The Cowboy Town at A'Farmosa Resort, Malacca

Cowboy Town (N2 26.704 E102 12.485) is located inside the A'Farmosa Resort (N2 26.604 E102 12.605) at Malacca.
We reached there around 5.30pm (during the Christmas Season), and we have to wait till 5.45pm to get the ticket. The ticket cost MYR45.00 for adult and MYR40.00 for children (Included the 4D Theater Show). Usually the ticket will be slightly cheaper if it's not the school holiday season.

The visitors are getting more and more when the time almost 6pm. The ticket seller was friendly and even make a good schedule for us to enjoy the entertainment in the Cowboy Town.

Main Entrance of The Cowboy Town

We had a walked around the area, and it was not very big. We finished touring the Cowboy Town in less than 30 minutes. There were 2 restaurants, Disco & Pub, Bowling Center, Thai Traditional Massage Center, Cafe and Shopping Village.

 This building stated : Saloon, but it was actually the Shopping Village.

The whole Cowboy Town was well decorated during the Christmas season. Christmas carols was play at every corner...nice atmosphere.

The ONLY Street in The Cowboy Town

 The Disco and Pub

The Bowling Center

The Shopping Village

The Cowboy Show and the 4D Theater entrance was at the back of this Shopping Village.

The Cafe is located at the left from the main entrance. We didn't go in there, so no comment on it.

 The path to the Cafe

The 4D Show was the first entertainment for us. The show started on 6.45pm, it was almost same as the Motion Master at Genting Highlands. The chairs were shaking at every second, water sprayed on your face, something poke behind your body and wind blew from your legs! The show last for 15 minutes.

We went for our dinner at The Ranch Steak House Western Restaurant later...

It was dark after our dinner, I snap some photos about the area...it was beautiful with the lighting!

The Admin Office

The street...

The Fun Fair area...

Too bad the Santa House was close during our visit...

The Pub area after the night fall...

The entertainment area was Empty at all for that night. There was nobody at the dance floor area even late at night about 11pm. The waitress seems like drinking among themself without any customer...

Beside the Pub, there was a small house decorated with all the Santa Claus and beautiful lighting...we were curiously went in to look for surprises...

Actually there's nothing in there beside all the Christmas Decoration. I think this area is for visitor to snap some photos...

This small house was nice with the decoration.

We were walking around the area untill midnight and drove back to the hotel at Malacca town.
I will blog about our 'Dinner' and the 'Cowboy Show' in the next post...

The street outside the Cowboy Town decorated with the nice lighting on the tree...

Map location of The Cowboy Town of A'Farmosa Resort

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Sulawasi Surprise! : Makasar, where?

One morning, when I was still deep in my slumber, my handphone rang. Shah was on the other end of the line and he had asked me if I would like to join him to Makassar. Okay, okay, I just replied and went back to sleep. Days later when I was more alert, I started to wonder where Makassar is. Where is Makasar? I asked Shah. It is in Sulawesi, that K-shaped island in the Indonesia archipelego formerly known as the Celebes. Are there any cannibals there? I then asked, half in jest, thinking more of Papua New Guinea, the island that got separated from Australia by the Torres Strait after the last glacial period. At one time, I remember there was a movie, a documentary maybe that went round the local theatres, Darkest New Guinea, that depicted the second largest island of the world as a haven for cannibals. Cannibals in this modern age? I'd be damned! The ticket to Makassar had already been bought and cannibals or not, I would be flying to Makassar. If there is anything to be worried about, it should be the Muslim-Christian violence that had plagued the island. Between 1998 and 2001, over 1,000 people were killed in violence, riots, and ethnic cleansing especially in Central Sulawesi. Christian villagers were killed in the Poso District by unknown masked gunmen in 2003 and in 2005 three Christian schoolgirls were beheaded in Poso by Islamic militants. One of the girls' heads was dumped outside a church. A note left with the severed heads in plastic bags in the girls' village, stated: Wanted: 100 more heads, teenaged or adult, male or female; blood shall be answered with blood, soul with soul, head with head...

Now, where is Makassar?


Tip: You wouldn't know, would you? - Not unless you know that Makassar is also known as Ujung Pandang...

Memorable Moments: A Visual Treat

I remember them as lupens but these colourful lupins or lupines, as they are known in North America, are called Russell lupines by New Zealanders. There, especially in the Canterbury region in the South Island, these leguminous plants spread far and wide; along the roads, in pastures and riverbeds. It is said that in the past, tour bus drivers have deliberately spread seeds of the plant to add colour to the drab landscape. Thanks to this, now, one of my most memorable moments was travelling in a bus in the Canterbury plains and have a visual feast of the colourful lupines that spread as far as the eyes can see...

Donald and Lily's Corner at Malacca

Donald & Lily's Corner is located in the alley behind Hereen Street (Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock) (N2 11.662 E102 14.812). The special of this cafe is the main entrance located at the back alley, it's actually the back door of the building. 
Opposite of the cafe, there is a public parking lot for Jonker Street Malacca. If you happen to be there, it easy to spotted this Yellow building in front of you.

Donald & Lily's Corner (Cafe)

Another unique part of the cafe is the entrance...you need to climb a little to reach the dining area.

The staircase at the entrance

Donald & Lily's Cafe is close on every Monday. The business hour is from 9.30am to 4pm. They provide some special dishes from Tuesday to Sunday every week, it's all on the board below...

Let's look around of the environment...
Basically, it's some kind of comfort and cozy. I can see the owner did put some effort on the decoration.

 The decoration around the cafe...

The design seems like not related to Peranakan or Nyonya Baba

But somehow, nice Christmas atmosphere...

