The second day, we had originally planned to go to the A’Famosa Safari and Water Wonderland, which I was looking forward to with a spring in my step, but to my utter disappointment, it started pouring, the heavens crying deluges above us. I was so upset as I had been dreaming all night about what we would do, and fury overtook that sadness when all the adults cancelled the Safari and decided to go to Jonker Street to view antique shops instead. Now, don’t get me wrong. I respect the latter’s interest in antiques. But antiques were just…not for me! Isn’t antique viewing for old people? LIKE ANTIQUE LITERALLY MEANS OLD!

Okay, so, after tons of grumbling and negotiating, we headed to Jonker Street. The sun glared down at us, swamping us with sweltering heat and humidity. Irritation quickly set in as I trudged for what seemed like miles in the sweltering heat, huffing and puffing.

Now, on the way to the street, amidst all the chaos of the little city, we had spotted a ghost museum and I was thrilled to explore the place. After a fitting meal of Mexican food(I ABSOLUTELY LOVE MEXICAN FOOD, AND THE LUNCH ITSELF WAS SO GOOOD!), we headed to the museum with our minds open to other possibilities, in excited anticipation. Well, almost everyone. One of our family friends would not stop stating that it was a waste of time, but everyone ignored him and eventually, he agreed. Thus, we set off, like swashbuckling adventurers. The moment we entered the museum…it was a mistake.

You see, first and foremost, THE KIDS STARTED SCREAMING FOR THEIR LIVES AS IF THERE WAS A REAL GHOST WHEN THERE WASN’T! Now, we couldn’t really let it disappoint us, could we? So, we pulled them in, them objecting all the time and us screaming at them to lower their volume and that the ghosts weren’t real☹.

Their screams could scare off the ghosts instead!!!

Em was the most scared of all and kept clinging to my dad and then to me. How can a mini monster be scared of a fellow monster? YOU ARE THE SAME SPECIES! All the three kids suddenly started following me, asking questions, sharing extraordinarily creative horror stories. Ironic, people say fiction isn’t real, but this seemed a lot like a scene from one of my favorite series, where the protagonist ran in with 4 children following her. It’s almost funny how much I relate to people like that☹. Over the most trivial of things.

It was a good idea to put a dark forest at the very end, when even the older ones began reconsidering just looking at the darkness. I simply strolled nonchalantly through with my parents on my heels and 3 very frightened children tugging on my arms to GO FASTER AND FASTER. When we emerged into broad sunlight, my father began complaining and the friend who once backed me, betrayed me by pinning it on me. WHEN PEOPLE ASKED ME, WHICH GHOST LOOKED THE BEST THOUGH, I COULD NOT STOP LAUGHING. Credits to the makers of that museum for that, I had a lot of fun😉. The museum worked a little TOO WELL on the kids, though! Assuring them a billion times, and then promising them a bedtime story, they conceded to walking without looking back every 2 seconds to see if a monster was following them. Soon, and thankfully, they were all back to their usual annoying selves, which was still a relief.

We then visited the antique shop and a printing press shop. Surprisingly, I saw some pretty interesting models, of the oldest press and printer models. They looked about 500 times the size of our modern technology and 500 times more complicated to use. I just wondered, how could people possibly make such intricate systems back then, without the use of the advanced machines we use today? AND HOW DID THEY OPERATE THESE?

Our next destination was the  Saint Paul’s church where we saw the gravestones of Portuguese, British and Dutch soldiers. Apparently, Malacca was colonized by all of these three, and that led to its rich heritage and culture. I found out after some research that Malacca was first founded by a Hindu prince named Parameswara from Sumatra, who was also known as the Sultan Iskandar of Malacca. After Malacca became a prosperous city under his rule, it was then conquered by the Portuguese, then the Dutch and then the Japanese before it became an independent state. What I have mentioned here is only 1/100^th of the extensive Malaccan history.

A highly recommended attraction is the Malaccan River Cruise, that took us along the Malaccan river. We watched the little cafes and colourful recreational buildings pass by for around 45 minutes, enjoying the bumpiness of the waves and the cool breeze. It was SO RELAXING and SUCH A RELIED FROM THE HUMIDITY THAT I ALMOST FELL ASLEEP!

As dusk approached and the sky darkened in beautiful shades, we headed to a café, and after a short snack of MAINLY DESSERTS, we retired to the villa. We ordered dinner that night, a mishmash of food, listening to music, and talking about our trip leisurely, satisfied with what we had done.

I went to sleep that night with the promise of exploring more places in Malaysia, more often, an ache overtaking me as I would bide it goodbye soon. I was SO TIRED, but incredibly elated and joyful as I had enjoyed this trip immensely.

Signing off…