Jonker’s street essence of Nyonya

out of curiousity, how did this street in Malacca get it’s name?  Were they trying to spell Joker but added an extra “O” in the middle ? O.o!

Or probably it’s named after a well famous portugese sailor who once lived on this street.  Right,google can help you with your answers..

I’m just gonna move along to my Nyonya stuff. I had a day trip there following my friend who went to buy “manik” <---tiny bead”s  for his mum to make the very rare handmade baba nyonnya shoe.

How rare, i don’t think you can find people still inhibiting this passed down culture. My friend’s mum is of baba nyonnya heritage and she kneads the beads as her pastime hobby.

This bead shop is located on Jonker’s street. it’s a typical sewing/ accessories shop where you could find all sorts of beads to be sewn on clothes, bracelet, necklace ( but i can’t find studs that can be sewn on shoes & clothes )

After buying those stuff, we had a walk on the streets. It really reminded me of China poor people’s quarters. It’s as if you are frozen and turned back in time.

Tell me, if i’’m wrong 

This is the shop where i ate chicken rice balls , pretty decent price, thought hiked up due to being part of tourist attraction , meal for 2  RM20++  inclusive , chicken + rice + soup + veggie+ 2 drinks..Well, maybe its pretty worth it after all, i hear some of my friends going ot other shops not getting many dishes like us. hehehe

The wood interior is all TEAK WOOD! OMG TIMBER~~~HOW EXPENSIVE that would have been if it were build in the era of Y2k generation. I’d imagine myself living in  such a building mixing modern technology with the old chinese style.  The olden days concept of chinese houses, had an open air space in between, letting good ventilation flow through. Though, it maybe kind of bad, when u try to go upstairs and it’s raining, no connecting shade area, ( will get wet ) =.=

May i talk bout the rice?  yes i will!, i feel i must! ~~~

the texture is rather mushy, somewhere in between porridge and rice texture,  once poked with a fork, it tends to stay  fixed for a few seconds, then it just breaks into half, a perfect nice half cut ! O.o! i wonder how is that possible.

This is another open airwell concept of the chinese style shophouses, though you may say it’s chinese, but i think it already has a touch f baba Nyonya into it ( note the window gutters, typical malay house style)

p/s , you will see loads of wood being used alot in these shophouses, these wood are so well preserved

the gold engravings are NOT Chinese NOT Malays, hmm must be baba nyonya style ? XD

mixture of designs in the shophouses, still essence of China remains on the front door part ( wooden doors) reminds me of a small town in China i went to in Gui Lin.

another place you should got is the BaBa Nyonya museum somewhere along this street in the picture above, its a house  stayed by a pretty rich baba nyonya family, you should see their designs, rather enlightening, a mix of chinese + malay + european+ lavishly done up! you also get to learn bout their culture =) which i learnt is pretty interesting.

 

i’ll leave it to you to experience this durian puff stall which is known to be famous in Jonker’s,

 

texture? the puff is not pastry puff like you expect, its more rubbery but the durian cream in the inside, is magnific!!! cold~~ if only the puff were more  fluffier like kuih bahulu  it would be perfect! Oh well, this is the thing that is famous there , should try

There are laksa stalls nearby too, they serve pretty HUGE bowls..but my tummy cant chow down no more.

Overall, i feel its a pretty interesting place if you would wanna see ancient previous stuffs traditional stuffs GREAT PLACE! whereever you look , you will tend to spot things/ place related to the past! That is if you know how to spot

( this trip was taken by your  storyteller somewhere in August )