When Two Sanguines Got Connected VI: Nyonya Dinner And Night Stroll Before Saying Bye-bye

During the Melaka river cruise, Ray who had only eaten three-quarter stick of potato snack at the Jonker Street was already concerned about where to taste the best Nyonya food in town. We could not find the name of the one Ps Richard had mentioned to him. So he picked Nyonya Makko restaurant at Melaka Raya which was described by online reviews as one serving homemade cuisine. It happened to be owned by Sis Maureen's family, a Calvarite with whom I often deal at the church cafeteria to get breakfast for Uncle Seelan. Even though I had never stepped into this restaurant, I was quite familiar with their famous pontay chicken and cendol which they had catered to Calvary Life Assembly during fundraising events.

Having a dining companion one of whose favorite activities is also eating, I once again happily abandoned my "munching-rabbit-food-for-dinner-at-home-when-alone" programme. We ordered specialities recommended by Sis Maureen. There were few customers left as the restaurant was going to close in half an hour. So our pontay chicken, lady fingers with cincaluk and steam tofu were served quite fast to fill our stomachs. These dishes were not only appetising in appearance but also yummy in taste!

After the meal, we went to the Portuguese Settlement for a walk to help digestion. We passed by the restaurants which were still crowded with people and headed towards the end of the jetty to continue our sharing session. It was rather tranquil with the Straits of Malacca around us.

Our 11-hour tour in Melaka that day finally came to an end when we left Ujong Pasir to return to Ayer Keroh and said bye-bye to each other.

Ray, thanks again for your visit and your tolerance towards my driving which sometimes must have caused you into a cold sweat. When we two sanguines meet again next time, there will be more bubbling stories to tell!

When Two Sanguines Got Connected V: Taking The Melaka River Cruise

During the cell meeting on the eve of Ray's trip to Melaka, I asked Phebe about the Melaka river cruise which I myself had not yet experienced. She strongly recommended me to take it at night because of the beautiful illumination and gave me advice on the seating for the better view. Since my guest was not in a hurry to go back to Kuala Lumpur last Saturday, we reserved this activity for early evening.

We boarded the boat at the jetty in front of the Quayside Heritage Centre.

The sky was getting darker.

I was relaxed as a tourist

like my senior who was here on vacation.

I temporarily forgot that I had been living in Melaka for almost eight years! I was very glad to rediscover this favorite region of mine from another angle.

Last October, I had seen this same scenery from the riverside while hanging out near the old bus station and sometimes I waved at the boats that passed by. Sitting in the boat this time, I was the one waving at people standing on the bridges watching us.

Houses of Kampung Morten

and restaurants stood out with the lighting.

This bridge looked like a tunnel.

Another corner with mangroves reminded me of my river boat tour to watch fireflies in Kuala Selangor several years ago. And I also remembered those days when I took a stroll along the Doubs river in Besançon. I suddenly became a bit nostalgic.

The 45-minute cruise was definitely an enchanting experience for me to capture a different charm of Melaka with my eyes. I almost wished that the time would just freeze there and then...

When Two Sanguines Got Connected IV: Snapshots In Melaka Town

Whether it is a bent tree,

a tombstone,

a street musician,

slippers with fancy designs,

a park

or beautiful bamboos,

as long as it arouses your interest to snap a picture, it is called an attraction!

When Two Sanguines Got Connected III: Visiting The Melaka Christianity And Cultural Research Centre

Our next destination was the Melaka Christianity and Cultural Research Centre (MCCRC) which held a "Malacca Christianity & Culture" exhibition. I had been aware of its existence since the Lisbon Chambor Choir in 2009. Ray had also heard about it from Ps Richard who would like to organise a trip to the centre for those in Kuala Lumpur.

We had no idea of its exact location. After Ray searched the information on the Internet and asked a nearby hotel reception, we found the place. It was on the second floor of the Cheng Ho Cultural Museum at 51 Lorong Hang Jebat opposite the Stadthuys across the Melaka river.

At the entrance of the exhibition hall, welcoming us was a banner with the verse from 2 Chronicles 7:14.

Grafic panels were tracing Melaka's link to the spread of Christianity in China. The first portrait we saw was Robert Morrison, the first Protestant missionary to China and who had translated the Bible into Chinese.

Most of the displayed documents, originally in Chinese, were accompanied by the English explanation.

At the reception, we were told that the guided visit was only in English and we were introduced to Bro Jimmy, the only Christian employee there, who was in charge of both the Cheng Ho Museum and the Christianity exhibition. We could sense that he was passionate about his job to present the history of the Christianity in Malaysia to visitors from all over the world.

This was no doubt one of the oldest copies of the Bible in Chinese published in Melaka.

The exhibition highlighted several great men of God who had faithfully served in the Chinese community.

