Me and Mark go roadtripping Part 5

Amaranathan attended school at La Salle with me though we weren’t very close then. Quite understandably we lost touch thereafter and it wasn’t until many years later that we bumped into each other again. I had decided to take Mark up to PJ by overnight train, just to give him the experience and for me to relive some of mine.

It was on an overnight train that I had made my very first trip to Singapore in 1980 and in subsequent years I often rode the old steel wagons between my old and new homes.

Stepping off the train at KL Railway Station that morning with Mark, I heard someone call out my name and turned to see a vaguely familiar face who introduced himself as my ex-schoolmate Amaranathan. Amaran, as he was typically called, was working temporarily in Singapore and was making his weekend trip back to Melaka to be with his wife and family. We’d been on the same train and he’d spotted and recognised me as we disembarked.

A gynaecologist, he had gotten himself attached to the KK Women and Children’s Hospital in Singapore for 6 months, just to get more experience. We met up in Singapore quite often after that and became good friends. When I cycled through Melaka in 2007 I dropped by and celebrated one of his children’s birthdays as well.

Now whenever I go through Melaka I try to meet up with him and my other good friend, Singam. I couldn’t get the two together this time so decided to meet Amaran at night and Singam in the morning. That evening Mark and I drove along the coast up to Bert’s which I used to dine/drink at occasionally some years ago. It’s a nice restaurant/pub by the sea - a seaside bungalow with a large wooden deck right out onto the seashore, large trees in the garden, good food and cold beer.

That night I was corrected by one of the staff - Geragau is not pronounced ‘Grago’ as I thought, but is indeed ‘Ge-Rah-Gow’. We ordered that and some other food and a few beers and had an easy, pleasant evening.

Bert’s was almost a victim of the land reclamation works - when once it sat comfortably by the sea, with the waves lapping against the stilts upon which the wooden deck was built, it suddenly found itself some distance back, beached on the dry sands the reclamation works had suddenly transformed that part of the sea into. I have no idea how they managed it and don’t really want to ask, but they somehow contrived to have a breech made and like magic, a lagoon was formed and although the waves no longer come in like they used to, water is once again prettily a few feet from you when you sit down for dinner.

Amaran and Mark at Bert's

I fear I might have sidelined my dear son a little, as Amaran and I got reminiscing then discussing the current Malaysian situation. Within what seemed like minutes, we’d finished dinner, knocked back a few drinks (not too many as I had to drive) and caught up in that relaxed manner good friends do.
We got back late, were thankful for the private secured carpark and eventually hit the sack ready to get up early for our breakfast with Singam.

Singam arrived the next morning and we strolled off for breakfast at Saravanan, a popular banana-leaf rice place in town. Breakfast was like Chapter 2 of the night before without the meat and the beer, but with all the friendship and good conversation I’ve come to treasure from my friends in Melaka. A walk along the back lane led us back to the Baba House and eventually our own exploring later that morning.

The riverside from the backs of some shops

An old shophouse with a new shop inside

We drove off to Kampung Ayer Salak a place Singam introduced to me in 2007. It’s an interesting village - a Catholic Village in fact, built on land owned or managed by the Catholic Church. Everywhere you turn, there are signs of this village’s religious affiliation. One of the largest of this is the statue of the Virgin Mary built on a slope at a quiet road junction. Mark and I stopped to have a look and this was the first time I noticed that Mary was standing on a serpent. Mark told me that’s how she’s often portrayed.

The statue of Mary showing her stepping on a serpent.

We drove around a bit and then stopped at the St Mary’s Church and Kindergarten. On these sprawling grounds were a small school, an old church, a newer one, a basketball court and a large grotto. Stunning blue skies framed this scene and I thought it was such a beautiful place to attend kindergarten in. Certainly the memories of those first few schooling/play years would be wonderful ones.

The old church

The inside of the new church

The Grotto

The old church

A wider shot showing the new church on the left, the main school buidling on the right and the Grotto in the middle

At Montfort.

Singam is on the board of the Montfort Youth Centre and I told mark how my father used to help out with the one in KL too. We once visited and I remember noticing how nice the young boys there were and how earnest they seemed. My Dad explained then that they knew this was their last chance of making something of their lives and they worked hard at it. Youth probably have much wider horizons now, but the complex times they face must surely be the same. Tough situations lead to some poor decisions and places like Montfort serve an important role in helping pick up lives that have perhaps gone too far down the wrong path.

Kampung Ayer Salak is a peaceful and calming contrast to our typical hustle-and-bustle neighbourhoods and I’ve always enjoyed an hour or two here. But soon the call of food became more strident - not hunger but, shamefully probably gluttony (considering our surroundings) was the culprit I think… We drove back to Melaka town and found Sun May Hiong open and bustling.

The staff recognised Mark and I from the evening before and laughingly brought us our food. And oh what glorious food… I’ll wager no one makes Satay as tasty as this. Apologies to those who don’t eat pork, but the satay here is simply fantastic. The succulence of the meat, the texture and tenderness of the liver, the simple flavour of the pineapple-laced sauce, the smokiness from the charcoal pit… mmmmmmMark agreed…

I took the scenic route back and tried to retrace some of my bike route back but missed the steep cemetery-adorned hills around Batu Pahat. We didn’t miss the 2-storey high trishaw on the border though. Some hours later we were back in Singapore.

