Review: The Neem, Bandar Hilir, Malacca

To celebrate my mum's 60th birthday, my family made a trip to good old Malacca where my late father came from.

My sister selected The Neem for our 2-night vacation. I had a rough idea of what to expect from The Neem after looking at its website. However the real thing looked totally different - in a good way, eventually.

Directions to The Neem on the website was clear and we found the place without getting lost.

This is the road that leads into The Neem. It's located at the back of 2 bungalows fronting Jalan Parameswara.

It's located at the back of 2 bungalows that are fronting Jalan Parameswara.

This is the entrance into The Neem: 

 The beige coloured house on the right is the reception and where the caretakers live.

There are 4 types of accommodation, i.e. chalets of different sizes to suit the number of pax.

Since we were a family of 4, we took Ketapang which is the biggest chalet.

 That's Mum sitting in front of Ketapang.

I like the rustic Welcome sign in front of Ketapang:

The interiors of Ketapang is huge and 4 of us could fit in nicely with lots of room to watch television, read, snooze, etc.

The bathroom is also spacious:

 Only now the Westerners have come up with the Ice Bucket Challenge. We Asians have been doing it since days of yonder. The only problem is we couldn't lift the tempayan, hahaha.

This is the shower and toilet area:

 The rain shower is awesome after a tiring day strolling Jonker Walk and climbing St Paul's Hill.

 Breakfast is included in the package:

 I chose Western breakfast for my first morning which the caretakers prepared in the kitchen. I chose Asian breakfast for my second morning and the caretakers just bought nasi lemak from the shops :-)

The grounds of The Neem is green and even has a small swimming pool as you can see on the bottom left side of this pic:

It's difficult to get a shot of the entire grounds in one pic. This is the best I could do.

There's greenery everywhere:

I like the daun pegaga which are so cute. 

There are water lilies outside each chalet:

I like the cool breeze that ruffles the leaves as I enjoy my breakfast under the tree in front of Ketapang.

There's a trampoline on the grounds too:

I was trying to do somersaults but had to stop in case I fell off the trampoline as there were no safety nets around it.

Eventhough my first impression of The Neem was rather poor because the place didn't look one bit at all like in its website, the place somehow grew on me and I began to like the place. 

The interiors of Ketapang where we stayed was clean and service was good. The caretakers are also friendly and they work hard to ensure their guests are comfortable.

My mum had already said that she will want to stay at The Neem when we come to Malacca again. So what can I say ...

Review: Courtyard @ Heeren Hotel in Historical Malacca

If you're planning a trip to the historical city of Malacca, consider staying at Courtyard @ Heeren hotel which is a boutique hotel with reasonable prices.

The hotel's location along Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock (formerly known as Heeren Street) makes it extremely convenient to explore the area. Popular places like Jonker Walk, Stadhuys and St Paul's Hill are all within walking distance.

Finding the hotel is easy on foot, but since we were driving, I could not find the way and had to call up the hotel for directions. The lady who answered the call asked for our license plate and was waiting in front of the hotel as we approached it. She then hopped into the car and directed us to the car park which is located at the back of the hotel.

When driving along Jalan Tun Tan Cheng lock, watch out for the green vertical signboard on your left. Liam could spot it a mile away despite being in Malaysia for the first time and not familiar with the local names. So I don't think you'd miss it.

Entrance to the hotel.

The smell of lemon grass filled the air as we walked from the car park to the lobby where we were served welcome drinks as we checked-in.

I love the Peranakan interior decoration and furniture in the lobby.

The koi pond in the lobby is probably for feng shui purposes. But the sound of the water adds to the serenity of the hotel.

Our Superior Room weekday rate was RM200 nett for 2 pax including breakfast.

The door on the left leads to our room. With a magnificent door like that, I felt like a queen entering her chambers :-) Sorry no photos of the room to show you cause Liam messed up the bed before I could snap a photo. Anyway, you can check out the hotel website for photos. In fact, I chose to stay at Courtyard @ Heeren Hotel simply because I was attracted to the interior deco in the rooms :-) 

Just outside our room was a lovely courtyard with wall fountain. I could relax here all day.

The next morning we went for breakfast which is served on the first floor from 8.30am - 10.30am. There's a  reasonable spread of Asian and Western food which made me happy :-)

Whilst Liam was tucking into his food, I was busy admiring this lovely staircase:

I was so tempted to climb to the top to see where does the stairs lead to until the staff told me that it's just the storeroom up there. Darn!

