Images of Melaka

Almost a year later I finally post my Melaka trip set, I'd like to blame #Instagram maybe for fulfilling my need for wanting to share with the world what I see on a day to day basis.  Though maybe just maybe I'll do a sort of mash up between the two, that would be something I'd like to see I guess, a mash up between blogging and Instagram.  There's an idea, anyway enjoy this set.  I have mixed emotions looking back on this, considering I edited these over a year ago.  Be it due to time or maturity, one or the other I feel these photos do not justice to the experience we had while in Melaka.  For that I apologise and moving forward I plan on doing better in any photo endeavour!  Cheers!

Hotel Puri: Our home for two nights in the port city of Malaka.

On our first night in Malaka me and mom went wandering around looking for a midnight snack.

Plants taking root on the roof tops and brick walls of the old town.

The roof tops of the town with a 5 star hotel and radio tower in the background.

I'm not sure what it is but it was the most affluent looking building on our street.

Kedai Kopi Chung Wah, a mouthful for a name but ohhhh what a mouthful when it came to the food, please note the long line and mom's look of frustration at it.

This is an example of the local Rickshaws they have for tourists.

Maybe this guy owns that white house I saw earlier.

The Christ Church, Clock Tower and Stadhuys, landmark buildings of Melaka.

These are the excavated ruins of the original Melaka Fort from centuries past.

This was across the street, obviously it was a big fort.

My sister.

That's a Maritime museum.

Melaka's water wheel in Black and White.

Mom and her Soursop soda, I forgot the English name for the darned fruit, it was pretty good too.

Another Museum.

A graveyard by the chapel on the hill.

These are tombstones if I remember right.

It's a really nice red isn't it? 

A closer photo of the Christ Church.

Melaka a world heritage city, the size of a town, all two streets of it.

The Church of St. Francis Xavier.

This was where AFC's next celebrity chef had a scene so I wanted to get a good photo for the heck of it.

Fresh seafood lunch, cheap, greasy and good.

Mom still enjoying the view of Melaka even though she's clearly tired.

This was two doors down from that gorgeous white house, yet to be restored maybe?

One of the many street performers on Jonker Street.

Family

What is the meaning of Family?

What does it mean to be Family?

To love and be loved in return?

To be there for each other, to lift each other up to bigger and better heights?

To be blood related or kin?

To be valorous, to give and accept the hard truths in the face of adversity?

To be understanding, to have and give effort for one another?

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My family can make me smile... but it can also make me cry.

My family is both of blood I hate... and of strangers I love.

My family is both good and bad in the then, now, and to come.

My family brings out the worst in me... but the best in me at the same time.

My family gives me life... but will be my death.

My family is my decision.

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22 October 2012.

The day I was a Son, a Godfather, a Kuya, a Friend, a Cousin, a Nephew, a Brother, a Baba, THE Son, a Ninong, and Family.

"The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other's life."

-Richard Bach

Acknowledgements

Mom suggested I share this and she's right, in fact I want to share it.  

This is the Acknowledgements page straight out of my recently accomplished Feasibility Study. 

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Jesus, Mary & Joseph, I give you my heart and soul.  

San Miguel you have taken care of me, your name sake Migo.

This feasibility study is the culmination of my 7 year college life, 2 years of Environmental Science and 5 years of Civil Engineering.  I may not have soared in either course but both their fundamentals and significance have been engrained in me and will always be a part of who I am, no matter what, now and forever more.

To my mother, my bestfriend, my strength, the one consistent throughout my life, you made me who I am, and I love you from here to infinity and beyond.

To my sister, my pride and joy, and life long companion, without you I could not strive for greatness because only with you did I know that I can be great for someone.

To my pop, as life continues to deal us in may we always play our hand rather than blindly fold.  You are my father and I will love you no matter what.

To my Ninangs, all 4 of them, you are the best pseudo moms EVER, I love you all with all my heart and soul, I hope to continue to make all of you proud to call me your godson.

To my lolo Mado and lola Titis, thank you for taking us in all those years ago, you gave me, my mom and my sister a new beginning and a life worth living.

To Marcel, Ignacio, Lourdes and Magdalena, the bestest friends I could ever hope for.

To Engr. Monteclaro, not only a great teacher but a great person.  I thank you from the bottom of my heart it has definitely been a pleasure and the honor is mine.

To my fellow Civil Engineering Majors, this has been one hell of a ride, and I would not have had it any other way.

To James my friend, architect and fellow Dark Knight, thanks for the concept and hopefully one day it shall be.

To Hannah and especially Verge for helping me with my financial accounting and balancing out the project.

To each and everyone that has spent even a minute of their time to help me, to share with me anything and everything, know that you were a part of this.

Special commendation to the Davao Crocodile Park, the Department of Tourism Reg. XI, the Manila Observatory, Manila Ocean Park, Subic Ocean Adventure, Asiakonstruk, Joey, Sabs, Ate Eden, Eng’r Ken, Arch Neal, and Steven Chua.

A Day and a Half in Bangkok

By this point we have traveled by Airplane, van, bus, double-decker bus, taxi, and tuktuk over 4 different countries and with 5 roller-sammies.  We haven't been beat just yet but if you get me we are beat.  With that it is kind of nice to be back in a city even if it is for a little under 2 days.  

We have reached the middle of our trip, the literal midpoint upon which we built this trip around.  We enter Bangkok under the premise of attending my tita's (aunt's) wedding and for the three of us this is the only time we will actually get to spend time with other relatives this entire holiday season so we were going to make the best out of it! 