It was too short a trip, but in this day and age we take what we can. 4 days might be shorter than ideal, but it’s longer than no-days and for that I’m grateful. Almost as grateful for how despite some foolishness on my part, my son is turning out to be a fine young man. Warm, friendly, creative, intelligent, sometimes moody (though not on this trip) in the way many similarly-talented people are, kind and patient with his old man, I’m learning how to be a friend and less a father and I’m relishing it.

Melaka Dec 2011 Pt 1

When Mei’s Mum was ill with cancer, her Dad curtailed his regular holidaying to be by her side. After she passed away he began going on holidays again, though as a nod to his advancing years, he went on packaged group tours rather than on his own. In recent times he’s been to Hanoi, parts of China, Hong Kong and Macau. As we’d never been anywhere much with him,  we brought up the idea of a holiday in Ipoh and he initially agreed then decided he’d rather not.

I thought perhaps he’d become used to holidays on his own (well, without his family in tow) and was surprised when he agreed instead to a weekend trip to Melaka with Mei’s sister, Wei Yen, her husband, Jeff and Mei & I. Mei and I had been thinking of a trip to PJ to see my Mum as well as we had not been up in some time so in double quick time we planned a Melaka overnighter with them after a quick one-night trip to PJ for Mei and me.

PJ to see Mum

After trying various hotels in PJ, I opted to try the horribly named PJ De Inn this time and the experience, though not excruciating, will certainly not be repeated. Rooms were clean enough but the overall feel was of slight seediness. Still, we did get to see my Mum and spend some time with her on one of her better days - she even remembered some details of her holidays in Europe when Mei and I showed her the pictures of our recent Switzerland and Italy holiday.

My Mum has lost weight and she has many poor days now from what I gather. When we were there however, she was relatively alert and had her wits about her. Some time ago I had let her play a piano app on the iPad which was entertaining for her, and this time the intuitive interface meant she could attempt to navigate the photo albums - though her hands weren’t always as cooperative as was ideal. Still we had a pleasant time looking at pictures and she even remembered the time my niece was with her and they met the Pope at St Peter’s Square.

Here's a picture of Mum some months ago playing with a piano app on my iPad.

While up in PJ we did our usual swing by Taman Selera for a dinner of Chinese Satay, Yong Tau Foo, Braised Pork Trotters and Ice Kacang. Yes, all that for dinner! For the two of us! And as if that was not enough, for breakfast next morning we headed to one of our favourite coffeeshops in New Town for Prawn Mee and more Yong Tau Foo for me… Malaysia is always a gastronomic excursion!

Here's Mei enjoying her breakfast at one of our favourite eating places in PJ.

Then Melaka for food and traffic jams 

I had anticipated a quick run down to Melaka to meet the others who were coming up from Singapore but traffic had other ideas. We were caught in bad jam near Nilai then again near Seremban. Worse was to come though - the road off the highway leading into Melaka was bumper to bumper and crawling. Weekend and school holidays in both Malaysia and Singapore all converged on this one road and thousands were invading Melaka like the Portugese did 500 years before. What was hoped to be a one-and-a-half hour drive stretched to well over 2 hours.

The others had reached the hotel, the Arenaa Deluxe Hotel along Ujong Pasir, despite it proving to be elusive no thanks to the maze of one-way streets that is Melaka. We eventually found our own way there and went to pick up the others who had wandered off, in true Singaporean tradition, to the nearest shopping mall after checking in. Everyone in our car, I took them to my favourite food place in Melaka. Remarkably, I don’t know any good Peranakan food places. But ask me about Satay Babi and I head out to Kota Laksamana and the Sun May Hiong shop.

From what I understand, the old couple who started the shop in or around Jonker Street ran it for years until the business was split among two of the sons who set up separate shops. The parents joined one - the one at Kota Laksamana - while the other shop is somewhere around apparently. OK this isn’t a food blog so I’m not going to do any investigative journalism.

The way it works at Sun May Hiong is you sit down and they set up your table with a metal container of satay sauce (with the pineapple puree stirred in), your plates and your drinks, then they bring the satay to you. The regular pork satay is delicious and the liver as well. They’d run out of intestines which I love and we were all a little disappointed at that. I had no idea there was chicken as well and we ordered some but we all thought it wasn’t half as nice as the pork. When the supply of satay falls, just ask for more and before you know it another 20 or so sticks land on your plate.

Here we are enjoying our satay babi.

The liver has bits of fat stuck in between to give it extra flavour. It must have worked!

Been doing it for years. And am I ever so glad he's still making it just right!

And so it went on. Mei’s Dad is the eat and run type but we stayed here for some time. I gathered he really liked the Satay and there was even talk of another trip there the next day just to get a taste of the intestines…

I do like food establishments run the old-fashioned way - eat first and pay later being one example of this - and this particular setup is run according to the very oldest of satay shop traditions I.e. they count the sticks when you ask for the bill. In this age when the implication is that the customer is not to be trusted, this quaint tradition is a warmly appreciated throwback to a different age. And very much in keeping with the ancient image of this part of Melaka at least.

Mei's Dad with a look of quiet satisfaction on his face.

Mei and Jeff likewise.

Counting satay sticks. Just like before.

How long more though is a worrying thought. The area around Kota Laksamana now has a huge hotel and a lot of work is going on around the river bank so I expect the next time I’m back in Melaka there’ll be quite a few changes to get used to. I just hope the Sun May Hiong satay is as good as it has been and that they still count the sticks when you’re done.