We ordered some food at the cafe, and what they have at that moment was only Mee-siam special and we choose the Melaka Cendol for drink.

The Special Mee-siam of Donald & Lily's Cafe

The mee-siam was average, and I felt the special in it. But we were disappointed with the Cendol! It was just a normal cendol and I surprised they still sell it within the 'Baba Cendol' territory! Or maybe they not even know what is 'Baba Cendol'?!
It's alright, the cost of the meal was reasonable.

Rated : 2.8/5

The only reason I be able to tell is the customers were attracted by the setting of the cafe, that's included me. I believe it's not because of the food.

Lighting Decoration of Donald & Lily's Corner

Location map of Donald & Lily's Corner

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Experience The Baba House at Hereen Street, Malacca

I did blog about it sometime ago, you can check out the link here. This time, we had a night stay at the Hotel. We got a room with one King size bed, that cost about MYR160.00 (with window) during the peak season.

The Baba House at Hereen Street (Jln Tun Tan Cheng Lock)

I noticed the hotel had expand from 2 units of the heritage building to 4 units. And the Lobby area also change from the ex-building to new area. My last visit was about 2 years ago...you can compare the area within this post and the previous post.

The new lobby of the hotel

The new lobby was much better, cause of the Air-Con and looks much cleaner. Let me walk with you in this virtual tour within the hotel...
You can see the different obviously from the old and new renovation. (Photos below...)

The corridor to the guest room (new)

The Unique Peranakan design on the old building

They made the 'airwell' on every units became a nice small garden

I had a walked around all the building, felts like a puzzle to me at some corner! I lost my direction twice and it was fun! Haha!

Decoration on the wall

There are more antiques and unique design along the ground floor. I did capture some of them photos as below...

This small hall has about 3-4 set of table and chairs, all are different design and generation

You will see this common spiral staircase in each unit

I love this cabinet IN the wall...

Photos of the Baba-Nyonya, the ancestors.

One of my favorite place for tea break...

And now, please visit the guest room.

The King bed

Do you noticed the small decorated window on the wall? It's between the bed and the bathroom, I cannot figure out the purpose of it! Maybe it's just a design...

The bath room. Not really big....and the stain on the mosaics...

Our room was the Last room in the row, there was a small balcony outside the room which I find it very relax and nice having my Tiger beer during midnight...

The balcony beside our room

Do you noticed the CHAIR had change? I also wonder in the next morning....anyway, we didn't heard anything during the night....

The hotel has a private vehicle parking at the backyard, I like the way they manage it because the guard will lock the gate after midnight for security purpose.

Behind the hotel and the parking area

Opposite the hotel, there is the Eng Choon Association which was belong to the family of Tan Beng Swee and Tan Kim Seng. I will share the photos in my next post. And on the right, I found The Bamboo Pub & Bistro which is a nice place to drink...full of bamboo!

The Bamboo Pub & Bistro

Overall, I'm comfort with this hotel and we will come back for sure! Please click here for more information of The Baba House at Hereen Street, Melaka.

The location map of Baba House, Malacca.

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J & J Corner Portuguese Seafood Restaurant at Portuguese Village, Malacca

The Portuguese Village (Settlement) (N2 10.986 E102 15.990) is famous with their Seafood Restaurant and we heard about it long time ago, till that day after we left Port Dickson...we decided to having our Seafood dinner and watch the beautiful sunset.

The row of Portuguese Seafood Restaurant at Portuguese Village

When reached the Portuguese Settlement around 5pm, just nice for us to walked around...friends told me before to choose the end unit of that row of restaurant. But there are 2 end lot units, so we only can judge by the customer to decide which shop to dine in.

Many visitors on the evening

There was a jetty in front of the restaurants. It's actually quite a nice place over here especially the cool breeze...

Too bad it was cloudy when we were there, otherwise it will be perfect place for sunset photography!

The Jetty

Another view of the restaurants

When getting dark, we just noticed at one of the corner of the restaurant was packed with customers. The name of the restaurant was J and J Corner Portuguese Seafood Restaurant. The crowded customers gave us confident to dine in this restaurant.

It was crowded!

After waiting about 10 minutes, we finally got our table. Waste No Time, order the foods immediately!

Our order :-

1)  Butter Garlic Crab (Portuguese Special)

2)  Portuguese Baked Fish

3)  Brinjal with sambal (Portuguese Special)

4)  Sweet and Sour Squid (Portuguese cook)

Portuguese Special Butter Garlic Crab

Portuguese Special Baked Fish

Portuguese Special - Brinjal cooked with sambal

Sweet and Sour Squid

Maybe because of TOO many customers, we had to wait for an hour before the foods serve!! You gotta be very patient! Haha! Fortunately, while waiting for our foods, we enjoyed the Famous Mango Ice drink from the stall beside the restaurant.(N02 11.001 E102 15.961) It was nice!

The Mango Ice Stall

They serve the drink Non Stop from 6pm till finished

It cost MYR2.50 per cup. MYR3.50 without ice

Overall we enjoyed the food. The special Portuguese taste was really impressed me! The crab and fish was fresh and delicious! The Brinjal was tasty! Only the squid was average, nothing special...

We were amazed by the Portuguese Seafood of this restaurant.

The Damage : MYR87.00 for 4 adults and one child. (Excluding the drinks)
The price was reasonable.

Food rated : 4.5/5

Peoples were playing with their fire crackers everywhere when about to leave, and we walked pass the village and Impressed by the Christmas decoration lighting in their houses...That night was 27th Dec 2009, the Christmas atmosphere still everywhere! I might wanna plan to come here on next Christmas!

The decoration of two of the houses we walked pass...It was really beautiful!!

Location map of Portuguese Settlement (Village) at Melaka

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