rot into the history books. From the ruins of A’Famosa to the humble Masjid Kg Kling the long history of Malacca has been kept alive. But the legendary tales from the old palace of the sultanate have taken the backseat. Hang Tuah. and his gang remains a folk tale.
A giant biawak suddenly emerged from the muddy river and scared me to shit.OMG! so big she looks like a crocodile( or maybe that was a croc! IDK!). As I stared further into the river, a different school of fishes were abundant trying to get breakfast. A sign of a healthy river. But the stinking drainage kept bothering me and wonder if they had been trying to solve that problem. The concrete drain cover ,however,seemed to seal the problem underneath the streets forever.
Now! where the heck is nasi lemak? My stomach started to growl for spicy ikan bilis and tasty fluffy rice. At 9 am it seemed to be too early around here for a makcik to bungkus nasi lemak. I smelled something else though from a kopitiam nearby; my tastebud said “nope! thats not nasi lemak you better walk on”. 7e was around the corner to offer a much familiar choices ; I settled with ikan bilis buns and orange juice which is good enough for now.
By noon, on the way back, we made a stop at an old friend’s house in Sg. Udang, Malacca about 40 mins away from the city. The drive went through several kampung along the coast where the rest of Malaccans live. Roadside stalls were all over selling traditional food like wajik and dodol. So Malacca is actually bigger and wider than Jonker Walk; I smiled quietly trying to assess the excitement from within. By noon we reached Sg Udang and my friend’s house stood out at the edge of massive paddy fields. What a fantastic view and as we admired the open land, the afternoon breeze rushed in to blow away the heat. They were so lucky to own such a beautiful house in a heavenly kampung environment. Alhamdulillah.
Yesterday, we visited a friend deep in the kampung called Kg Tiang Dua, Bukit Nibong(BN) about half an hour from the city center. The place was quiet and the street was mainly empty that gave me a brief moment of peace and tranquility. The kampung gives a different vibe than the chaotic city life. As I rested on the patio(a typical malacca house always has a very comfortable patio) and closed my eyes, my heart went into a deep resting mode and absorbed the serenity blew in by the cooling afternoon wind. It didn’t feel like a hot day although the dry season has started and pushed the temperature up to 40 degrees. After a good lunch with super delicious beef soup we left the house of Dr Siti and her family.Alhamdulillah.
Before dark we headed out to find the house of Sanusi And Khadijah (cousin) in Durian Tunggal. Waze took us to a farm deep into another scary kebun. I hate this stupid waze gadget always took me to a strange unbelievable place. But as always a good kampung lad would appear and help us find the right place. It was dark as we arrived and felt so guilty for making the family uncomfortable. Well at this hour people have things to settle to wrap up for the day and rest. The feelings, however, were filled with excitement to finally be here with their adorable son and daughters. Like “ lu’ lu’an manthuuro” in suratul Insaan.