Watchman Nee was one of them. To make his presentation lively, Bro Jimmy pulled out a piece of paper from behind the picture of this great Chinese preacher. It was a statement discovered under Watchman Nee's deathbed after his passing--"Christ is The Son of God who died for the redemption of sinners and was resurrected after 3 days. This is the greatest truth in the universe. I die because of my Belief in Christ."

The exhibition also showed various contributions the Christian religion has been playing in the social development among the Chinese in areas like schools, hospitals, children's welfare homes, etc.

I was attracted by a painting of Jesus and the Samaritan woman. The characters and the background looked so Chinese that had I not known about the story, I would have thought that it was an illustration from a Chinese classical literature!

After the detailed visit, we were led to another room to watch a short video.

Bro Jimmy who was filled with evangelical fervour invited us to have a seat at the cafe downstairs. He gave us each a very interesting article about how the Bible was related to China and proof of the worship of the Creator God in ancient China. Despite his English education background, he was interested to learn from some Christian publications about how the Genesis story was hidden within the ancient Chinese written symbols.

We spent another hour to continue our fellowship. Ray and I took it as a coffee and iced lemon tea break as well.

When we left the museum, our stamina was high again to explore the town!

When Two Sanguines Got Connected II: Interesting Encounter and Seating

Before Ray came to Melaka, he had already mentioned the local speciality chicken rice balls. So it did not take me a long time to plan where to bring him for lunch. As tourists, our place of interest was of course the famous Jonker Street. While driving, I told him about the story of my two parking spaces in front of Dataran Pahlawan on the day I helped with the voters registration. Again, we easily got an empty slot after prayer. Hallelujah!

At first, we stopped at Hoe Kee chicken rice ball restaurant where I had last eaten with my family members two years ago. There was a long queue outside. I remembered my brother Seng preferred Chung Wah. So we walked further up and joined the smaller waiting crowd outside the dowdy kopitiam-like restaurant.

In less than ten minutes, we were assigned to a table to share with another customer who was alone. Very soon, my sanguine senior engaged the diner in conversation by asking her in Mandarin where she was from. As soon as I heard the pretty lady's accent, I knew she came from China. She had seized a ticket during AirAsia promotions to travel to Malaysia last weekend. As she would stay only two days, she had decided to choose Melaka as her only city of destination. Her reason was simple and related to the history--because Cheng Ho had been to Melaka many times!

Unlike other restaurants, Chung Wah sells exclusively one type of dish. Both Ray and I had tasted their food in the past. The rice balls were still delicious but to our disappointment, the chicken that day was overcooked and soggy. Nevertheless, we were very glad to meet an independent traveller like Wang Yi.

I could have included her in my "tour guiding" programme but we had to leave the Jonker Street immediately after the meal. When we were back again, it was time to look for the second must-eat in our list--cendol at Jonker 88. The restaurant long in size was so fully occupied that we were not able to find two available seats at any tables after we had paid and were holding the two bowls of shaved ice. Thank God Ray noticed a corner where we could place two plastic stools and finally settled down.

The cold dessert refreshed us under the hot weather. And instead of antique household items displayed everywhere in the restaurant, we had a special view of banknotes of ancient times from different countries.

Now we were going to do visit a place that typical tourists would not think of. Guess where was it...

When Two Sanguines Got Connected I: Meeting Up In Melaka

I used to have visitors from outstation or overseas. Since the end of 2008, strangely almost none of my contacts, besides my family members, relatives and a few regulars, had paid me a visit in Melaka.

Recently I got to know Ray, my senior under the same MLM training in Kuala Lumpur. One of the first questions he asked me was "What kind of personality are you?" I had not done the test but based on my loud voice and laughs evey three minutes, he was convinced that "sanguine" was the most suitable term to describe me on the spot. When he revealed to me that he was also one, I was not surprised since he sounded like a friendly, chatty person and could talk as fast as I!

After a few telephone conversations, Ray grew more curious to find out more about his sanguine sister in Christ. When the two sanguines got connected, the result was a meet-up in Melaka last Saturday. He was asked to pass me three boxes of donated stationeries to give to Harap Learning Centre (HLC) Bukit Baru.

As our meeting point was at Ayer Keroh, I did not miss to introduce to Ray my church Calvary Life Assembly building and Calvary Care Home before we went to the centre, which was close, to have a look from outside. Then we dropped by at Dr Wong's clinic to say hello to the coordinator of HLC Bukit Baru.

We waited about fifteen minutes for our turn for the "consultation". Dr Wong did not recognize his "patient" immediately. After the "diagnosis", he finally remembered Ray who had talked to him over the phone and whom he had probably seen at the Men's Fraternity booth during the EFC Leadership Summit 2010.

We did not want to disturb Dr Wong too long. So we left after a short while and I brought Ray to a significant coconut juice stall which was about a hundred steps from the clinic to offer him a welcoming drink. It was run by Sajar's family! I had driven past their stall many times but had never stopped by. The couple and their lovely daughter were there. It was the first time I met Sajar's wife. At first I was not sure whether this lady who looked very young was Nurul's sister or mother until she confirmed her identity.

