Malaysia Day 3 ~ KL to Melaka Malaysia

Today is our last full day in Malaysia.  It is going to be another adventure filled day, so we decided to eat a hearty breakfast before exploring the city once more.

Today's itinerary is another visit to Petronas Tower (we wanted to see the towers in the morning too, the last time we visited was at night)

(Leaving a link from our Day 1 ~ Part 2 KL with a view of the Petronas Towers at night >>>> Petronas at Night) 

My two cents opinion ~ the towers look enthralling at night, however, you get to keep and bring it home as a souvenir at daytime.  Kidding aside, there is almost no one around in the morning.  No photo-bombers.  It was just the 4 of us:  The twin towers, me and my husband :D

My KL souvenir, I am bringing one home (LOL)!

From the towers, we walked our way to Suria Mall to freshen up and get a taxi (via Grab, which was so easy and convenient) to the Central Market for some pasalubong shopping.   Though slightly more expensive, we personally liked the quality and variations of items sold here compared to Petaling Street.  

Our loot included batik shawl and sarong, 

Beryl's chocolates, Malaysian coffee and tea.  We also got souvenir refrigerator magnets for our personal collection.

Before leaving we ate lunch at Central Market's food court.

We took another a Grab taxi as we have lots on our hands to get ready for Part 2 of our Day 3 in Malaysia, "Melaka".

PART 2 of Day 3

Melaka (also Melacca) is the unofficial historic capital of Malaysia. 

• It is one of the oldest cities in the country with its history dating back as early as 1400.  
• It was founded by "Paramesware" (The ruler of Temasek, which we now know as Singapore) as a refuge away from the Javanese kingdom of Majapahit.
• At the height of its civilization, Melaka was known as the first great maritime kingdom in the Malayan archipelago.  Records shows Chinese, Arab, and Indian traders lauding Malacca as the most influential port of the Southwest region in ancient times. The Malaka Port was a major stopping place for traders to replenish their food and water supply.

Its rich and colorful history is so attractive to let pass. Hence, Malaka was an obvious choice for our last full day in Malaysia before going home.

We opted for a night tour of Melaka.  The scorching and humid Malaysian weather is too much for me and my husband, we thought an afternoon and early night tour would be better.

There were various ways to go to Melaka, but we decided on a private trip via Klook.  We have tested Klook multiple times before and so far, we have had consistently satisfactory experience.

Here is a link to our Klook >>>> Melaka Night Tour

Tour includes hotel pick-up and drop-off, guided tour of the historical buildings and places, a river cruise and a trishaw ride.

Our guide Mr. Abdul Rahman was prompt at 2pm.   

Our outfit for Melaka, is the semi-matching Hard Rock (HR) shirts we got from HR Cafe Wisma Concorde on our first day in KL.

Malaka is about 3 hours from KL.  It was a long drive, but hands-down so worth it. 

We arrived at the Melaka center at 5pm.  Don't be fooled though as the sun was still up and very active around that time.  Sun sets quite late (7pm+) in Malaysia.

We began our tour ascending the "St. Paul's Hill (Bukit St. Paul)" which has a very panoramic view of Malaka.   On top is the ruins of very old church that became a temporary resting place of the body of St. Francis Xavier.

With our guide Mr. Abdul Rahman.  

He such a wonderful person, very passionate at what he does.  

His love for country is so evident as he speaks of his country's history and culture.

On the way down from the St. Paul's Hill you would find "A Famosa" the remains of a Portugese fort, which is one of the oldest remaining example of European architecture in the whole of Southeast Asia.

Further down the road is the "Dutch Square". 

Dutch Square is the heart of the Melaka. Here you would find the most recognizable buildings of the city.

"The Queen Victoria's Fountain" was built in 1901 to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria. She is the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901.

From here we took a stroll across town to the Cruise Station.  

Weather though was fast becoming sulky.  We wanted to be on board fast, as chances of closing cruise trips, is likely should the weather condition worsen.

Good weather still..

And then... the rain started pouring.

