There aren't that many pictures today.
Not because I didn't do anything or didn't go anywhere but because there're times when I hold the camera close and just let myself dwell in the moments when I'm there.
Morning we had breakfast at Courtyard Cafe downstairs.
A bright, sunny and cheerful place, their offerings were substantial and plentiful, with selections from the American, the Continental, the Asian, the South Asian, and the South East Asian.
On one side you had the mushrooms, the baked beans, the hash browns, the hot dogs, the sausages and the like. On the other side you had fried noodles and stir-fried vegetables and coconut rice to make nasi lemak with as much ingredients as you liked. For some reason I'm not able to recall just what ingredients there were, but there might have been fried fish, otah, omelet, peanuts, fried chicken wing, and the ubiquitous chili sambal.
There was, of course, toast with butter and margarine and peanut butter and kaya, and next to the toaster there were trays of muffins, pastries and little slices of cakes.
One couldn't miss out on the salad counter and the fruits, of course- you got watermelon and papaya and dragonfruit.
On regular days I'm quite a big fan of dragonfruit, but today, for some reason, I took none.
In fact I cannot even remember whether I had any fruit or not.
Maybe I might have helped myself to some yogurt or some cheese from the chiller, but that would've been after my first serving of scrambled eggs followed by a plate of fried kuay teow with two fried eggs.
The latter plate gave me a sense of reminiscence.
It was the kind of breakfast Mr. Radioman knew I liked, and whenever there was an opportunity, he would buy.
Breakfast over, back it was the room where I took some pictures, and also got some work done.
You know, it's been a couple of months since I was here in Melaka, and yet, even till now I can't get over how beautiful the view out my room window looked.
I had not known how blue the skies of this country were.
I had not known how green and mysterious and rustic-looking the mountain range far off in the horizon would be.
And even the houses below, each house nestled within its own compound, most of them surrounded by trees, made one feel so grounded, so connected to the land.
Later part of the morning we headed out to AEON Bandaraya.
A mall with a different vibe from the one we went to yesterday, AEON had a slate of shops and stores that were different, and which, I think served to attract a larger, younger crowd.
Amongst some of the stores there were Kappa, Levi's, Audrey, Uniqlo, Puma and Renoma. Then there was a Crocs store, a Skechers store, a Sembonia store (all on its own) a Vans, and even a Sun Paradise.
But what made for the largest draw, perhaps, was the hypermarket, and the dining outlets around it.
The hypermarket alone would have been a tremendous draw but their retail didn't miss out either.
Besides fashion and lifestyle, there was a Daiso, a Popular Bookstore, Sasa, Body Shop, Face Shop, even an OSIM.
F&B wise, they had a lot of offerings. There was a Baskin Robbins, an Auntie Anne's, a Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, then they had a Chateraise, a Kenny Rogers Roasters, Ichiban Ramen, J.Co Donuts & Coffee, and even a Kenangan Coffee.
For lunch we were trying to decide between Nandos or Kenny Rogers Roasters.
I had been leaning towards Kenny Rogers, but we hadn't had Nandos for a long time, and prices seemed good, so we settled for a plate of Lemon and Herb Chicken instead.
Lunch over we headed to this place called Huskitory on Jalan Taman Asean.
As the name suggests, this is a place for huskies.
With a mission to showcase the Siberian Husky through joyful moments of interaction, it is a place where visitors get to pat, take pictures, connect, and see the Husky breed of dog for what they are.
The Siberian Husky is known to be focused, tenacious, even aggressive- at least that's what I've always assumed- so it was very charming to see all these huskies, probably about 15 of them, running energetically through the main door into the hall where we visitors were.
The staff had briefed us on what to do, what to expect, so it was a matter of waiting for the dogs to come up to us for their treats. They had been trained to understand signals, so they directed us on the signal, and then handed us little bags of doggie treats for us to feed them.
I'm not really sure how well the signal worked, actually. Most of the time I didn't even need to stretch out my hand in front- their sensitive noses could smell the treat even with my hand behind my back.
They were remarkably curious too.
More than once I had different huskies sniffing their way through my tote bag, which was open, and at one time a husky who had his nose buried deep inside my bag almost took a plastic bag out.
I was happy to sit by the side and stroke the fur of these strong, sturdy yet charming dogs. I was happy to sit and watch them run around, watch the others play with them, and just take pictures of them lying down, standing around, or walking around.
They too were easy to feed.
One just had to be patient, and wait for an eager, curious nose to come sniffing for the treat in your closed palm.
There was a husky who came kept coming to sleep on my feet. Literally came, plopped down, and went into a snooze.
And amidst all these beautiful blue-eyed Siberian huskies, there was a beautiful, pretty Samoyed whom I think had the softest, fluffiest fur amidst them all.
Two hours later after we'd patted and stroked all the huskies, we took a Grab to this well-known place close to the beach called Klebang Original Coconut Shake. Located on Solok Kampung Bahagia in Klebang Besar.
The place doesn't have the fancy, cafe-like decor most of us IG types have come to expect, so come with an appreciation for original kampung vibes as if you stayed four doors down and popped in to the 'hood's F&B spot for a drink from your neighbor's coconut tree.
Here we had a coconut (for the refreshing coconut water) and ordered the famous coconut shake that was a great, refreshing blend of coconut flesh, coconut water, and vanilla ice cream.
When we finished (the place closes by 630pm), we went back to the hotel to send out a package and get a bit of work done.
Much later that evening, we headed over to rooftop restaurant Pampas Sky Dining Steakhouse.
Located on the 41st floor of Swiss Garden Residence in The Shore, it had both indoor and alfresco dining, and because it seemed a little silly to come all the way up here only to dine indoors, we chose a table right at the edge of the alfresco area where from our seats we could look over the Eastern hinterland of Melaka as well as the South where the sea was.
It's a little unfortunate that I have no idea really what it was I was looking at, but I think we were looking down to the river, and further on, there was the Doubletree Hilton.
Nevertheless I had a great time with the wind.
It was something I needed, and wanted and loved, especially on a sultry, humid, warm summer night.
What surprised me about Pampas was the menu they had. I had thought they be a medium-range restaurant, but they had quite an extensive menu.
They had a fair bit of starters for you to choose from, like Poached Blue Mussels, Pan Seared Scallops, and Seafood Croquettes.
For the mains they had Pastas, they had Seafood and Poultry and the Meats. I thought the Penne Alfredo seemed interesting, as did the Truffle Potato Gnocchi Carbonara. The Crispy Skin Norwegian Salmon Fillet seemed nice, as did the Gourmet Wagyu Beef Burger.
That- the burger- was in fact what I was seriously looking at, but my friend and I decided to share, so instead of it, we chose a Grilled T-bone steak.
It were the sauce that did it for me.
You got the (regular) brown sauce but you also got a localized sauce in the form of watercress and chimichanga.
I liked the watercress.
It made me think of pesto, which wasn't really pesto, of course, but was just so unusual, and went perfectly well with both the steak, and the potato in the fries.