Day Trip to MUAR: Mee Bandung Abu Bakar Hanipah • Muar Street Art

Muar!

Determined to feature the state of Johore at least once on our channel we woke up early this morning. We got ready and by the time we hopped into BiBi it was 8:30am.

Once we left Melaka’s city limits traffic thinned and within the hour we arrived in the Royal town of Muar, known as Bandar Maharani or Empress Town. 

Muar, town, and port on the southwestern coast of Peninsular (West) Malaysia. It lies along the strait of Malacca, at the mouth of the Muar River. An old town, it was occupied by the end of the 14th century by Parameswara, founder of the Malay kingdom of Malacca (Melaka). Naval battles involving neighbouring sultanates and kingdoms were fought at Muar in 1517, 1615, and 1616. The present town of Muar was founded by Sultan Abu Bakar and named as Bandar Maharani in 1887. Local industries produce food products, beverages, oils and fats, chemical products, paper, and transport equipment. It has a population of approximately 100,000.

Our first time here, we drove around for a while before we eventually parked in the vicinity of Mee Bandung Abu Bakar Hanipah. We naturally had our breakfast there, and had:

• 2 bowls of Mee Bandung with Beef
• Iced Lime drink
• Hot Coffee

that came to RM19.20 (approximately USD/EUR4).

At ten in the morning we began our exploration of Muar town on foot. We soon found ourselves at a lane designated as Muar Street Art. After spending some time checking out the murals by different artists here we continued onto Jalan Sayang before turning left onto Jalan Maharani headed west before we walked across to the Muar - Maharani Bus Terminal.

We then walked into the food court here and got a seat by the river as we had drinks. We then headed back to BiBi and made the short drive to Tanjung Ketapang. We spent some time here enjoying the refreshing sea breeze before hopping back into BiBi to make our way back to Melaka.

Our first impressions of Muar? It’s a small town with plenty of charm, steeped in history and with all the amenities to live comfortably. Would we consider retiring here? It's in our top five at least.

With our day trip to Muar in the bag  we can now say in no uncertain terms that we have featured all 13 states of our beautiful country Malaysia on our channel. "To Know Malaysia Is To Love Malaysia" sang our legendary crooner Sudirman. So we can now use our passports finally free of guilt or shame!

Be sure to catch our next video when we go out in the blazing sun in search of light refreshments.

(Do visit our YouTube Channel Have Perut Will Travel)

📍 Location:

The Apple Melaka - https://maps.app.goo.gl/5Y3auog3wjK4NPFH8

Restoran Mee Bandung Abu Bakar Hanipah

- https://maps.app.goo.gl/bRJn9a3Kw8dazHXw6

Muar Street Art - https://maps.app.goo.gl/CiMVp8rYxH1LbSju9

Muar - Maharani Bus Terminal - https://maps.app.goo.gl/VWaehjMruyBJeqRR9

Tanjung Ketapang Muar - https://maps.app.goo.gl/YpNfRsvGJU9RqXWP9

River Walk: To The Stadthuys and Back!

Melaka River Walk!

We picked you up again as we left the homestay at 6:00pm to take an evening stroll along the Melaka river. We walked along Lorong Haji Bachee due west and across Jalan Bendehara onto Jalan Bunga Raya Pantai.

We were feeling a little hungry and paid Seri Sahabat a visit. A round of drinks and toast bread later and we were eager to begin our evening walkabout in earnest. At the Ruins of Ermida de Rosario we continued our stroll onto the Melaka River Walk.

We walked past The Shore Hotel & Residences and then past the Panggung Bangsawan Melaka, a historic performance venue. We then continued on past several bridges steeped in history, name the Jambatan Pasar, Jambatan Kampung Jawa and Jambatan Chan Koon Cheng. 

We exited the Melaka River Walk at The Stadthuys and stopped to take in the sights and take photos. We sat to enjoy the car-free zone that includes major thoroughfares such as Jalan Istana, Jalan Mahkamah, Jalan Gereja, Lorong Gereja, Jalan Laksamana, and parts of Jalan Tun Khalil Yaakob and Jalan Merdeka, ensuring that Melaka’s historic charm can be enjoyed without the interruption of vehicles.

We then resumed our walkabout headed in the opposite direction but instead of strolling along the river we took the opportunity to walk along Jalan Laksamana. We then continued onto Jalan Bunga Raya headed north before walking across Jalan Munshi Abdullah and continuing along Jalan Bendehara still headed north.

We stopped at a KK Mart to get some drinking water, but the cashier was too busy counting her money to serve us. We managed to get our drinking water from Bendahara Choice Shop nearby.

We continued walking north along Jalan Bendehara and ended up at Wong Kok Food Court. Here we had a simple dinner of:

• White Radish Soup with Rice
• Water Cress Soup with Rice
• 2 glasses of Herbal Tea

for a splendid low price of only RM23.00 (approximately USD/EUR5).

It was then a short walk back to The Apple Residences. Be sure to watch our next video where we go on a day trip to Muar, a nearby town in the neighbouring state of Johore!