Bangkok is known to be a party city especially for anyone who has recently watched Hangover 2.  The Davao ratpack crew called the Garkids are coming to town to send of one of our own and welcome another.  

Congratulations to Ria and welcome to the family Caloy!

The wise ones

One of my cousins at the Ice Bar.

The Garkids 3.0

The Garkids 2.0

Cousins with what we realized was a boy-genius. 

One of the Godfathers getting ready for war. 

Busting a move, the last generation still has moves. 

Timeless shot. 

Sorry for the Watermark Erika. 

Disco Ball.

The Happy Couple. (sorry I really do not have a better photo of the two of you.) 

It was one of those nights. 

Sisters with my sister. 

Again not my photo, sorry ate Bern this time. Garkids 1.5 represent!

One thing I definitely realized after this night is that it is about DARN time I get myself an external flash for shooting these weddings.  I already expect at least another 6 weddings in the next 3 years so I definitely need to invest in one ASAP.  Till the next one family! :)

Food Trippin: Saladaeng Cafe

I am definitely running late with these things because this happened almost a week ago but only now that I am home in the Philippines can I actually stop to catch my breath and get down to finishing up in between study breaks (reality check, I am still a student after all).

Any how here is a restaurant on mom's list that was a HIGH priority, by this point we were on our third leg of our holiday trip and earlier on in the day we took a 5 hour taxi ride from Siem Reap, Cambodia in to Bangkok, Thailand.  Yep the location for Hangover 2 is the location of my Tita's (aunt's) wedding and this amazing restaurant, Saladaeng Cafe by Jim Thompson.

The menu is not by Jim Thompson himself but the restaurant is merely owned by the conglomerate under the same name.

The cuisine at Saladaeng Cafe is a definitely Thai food but the dishes definitely have a western zing to them.  The waitresses were warm and were not hard to converse with, they bring over shot glasses of lemon grass tea and sweet and spicy nuts along with the menus to start you off.  

The whole restaurant was old world colonial and very expedition-ish if you know what I mean.  It makes me think that if it was not airconditioned and if we came in during the day instead of dinner I would definitely feel like a traveler coming into a jungle nook carved out for explorers.  What's more is if the food the explorers had was half this good I would imagine they'd have enough reason to keep exploring, from the appetizers all the way to dessert none of what we ordered disappointed.  

Sweet and Spicy Wok-ed peanuts, with crispy basil leaves and garlic.  These nuts were NUTS!
Definitely a Bangkok flare on peanuts!

The hot and refreshing lemon grass tea, as to be expected was very clean and soothing, definitely something we needed after traveling and walking around all day.

Another Beer to add to the list of beers I have had on this trip so far, this puts my count up to 6 different kinds. (Saigon, Angkor, Tiger, San Miguel Light, Anchor, and Singha)

The Golden Triangle, a somewhat appetizer sampler of Prawns wrapped in rice paper and egg noodles, Thai Spring Rolls and Prawn Cakes, all of which was fried perfectly and served with sweet chili sauce and spicy plum sauce.  This one was EXCELLENT I wanted to have another order if only we didn't have to try everything else.

They had Jim Thompson water, I just had to take a photo, sorry but Jim Thompson is somewhat of an icon to me and my family. 

Yam Sam O, this was not your run-in-the-mill Prawn and Pomelo Salad, where in most of the ones I have had have been watered down because of so much dressing this one was dry but still had all of the flavor I was expecting and more!  What's more is that they do NOT skimp on the Prawn here the prawn pomelo ratio was just about 1:1 considering the mass and volume of each.  Totally worth it!

This was my sister's steak, Seau Rong Hai Gap Nahm, this was a well grilled rib-eye steak served with garlic tamarind sauce that my sister just sopped up like soup.  She actually had the meat sweats while eating this, then again it may have been because the tamarind sauce was a bit spicy too.

We were in Thailand so we HAD to have some local curry, we decided on the Gaeng Khew-wan Gai rue Goong, the only green curry on the menu I'm not sure if we ordered this one cause it was vegetarian or if my mom's favorite color is green. 

This one was my dish, one of the weekly or daily specials they had, Black Pepper Prawn Pasta, this dish looked so appetizing on the menu that I just had to try it.  It was just as I expected, AWESOME!  What surprised me though was that when it was described as Black Pepper Prawn Pasta I only expected a lot of blackpepper but the description was more literal than I thought, It had more RED peppers than black and gave one hell of a kick but at least it was the good savory hot and not the one that disheartens you from finishing your dish.

Truly and excellent meal but the meal ain't over till we get dessert! 

I love coconut and so I got the Coconut Icecream, normally you see a lot of Buko Sorbet and ice in the Philippines.  I mean I have had Buko Icecream but to see Coconut Icecream on a menu was eyecatching.  I know it should be the same thing with a different name but I just knew it was different considering the quality of food we've had so far.  I was not wrong, this has to be the BEST COCONUT ICECREAM in existence, no exaggeration, it was THAT GOOD!

the other dessert we had was the Mango Sticky Rice, this one was interesting because I like trying everything on a dish individually before trying it as a whole.  The mangoes were incredibly sweet and made me think they were from Cebu if only they weren't of a different shape.  The sticky rice was bland and al dente, and the coconut milk was raw and surprisingly salty.  All together though can be simply put, it just works, INCREDIBLY!

This was an excellent meal from an excellent restaurant, there is no doubt I will find time to come back here anytime I am back in Bangkok.  Not just for the old world feel, not just for the great service and  mainly because of the food.  Saladaeng gets 4.5 out of 5 Prawns from me.  Definitely a must stop when you are in town!

All Photos taken on an iPhone 

All Photos are Copyright MGAntonio

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