While sipping the fresh coconut juice and giving Ray a brief account of Sajar's story which he had already heard a little bit in KL, I myself was moved by the impact Sajar had brought to his household when he had begun to reject passivity.

Ray was taking a break in the midst of his busy month. I also took this occasion to have a change of my routine. During the hours that followed, both of us were going to become real tourists...

Projek Harap Melaka Team February Gathering

This month of February, there is no MLM class at all in Melaka because of the Chinese New Year and the public holiday. Nevertheless, Ps Richard and Piek See came to Melaka to meet the Projek Harap team at Mr and Mrs Ee's house this Tuesday.

Living near their residential area, I was the first guest to arrive. Since we were still in the festive season, I wore a red T-shirt and brought some mandarins. I thought I could give a hand in the kitchen. When I stepped into the dining room, the high tea was ready! Mrs Ee's neighbour had helped her to prepare most of the food. Laying on the table were fried mee siam, two types of nyonya kuih, taufu fa, etc.

I was very amazed that even the taufu fa was homemade. Mrs Ee scooped some into a bowl to let me taste.

The texture was so soft and smooth that the custard just melted in my mouth the moment I sipped it! As I was going to fill my stomach with other mouth watering dishes, I controlled myself to have the second serving only three hours later.

Ps Richard and Piek See arrived from Kluang a bit later. When they were urged by our hospitable hosts to serve the abundant foods, Piek See said, "We've been eating since 1pm. I think I need to change into pyjama. Otherwise my button is going to pop out!" She was very interested to shave ice for the cendol with the machine, which was actually a juicer with the ice-grating spare part.

We poured red beans, green worm-like jelly, coconut milk and gula Melaka onto the shaved ice. Was the DIY cendol nice? The answer was written on Ps Richard's face.

We began our "feast" before the meeting as Dr Wong would only come at about 5.30pm after his work. Bro BB had to leave early. Jonathan and Joel who were also dressed like angpao like me did not eat much because they were going to a dinner gathering later with their cell group members.

Probably due to the effect of tapai accompanied by ice-cream, our mood was high to talk about and laugh at "entertaining" topics. The serious meeting finally started after five o'clock. Piek See updated us on the SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) of Projek Harap. Mrs Ee is not only a wonderful host and cook in her house, but also a great helper and purchaser for Harap Learning Centre.

Dr Wong who is the coordinator of Harap Learning Centre Bukit Baru has been very busy preparing for his exam in addition to his daily work at the clinic. Despite his tight schedule, he continues to care for needy people around him. He shared with us encouraging news about Sajar who had brought his family members and other children from the neighbourhood to visit him during the Chinese New Year.

Jonathan and Joel will play an important role of collecting quantitative data from the families of the children who attend the centre.

Mr Ee is the BM translator for documents. Ps Richard reminded us to focus on our primary objective, ie to give pre-school education to children between 3-6 years old, but partner with people who reach out to other ranks.

I will continue to do odd jobs where necessary with my gift of help.

An Afternoon With New Little Friends

Last Thursday afternoon, I dropped by at Harap Learning Centre Bukit Baru to pass some donated stationery. I was delighted to see Nurul there.

I learnt from Sis Theresa that Mrs Ee who had brought food during her visit the previous day to the centre had invited Nurul to join them and to come every afternoon. Instead of idling at the playground after school or when she skips school, this 7-year-old little girl was finally willing to accept the offer of the shelter where she was guided to do her homework. Though we adults were talking, she was able to do her exercise quietly and with full attention. Without previously having attended the kindergarten, she was writing numbers in BM and colouring pictures very neatly.

At first, I planned to stay on to meet Sis Christine, a retired teacher who gives free English tuition to Seri Siantian flats' children from 5pm to 7pm. That day, we waited for her until 5.20pm but she seemed to be not able to make it. As I was leaving after Sis Theresa closed the centre, two boys and a girl carrying a bag each asked me if their teacher was coming. They must have seen me during the party. Not having a confirmed answer for them, I told them I would teach them for awhile. Sitting on the floor, I asked them to show me one by one their exercise, to read out the sentences in English and to translate into BM. When they did not know the meaning of a word, I explained to them and reminded them to write down in case they forgot again later.

Once awhile, Nurul's brother Syukri was curious to see what we were doing.

I spent about one hour with them. Next, it was time for them to relax since the teacher still did not turn up.

The boy Fikri and the girl Atikah called their youngest brother, who appeared at the balcony, to come down. My "supermodel" Farahan was excited to see me again. I was also very glad to meet the three siblings together

and to know that all my new little friends enjoyed the photograph session.

When I said goodbye to them, Atikah asked me when I would come again.

How nice it is to know that someone is looking forward to my next visit. I thank God for this wonderful encounter.