(Do visit our YouTube Channel Have Perut Will Travel)

📍 Location:

The Apple Melaka - https://maps.app.goo.gl/5Y3auog3wjK4NPFH8

Ruins of Ermida de Rosario - https://maps.app.goo.gl/N8FU6WfiUt7qru5L9

Melaka River Walk - https://maps.app.goo.gl/UD61EbEx4iatCM9RA

The Stadthuys - https://maps.app.goo.gl/vcg5otYQydWNNo8a9

Bendahara Choice Shop - https://maps.app.goo.gl/nggWsf3ziAU9oRps8

Wong Kok Food Court 88 - https://maps.app.goo.gl/dNJ3nWbY77eVLk6d7

Homestay: The Apple Melaka

The Apple Melaka!

We picked you up again as we hopped back into BiBi to make a short drive to our homestay along Lorong Haji Bachee in the area of Bukit Cina.

This was what Booking.com had to say:

"The Apple Premier Suites Melaka offers accommodations in Malacca, 1.9 miles from St. John's Fort and 3 miles from Melaka Straits Mosque. The property is around 1.2 miles from Menara Taming Sari, a 15-minute walk from Cheng Hoon Teng Temple, and one mile from Porta de Santiago. The apartment offers rooms with air conditioning, free private parking, and free Wi-Fi.

Rooms are fitted with a kettle and a private bathroom with a walk-in shower and slippers, while selected rooms also feature a fully equipped kitchenette. At the apartment complex, units are fitted with bed linen and towels.

The apartment also provides an infinity pool and a fitness room for guests to relax in. For guests with children, The Apple Premier Suites Melaka features kids pool and outdoor play equipment.

Popular points of interest near the accommodation include The Stadthuys, Baba & Nyonya Heritage Museum, and Straits Chinese Jewellery Museum Malacca. The nearest airport is Melaka International Airport, 3.7 miles from The Apple Premier Suites Melaka." 

It was a fairly new condo located close to our old favourite hotel, the Ramada Plaza Melaka. The check-in process was quite straight-forward as we collected the key card to the unit and made our way up to the 9th floor. The unit was well appointed and had everything we needed. We’ll let our footage paint a picture of the unit, including the infinity pool and gym on the 24th (labelled as Level 23A?).

For RM249.43 a night (approximately USD53/EUR49) we thought it was fair value given its strategic and nostalgic location, within walking distance to our favourite attractions.

We settled in and had an afternoon siesta. Be sure to catch our next video as we went on a river walk to The Stadthuys!

(Do visit our YouTube Channel Have Perut Will Travel)

📍 Location:

The Apple Melaka - https://maps.app.goo.gl/5Y3auog3wjK4NPFH8

KL to Melaka: Dataran Pahlawan

Melaka!

A month after our epic trip to Kota Kinabalu we were itching to travel again. This time around it was a short two-hour drive to Melaka, our spiritual hometown. We could not believe that it has been a year since we last visited so we were eager to re-acquaint ourselves with this cosy city.

Brendan too was headed to Melaka but for entirely different reasons. His self-styled Screamo band, Sauriel, My Beloved [https://linktr.ee/SaurielMyBeloved] was having its sophomore performance in Melaka, and he was driving Puteh to meet up with his bandmates there.

That means this time around we would be on a couples' trip.

We hopped into BiBi and  left our condo at nine in the morning, making our way to the Sungai Besi Toll Plaza. Approximately an hour and a half later we drove past the Air Keroh Toll Plaza, we had arrived in Melaka! We then headed to Dataran Pahlawan Melaka Megamall and parked at its basement.

We had brunch at Black Canyon Dataran Pahlawan. Our first time here we took our time perusing the menu before finally settling on:

• Pad Kra Pao set*
• Pad Kra Mao set*
• Iced Black Coffee
• Thai Iced Tea

*with mini-Tom Yam soup

Our first meal in Melaka came to RM57.80 (approximately USD13/EUR12), a very reasonable price considering its location in a mall.

To while away the time we then went for a foot massage at Shu Xin Reflexology. We both opt ed for the 90-minute foot and shoulder massage that all came to only RM138.00 (approximately USD29/EUR27).

By the time we were done it was almost time for us to check into our homestay. Be sure to catch our next video on The Apple Residences!

(Do visit our YouTube Channel Have Perut Will Travel)

📍 Location:

Havironia Music - https://goo.gl/maps/swtNfVmjFK4FgRsf8

Sungai Besi Toll Plaza [southbound]

- https://maps.app.goo.gl/ijCDiUvHXDPmvxHW7

Air Keroh Toll Plaza - https://maps.app.goo.gl/darv7bqfAsYcSSga7

Dataran Pahlawan Melaka Megamall

- https://maps.app.goo.gl/wNH3DWf6StugGCYe6

Black Canyon Dataran Pahlawan - https://maps.app.goo.gl/fyh4JwaM8R5gxt6F8