We departed from my sister’s house at 8.30am. We drove along the KL Seremban highway and exit at Seremban toll…we noticed that the Seremban Siew Pau Empire was just by the side of the highway.
From the toll, we headed to the Seremban Siew Pau Empire. The empire was actually situated in the Seremban Central Market. Here we took our breakfast, hot and crispy siew pau. We tried the mochi, curry pau, egg tart, salted egg crispy and pineapple tart. All were good and cheap but nothing was comparable to siew pau even the chicken pau.
we were too hungry...what's left is only the box
After the breakfast, we headed to the Cultural Handicraft Complex where the State Museum is located. The state museum was formerly an old palace which was dismantled and moved to Seremban in 1950’s. The museum has 3 main sections. The philately section house many great stamp collections…many were older than I am. The other 2 were the Archeology and architecture sections. In the architecture site, they have show cased many traditional architecture and building and needless to say, the best were those on Minangkabau style.
look at the pointy roof of the museum
Next to the museum, there were the Minangkabau Houses. They were made solely from the wood plank with no nails present, hence making it possible to support only 12 people in the house at one time. We enjoyed investigating the Minangkabau architecture…a long wide and short house with edges pointing out on the roof top.
the house that fits 12 only...Minangkabau House
look at how much effort placed on the house
Then we headed to the lake garden area passing through the Seremban town. At the lake garden, we stopped by at the Seremban Art Gallery where rich art pieces were on display for sale. I love the silk batik, the patterns were elegant and with the rich colour, they were perfect…making them rare and unique. They cost approximately RM2k each…expensive but worth the money. Besides that those thin slice crafted bookmarks were on sale at reasonable price…they were good as souvenirs.
At the gallery
Then we drove round the lake garden passing by the Wisma Negeri Complex. It was build with Minangkabau architecture element and yet it was standing robust with modern architecture improvements. We passed by the Royal Palace and the State Library.
By 1pm, we were driving around the city on our food hunt. We were searching for our Hakka Noodle in the Tow Kee Hakka Mee Shop. We actually drove round the city and along the Jalan Kapitan Tam Yeong where the shop was situated for numerous time. This shop was hidden in a small lane. It was situated at the back of Maybank. So to get there ask for direction to the Pasar and the Pos Office next to it. From the Pos Office walk to the Maybank on the opposite road. Then take the junction to the back lane. You will be able to see the shop on the left.
Tow Kee...really hard to detect this shop...even the police officers were uncertain of the road
our reward for the treasure hunting round Seremban
The Hakka noodle here was different from the ordinary ones. They were not in black colour…no thick soya sauce. The minced meat and the chives and the spring onion made the noodle simple yet very nice. The home made noodle was tender and juicy. They were sold in 3 sizes and the smallest cost RM2.80 only.
After the meal, we headed out of the town. We were on our way to the Sri Meranti Royal Museum. It was a one hour plus journey there passing through the Ulu Bendul Recreation Forest, our initial place for the night and the so called scary 18 turns. Well the turns were almost at about 360° but with the wide road, it was easier if was to be compared to the winding road to Cameron Highland and Balik Pulau.
the Royal Museum...an old palace
At Sri Meranti, we visited the royal museum. The exterior was impressively huge but within it, it was rather stuffy as the house has many compartments and all the furniture size was extraordinarily huge. But the most remarkable about this palace was, there were Chinese elements in the interior design. There were dragon crafted on the bed frame of the princes and princesses and silk embroidery on here and there. And to our surprise was how guest room on a corner where one can only access it via the prince’s room.
really got Dragon in there...
We continued our journey to Malacca via Kuala Pilah and Tampin. We have to skip to plan to visit the Tampin Museum as by the time we arrived in Tampin town it was 4.45pm. So we will reserved this for next time.
We drove for an hour plus from Sri Meranti into Ayer Keroh, where I met up with my brother who will led us to the Portuguese Settlement for a great Portuguese cuisine.
sun set in Portuguese Settlement
We arrived in the Portuguese settlement just on time for the sunset. The settlement was situated by the shore. So here we had our dinner by the shore, enjoying the view and the breeze.
Our Portuguese meal was served by the Stall JC. We had a mee goreng, fried squid, Black Pepper Crab, Garlic Butter Scallop and a fried vege. Well this meal was rather cheap for its’ portion. I loved those scallop. They were fresh and juicy and it was only RM15 for such a big plate.
By the end of our meal, the weather started to change drastically. It rained when we was paying for our meal. Luckily we were near, just in time to run into our car.
In the mid of the rain, we rushed into the city in search for our accommodation of the night. We headed to the Number Twenty Hotel. According to the review online, it is a coassy and warmth hotel situated in the busy Jonker Street but to our luck, the hotel was fully occupied. So we ended up putting up in the Hallmark Hotel.
these are Number Twenty Hotel...where we wanted to stay in
and these are Hallmark Hotel...where we actually stayed
After refreshing, we headed back to the street …to chill out. We went to the famous Geographer Café. It was so busy even on a weekday…Finally after a week of travelling, I got my first sip of beer…bravo!
The night was still young. So after the drink we ‘makan angin’…drove round the city admiring the great scenery of this Historical City.
We ended our day with snacking on McD’s twister fries and Sunday. Hope that Iwe have more of this chilling and relaxing day filled with laughters and cheesy moments. ANd next time in Malacca, I will surely book for a night in the Number Twenty Hotel and best on weekend....more to see on Jonker on weekend.
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