Scary, Creepy… and peaceful. Riviera Bay Condo Malacca
We’ve arrived at Malacca Central by bus. The Airbnb host sent a friend to pick us up from the station. To be clear, we didn’t ask for it. We were going to take a taxi/Grab, but the host said it’s not a problem and he’s going to make sure someone is there waiting for us. The ride from the bus station took around 30 minutes.
We didn’t do any research about this place so we didn’t know it’s not in the city. On the way to the condo, we stopped for a famous coconut ice cream that was recommended to us by Yvonne – our driver. There was a line for this ice cream so you could tell without even trying that it’s going to be something good. And it really was. Well worth waiting in a long line.
A stunning balcony view
When we arrived at Riviera Bay Condominium first thing that we noticed was that it looks like a huge abandoned hotel. We didn’t have much time to look around as Yvonne took us straight to the apartment, opened the balcony doors wide and invited us to enjoy the view.
That was a really good selling point of this place. We’ve fallen in love with the place with that first moment on the balcony. When I turned around to see the rest of the place I noticed she took our photos when we weren’t looking. That felt a bit creepy but she later sent us those photos. I’d still prefer her to tell us about those pictures before she’s taken them though.
The Riviera Hotel apartment
The main room, or should I say, living quarters was a huge room featuring a round glass table with chairs, a smaller coffee table and rattan sofa next to it and a TV stand with a nice large TV on it. There are two bedrooms, both with a huge bed, wardrobe and a dressing table that we’ve used as a desk 😉 The kitchen was also quite large with an electrical stove, a kettle, set of pans, set of plates, cups etc. There was a gas stove covered with a bit of wood so we guessed it’s not working.
There was also complimentary water, coffee, tea and fruits waiting for us. The apartment is huge. Way too big for us two. The first thing we did when we were alone, we made some research about the building and we found out it was, in fact, a 4-star hotel a few years back but then for some reason rooms were sold to private owners as a separate flats. We found an old video from times it was still in its’ glory. Funny that the apartment we stayed in looked nearly identical to one of those shown in the video! The same furniture even!
An abandoned hotel
We went for a trip around the building, checked every open door. The building still has that glamorous feeling, but it’s completely empty. No staff at the reception desk, no chairs nor tables in the huge lounge. there’s still a piano but covered with a cloth and dust. I am sure for some people this place might look creepy. We were fascinated by it all.
At the back of the building, you can find a nice large swimming pool that most of the week is not used by anyone, because … well… there’s close to nobody living in there and only on weekends, you can see a small surge of people! There’s also a gate to the beach but unfortunately, it is closed.
The weirdest looking place for us was a parking space. A huge empty place with like 2-3 cars… in total!!! I admit we had some problems sleeping there the first night because we’ve read some comments online about weird noises people heard here, ghosts etc. After that, it was only easier with each subsequent night. We learnt to love how peaceful and calm it was. We spent half of the day (and sometimes half of the night) on the balcony enjoying the view.
The local area
There are two restaurants nearby that serve local Malaysian food but also some western options. We went there a few times and tried nearly everything that was on the menu. After some time we’ve had our favourites and stuck to them though.
The nearest grocery shop was a bit too far for us to walk there. Well, we did walk to it once… and that was the first and the last time we did that. We decided we will simply go to a market on weekends by taxi and get enough food for a week so we don’t have to walk that far again. If only we’ve had a bike… and if only I wasn’t scared of them!
Against all odds, we loved this place and it was difficult to leave. We liked it so much we started to look for info on how to buy an apartment like this in this particular building!! We’ll definitely come back to this Airbnb when we’re back in Malacca, that’s decided! It’s an amazing place to get some rest from busy and loud cities… and people.