Apart from the cockroach in our room (which Liam deftly removed), I enjoyed our stay at Courtyard @ Heeren not only because of its interior decorations, but also its customer service. Staff are extremely friendly and you can see that their smile is genuine and not pretentious like how some service staff or frontliners are trained to be. If I were to open my own hotel, I would pinch staff from Courtyard @ Heeren, hehehe.

It's not a wonder that this hotel is doing extremely well. Apparently the owner has acquired the adjoining building to extend the hotel. A restaurant opposite the hotel will soon be opened too. I'm glad to hear this piece of news as I would definitely stay in this hotel again the next time I'm in Malacca. 

Courtyard @ Heeren

91, Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock

75200 Malacca

MALAYSIA

www.courtyardatheeren.com

Tel: +606 281 00 88

Fax: +606 282 48 88

General enquiries: info@courtyardatheeren.com

Reservations: reservation@courtyardatheeren.com

Rickshaw vs Rickshaw

This is how rickshaws in London Chinatown look like:

London Rickshaw

and ...........

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more than 10,000 kilometres away, this is how they do it in Malacca:

Malacca Rickshaw

Gastronomic Adventure in Malacca ... And Other Things ... (Part 2)

(Click here for Part 1)

We woke up late on Day 2 and decided to have chicken rice ball for brunch.

By making a headstart at 11.00am, we thought we could beat the crowd and secure a table.

But to our amazement, there was already a queue in the first kopitiam we went to. Come on people ... I'm sure there's more to life than queing up for balls at 11.00am.

So we moved on to the next kopitiam and thankfully it was not crowded yet.

Chicken Rice Ball

Malacca is the birthplace of the chicken rice ball. But I'm not sure if it has expanded to other states. What makes it different from the usual chicken rice you get elsewhere, is that the rice comes in a ball shape. That's all.

Service was fast but the meal was average. The steamed chicken contained layers of fat which I had to painstakingly remove, and the rice was not fresh. I think the Ipoh Chicken Rice on Jalan Gasing, Petaling Jaya is so much tastier.

No wonder the queue was at the other kopitiam and not here.

Next, we crossed the street to have Nyonya Cendol.

Nyonya Cendol

Look how different the consistency is compared to the Cendol Jam Besar we had the day before. But price also different lah. It costs RM2.00 for a bowl of Nyonya Cendol compared to RM1.50 for a bowl of Cendol Jam Besar.

While enjoying the cendol, it rained cats and dogs that we had to wait till the rain subsided.

Rain, rain go away ...

When the downpour turned into a drizzle, we continued walking and came to Hotel Puri.

The building used to be the home of philantropist and rubber plantation owner, Tan Kim Seng. He was a third generation Straits Chinese born in Malacca in the 1800s.

After undergoing extensive renovation, the place was reopened in the late 90s as Hotel Puri.

If you go to Malacca, don't forget to visit the hotel, even if you're not a paying guest.

Hotel Puri is a museum on it's own with its traditional interiors and deco. Makes me feel like I'm back in Malacca in the 1800s.

An open airwell is a common feature in most traditional Malaccan houses, just like this airwell in Hotel Puri.

A few doors away from Hotel Puri is Jehan Chan Art Gallery.

We spoke to Jehan's friendly daughter who takes care of the gallery. She told us that the length of some of the houses on Heeran Street could reach 220 ft!

That explains why Hotel Puri looks small from the outside, but it's super long on the inside.

Because the length of Jehan Art Gallery is so long, it would take Jehan's daughter (didn't get her name) a few minutes to put down whatever she's doing and walk to the front to open the door whenever there are visitors. By that time, most visitors would think there's no one home and they would leave.

After that informative conversation, we walked to the back of the houses to see the length from outside. Trust me, the houses are long indeed.

While walking, it started raining cats and dogs again. We ran into Geographer Cafe to chill while waiting for the rain to stop.

The cafe was the location of a few scenes from the movie Summer Holiday which starred Sammi Cheng and Ritchie Ren. As such, the movie was playing on the LCD screens in a loop, like some sort of promotion lah.

So we sat down, ordered drinks and watched the movie.

The rain didn't stop. It drizzled and then it poured. Over and over it was like that.

Since we were stuck there, we ordered sandwiches, fries and more drinks, and watched the movie again and again.

Before the start of the 4th round of Summer Holiday (yes, the rain lasted that long), thankfully the rain became a drizzle.

So we ran in the rain to Dataran Pahlawan Melaka Megamall so that we would be in a sheltered place from the irritating rain that never ends.

To kill time, I suggested we watch Avatar at GSC but the timing was not right. So we watched Bodyguards & Assassins - my first ever Chinese movie in the cinema.

