Road Trip Day 8-9: Rosa Malacca, Muar & JB

DAY 8

It was our turn to have breakfast at Lighthouse Club (our villas only included breakfast for 4 persons so we had to take turns). The buffet spread was small, but the service was personalised and very good! 😃

The restaurant manager asked whether we liked anything else, and I asked if they had waffles (wasn't in the buffet line). He replied yes and later appeared with my own serving of fresh waffles! So yummy! 😋

After a good breakfast, we had a final swim in the pool before saying goodbye to our beautiful sea view villa at Lexis Hibiscus Port Dickson. The kids were super sad to leave! Our youngest nephew said he wanted to stay there forever! 😅

We loaded up our cars and drove to Malacca (Melaka), our last destination for our 9-day road trip. My family's first visit to Malacca was in 2014 and we've visited every year since then except for the pandemic years! This is our 9th time in Malacca! 😆

However, it was the brother-in-law and his family's first time in Malacca and knowing that they like Nyonya food, the hubby found SamFu Nyonya Restaurant, which had good reviews.

The restaurant was located within a boutique hotel, which had some dedicated parking for guests at a fee. We were greeted by the very unique and interesting decor of the restaurant right when we walked in!

We were quite famished so as usual, we ordered a whole table full of food! The food was quite authentic and delicious!

Of course, we had to end our meal with the most famous dessert in Malacca: chendol!

You can already judge the authenticity of this dish by just looking at the colour! Very delicious! It was a good end to a satisfying meal! We definitely recommend this restaurant if you like Nyonya food! 😋

After lunch, we headed to our hotel to check in. During our previous trips, we have stayed at: Hatten Hotel, Estadia Hotel, Imperial Heritage and Hallmark Crowne Hotel (Novotel too but I didn't post about it... maybe too tired after becoming a new mum of 3 😅).

This time, we decided to book Rosa Malacca, which is a relatively new hotel that has won many design awards for its modern and funky design.

We had booked 2 Family Suites at S$272 per room per night (inclusive of breakfast for 6 adults per room). The price was very reasonable as each room had two king-sized beds and one sofa bed that can comfortably accommodate 6 adults! Perfect for large families like ours!

When we entered the room, we are met with the first bed and sofa in front of the door. The open-concept closet was on the left while the second bed and bathroom was on our right. The hotel also provided us with a baby cot for the Littlest Girl.

The huge sofa will be converted into a bed when requested.

The Eldest Girl had the whole sofa bed to herself since her little sister slept in the cot. She enjoyed it tremendously! 😃

The second bed was the same size as the first bed, with the desk and TV located beside it.

The bathroom was a decent size, with dual sinks, the usual toiletries and a large shower area.

The nephews sent me a picture of the gym, which was located at the top floor of the hotel. It had simple machines but were good enough for them.

The only downside of this hotel would be its distance from the malls we love. Unlike other hotels like Hatten, Estadia or Imperial Heritage, which are within walking distance to the malls, Rosa Malacca is about a 10-minute drive.

We drove out to Mahkota Parade after we have sufficiently unpacked our bags. We took turn to watch the younger kids at the Kidzoona indoor playground while the rest of us shopped at the mall.

The 2 younger girls probably had more fun than their 2 older brothers, who had definitely outgrown this playground! It was also not very well-maintained, with the toys not kept properly and lots of play sand on the floor. Sad that it is not as good as before!

We crossed the road to Dataran Palawan mall for dinner at Dragon-i. Food was still good, just as how we had remembered it! The pig-shaped bao was still a hot favourite among the kids!

We did some shopping and bought the Littlest Girl a pair of pink shoes from Jelly Bunny. She loves them!

We returned to our hotel once we were done. Love how the hotel building lit up at night to look a bit like those old-school spooky factories!

I also took a photo of our trustworthy cars, that carried us to wherever we wanted to go! Azura, our blue Volkswagen Sharan, is an important member of our family! 💗

As we were returning to Singapore the next day, the brother-in-law suggested doing laundry at the nearby laundry-mat. I went along to see what it was like, and we ended up spending about 1.5-2 hours at there, waiting for our laundry. Personally felt that we could have better spent the time enjoying our hotel room instead! Probably not something that I would do again.

We only spent 1 night in Malacca but if you have more time, you can check out our recommendations for food and kid-friendly attractions in Malacca.

DAY 9

For the first time in this trip, we could all finally enjoy the hotel breakfast together! The design of the hotel allowed for the restaurant to look and feel alfresco, without the heat!

The breakfast spread was also small, but the food was good. I love the teh (milk tea)! 😋

Everyone enjoyed the breakfast and fellowship! We enjoyed the hotel so much that we wanted to extend our stay by one more night! We knew the chances were low but we tried our luck and were told there was no availability, as expected. We were still sad anyway! ☹️

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A post shared by Madeline Heng (@madpsychmum)

After checking out, we drove to Muar to buy the famous otah from Cheng Boi Otah. There is no otah like Muar otah! We usually buy at least 20 packets to bring home! 😆

The hubby searched through reviews to find our lunch place at Xin Yang Seafood Restaurant in Muar. I'm also unsure how he has the ability to look through a list of food places and decide on the best suited one in less than 5 minutes!