Melaka River Cruise...

At about 6.55pm on Saturday, 19/7/2008, our Bachang cell group members and Ayer Keroh cell group members held our combined cell activity ~ The Melaka River Cruise ride!! I tell you one thing is for sure ~ I never thought that I would go for a trip like this. Ask any Malaccan and they will tell you that historically Melaka river is like stinking, muddy grey colour waters, floating materials & waste plus major toxic waste dump site, man. However, after much coaxing, much discussion and much explanation that a lot has been done to beautify and upgrade the scenery, I decided to take the cruise. There to greet all of us was En.Shukor who was our boatman. Nice fella who took the trouble to explain us the places along river, the development that is going to take place and the sprucing up of the city waterways. Yeah! The smell was still there but there really were some nice views of some places as one cruises along the river. It wasn't all that bad but it would take at least to 2 to 3 years before this river cruise thing can be brought to its fullest potential. Yeah, the "mat salleh" or "gwailo" will enjoy this more than the locals. I guess, it's all about the tourist industry, our No.1 money gainer in Melaka. The rest comes from our cukai tanah, cukai pintu and more recently, TNB bill, man !
Honestly, I tried looking for the ducks along the river. I can safely say that I found NONE. I guess, they must have landed in some restaurants or some people's fiery pot as Peking duck or stewed duck! Can't even find iguanas too coz' they too would mosty likely land in some pots in Jasin or Machap as special curry! Well, all in all, it was a great time of getting together for some fun activity and re-living the good old times of life in old Melaka town. For the tourist ~ local or foreign, get on the river cruise ( solid 40 minutes cruise ) when you are in Melaka. It may not be the nicest place yet for fresh air or breeze but there are some nice scenery along the waterways. Best time for cruise ~ 7.00pm definitely! Don't miss it!