We were half-way through the cruise when it began raining heavily 

(I would say almost torrential, and I am not kidding).

It was a hard maneuver as the rain poured and water level rose a bit.  The ride was very shaky, and I was a bit worried the boat might capsize, so I was already eyeing the life vest nearest me.  

Our tour mates were all wet.  

Us on the other hand, came prepared and got an umbrella ready.  

Overall, my husband and I enjoyed the cruise we were laughing the entire time!  This ride tops my thrill-joy ride's list.

The rain stopped as sudden as it started, which was a good think since our next Melaka adventure is a trishaw ride along Jonker Street (weekends this street will be closed and full of local vendors and street food, today it is mostly ours).  

Our Uncle driver is delightful.  He put on a sing and dance, karaoke number and made us sing-along!  

Uncle sure knows how to party!

A quick detour to Hard Rock, Melaka.

My husband is a brand fan.

Then more walking and sight-seeing, as we wait for Melaka to light up at night.

We ended the tour at 7pm and arrived at KL at 10pm.  

We would have stayed longer if not for an early morning flight to Manila. 

We are sad we had to leave so soon... 

We will definitely miss Malaysia!

Malaysia Day 2 ~ Cameron Highlands

Cameron Highlands is Malaysia's highest hill station nestled high in the mountains of Pahang. It is particularly famous for its cool weather, tea and strawberry plantation.  Travel time from KL is about 3 hour (on light traffic) but the green forest scenery on the way is a pleasant break from the bustle of the KL city.

We book this tour via Klook >>>> Cameron Highlands

If we have time, we would opted for at least a night stay in the area, however as we were short of time we had to make do with a day tour.  

The tour included hotel pick-up and drop-off, lunch, entrance fees to tea plantation, butterfly farm, bee farm and the strawberry farm.  

We were supposed to do a quick pass by the roadside waterfalls, but it started raining quite hard on the way.

Pick up was prompt at 7am.  We were ushered to a tour bus meant for 40+, surprisingly though we were just 9 pax in our tour group.   

We can actually go party in the bus and we still have space for a buffet spread (LOL).

Our first stop is a bee farm and a strawberry farm.

Sadly though there were very few strawberries left (as we came after the school holiday and there were plenty of recent pickers).

So we just had to content ourselves to pre-picked strawberries sold by locals.  We grabbed some strawberries and got seats at a local coffee shop and ordered strawberry ice cream, strawberry scones and coffee (LOL)!

The strawberry farm owner told us to go try the white strawberry variants, the whiter he says the sweeter.  I prefer the red though, as I want my strawberries a bit sour.

These strawberry flavored scones were delicious!  Perfect paired with brewed coffee over the cool Cameron Highlands weather.  We could spend hours here, unfortunately our tour runs tight on schedule.

The bee farm is located beside the strawberry farm.  The owner himself gave us the tour.

Next stop is a butterfly farm.  The place is small, but picture worthy. 

Got myself a free rider here >>> 

From here we made our way to Sultan Ahmad Shah Golf Club restaurant for lunch.  Lunch was just okay, with vanilla ice cream topped with strawberry bits to finish.

The view, however, is wonderful!

From here, we were taken to the Cameron Valley Tea Plantation.  We roamed the tea plantation a bit, before settling down at the plantation restaurant for coffee and scones.

Quite a long way down, but a more difficult climb up!

Tea and scones (again).

We got scones again, since we enjoyed the strawberry scones, we had at the strawberry farm.  However, the ones here, were quite dry and nothing near the ones we had earlier.

We tried the tea, as we wanted to taste the variants before buying them at the plantation shop. 

They have all sorts of flavors.  But I decided to get the basic green tea. 

This ends our Cameron Highlands adventure.

We got back to KL at around 7pm and went back to Jalan Alor for dinner.

Please check out also our Day 1 (Part 1 and Part 2) by clicking the links below:

>>> Kuala Lumpur Day 1 (Part 1)

>>> Kuala Lumpur Day 1 (Part 2)