Go watch it. It's good except for the part when Donnie Yuen's character stands in the way of a charging horse to prevent the bad fella from pursuing Dr Sun Yat Sen. It was a total illogical, bullshit scene.

After the movie we walked back to Jonker Walk for the night market.

First thing we did was whack dinner.

I had decided earlier I want to eat radish cake, and thankfully the hawker was selling that day.

Dishing out radish cake

Radish cake = Delicious!

For dessert, Angie and I shared a serving of muah chi.

Muah chi. Don't know what's the English name. Some things in life you just can't explain in English.

Then we did a bit of shopping and I bought these:

Earring stand for RM30.00. Bloody cheap, but must bargain.

RM5.00 for 3 pairs of earring. Cheapest I've seen in Malaysia!

I must have pineapple tarts and teh-teh sar whenever I visit Malacca.

If not for the rain, my gastronomic adventure in Malacca would have been perfect; because when it comes to travel, hot and sunny is anytime better than raining cats and dogs.

Gastronomic Adventure in Malacca ... And Other Things ... (Part 1)

I was in Malacca for a gastronomic adventure recently.

When Angie and I reached Malacca, we decided to have chicken rice ball for lunch in the Jonker Walk area.

To our dismay, all 3 kopitiams we went to were crowded till the queue was overflowing onto the road. Look at the pics and you'll know what I mean.

Kopitiam 1: Queuing like nobody's business

Kopitiam 2: Not again!

Kopitiam 3: We give up lah!

In the end we had nyonya laksa at one of the other kopitiams. Couldn't tahan hunger anymore, so anything also makan lah.

Nyonya Laksa

After lunch, we walked along the small roads that the Jonker Walk area is famous for.

 Quaint and nice, reminds me of Luang Prabang

And we stumbled upon the oldest Chinese temple in Malaysia, the Cheng Hoon Teng temple.

Cheng Hoon Teng Temple

Despite coming to Malacca many, many times since I was a kid, I've yet to visit this temple. So we entered the temple and looked around. It was nothing to shout about.

After visiting the temple, we moved on and saw some pretty buildings like these:

I also stumbled upon the Koong On Loong Goldsmith where my late dad always goes to whenever he wants to buy gold for my mum. Heck, I even got my ears pierced here when I was 13-years-old!

I got my ears pierced here when I was 13-years-old.

By that time we were already thirsty with all the walking. So we headed to the Cendol Jam Besar beside the Stadthuys for a dose of one of my favourite Malaysian desserts.

Look how watery the cendol was

Unfortunately the cendol sucked big time. There were hardly any ingredients in the cendol. It was only shaved ice, green cendol, coconut milk, gula Melaka and some miserable corn. Where are the other ingredients like red beans and cincau? Luckily it costs only RM1.50 per bowl.

After that lousy cendol, we headed back to the hostel on Lorong Bukit Cina to snooze for a while before continuing our gastronomic journey in the evening.

It was raining when we woke up. So we waited for the rain to subside and walked our way to Jalan Bunga Raya for some tasty fried oysters.

The famous fried oysters on Jalan Bunga Raya is only available in the evenings.

Each batch the uncle fries is enough for 6 packets worth RM6.00 each. And if he dishes out an average of 30 batches a night, he would be earning a monthly gross salary equivalent to the salary of a Senior Vice President in a multinational. I wanna become a hawker too!

 Parsley completes the yummi-ness of the fried oyster

After that satisfying meal, we walked back to the car and drove to the Portuguese Settlement to see the houses there decked in colourful Christmas lights and deco.

The Portuguese Settlement organises a competition annually to see who has the best decorated house. This year not many houses took part and many houses didn't have their lights on. It was a totally different experience compared to a couple of years back when the entire place was decorated to the max and I was mesmerised with all the lights.

After Portuguese Settlement, we drove back to our hostel which was near the famous Capitol Satay Celup. The queue was like a bitch when we passed the place earlier.

Now that it was close to 12.00 midnight, the crowd had lessen. So we got into queue and after about 30 minutes we got a table.

Satay celup

Malacca is the birthplace of satay celup. What makes it great is the special peanut sauce to boil your skewers of food in. If not for the sauce, satay celup would only be as menial as the lok-lok in KL which uses water.

I whacked at least 10 sticks of various items. But I was happiest to chom down 2 whole Century eggs with ginger, quill eggs, sausages with cheese in the middle and fishballs. Cholesterol, cholesterol, cholesterol ... But it was hard to resist.

Stay tuned for Day 2 of my gastronomic adventure in Malacca ...