After breakfast we left KL to drive to Malacca (Melaka) which took around 2½hours. After a couple of false starts and driving round the same one way system 3 times in the centre of KL (we blame the sat nav) we had an unadventurous drive and arrived at our hotel just after 1pm.
Dubbed Malaysia’s unofficial historic capital, Malacca was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2008.
Apparently, in the late 14th century, Malacca was a small fishing village. Parameswara, a Prince fleeing from nearby Sumatra, landed on Malacca, founded the city and turned it into a busy port for ships waiting out monsoons or those plying the Straits of Malacca who needed to replenish supplies or carry out repairs. Becaude of its strategic location between China and India, Malacca came to monopolize the trading routes in this region. In 1405 Malacca forged an alliance with the Ming Emperor to gain protection against Siamese invaders; over time Chinese settlers who married local Malays resulted in what was dubbed the Baba/Nyonya peoples.
Malacca was attacked by the Portuguese in 1511 and the invader missionaries strove to convert the locals to Catholicism. Malacca’s popularity dwindled as Muslim merchants began to steer clear of the port. Malacca’s reputation improved again in 1641 when it passed into Dutch hands for 150 years and later the British assumed control for a short time, contributing further to its mish mash of cultural influences.
Our accommodation:
We're staying at Courtyard@heeren Boutique Hotel which is a converted shophouse with 15 rooms around a central courtyard. I chose it because of its proximity to all the main attractions including Jonker Street (cafes/food shops) and the night market - although this only opens at weekends.
The Courtyard hotel is very pretty. It is decorated in the traditional Peranakan/Straits Chinese fashion with lots of small courtyards/atriums and covered walkways full of plants and lovely artefacts. The entrance lobby has a pond filled with huge fish and water features. I'm so pleased that we've been given a room on the ground floor. Much as we loved the boutique hotel in Penang there were too many steep stairs to climb to get to our room. This is a real treat for us
The entrance lobby
leading into reception area
and the first section of walkway leading to our room, I love all these little courtyard areas
So many things to look at along the corridors
Our bed
and lounge area
our private patio/balcony area with courtyard behind (although it will be too hot to sit there most of the day I suspect). Great for drying a bit of laundry though!
Back in England I'd read that the Malacca tourist office hosts FREE guided walks on Weds evenings around Kampung Morten, a traditional village, and there's the opportunity to meet locals whilst learning about their cuisine, clothes and lifestyle. I emailed the address given on the website and got a very unhelpful one back saying they are just Tourism Malaysia and their main objective is to promote Malaysia as a holiday destination, therefore, I should consult directly with the respective authorities for further assistance. (Despite their details being listed as the organisers). So I gave up on that idea.
At the hotel today David picked up a leaflet promoting the very same tour - it asked that interested parties email to reserve spaces. We did that and got no response ... So we're not impressed!
The area around our hotel is bustling with all sorts of shops and bars - known as Jonker Street its pretty lively - lots of arts, crafts and souvenirs, obviously aimed at us tourists but an interesting area. We had a brief walk around to get our bearings then headed down to the river to take a river cruise.
Sadly the area around the river and the 'Stadhuys' (the lovely historic 'pink' buildings of the Town Hall and governor's residence) is a bit like Blackpool now. Its been taken over by hoardes of tacky trishaws covered in plastic flowers and cartoon characters and blasting out music. There was a cruise ship in today and the trishaw guys were having a field day. Whoever licensed these guys should be shot - although there were plenty of tourists willing to sit on sticky plastic seats and be deafened by rock music whilst being pedal powered around the riverside area.
Perhaps I'm just a grumpy old lady but I find it sad that this area which has Heritage status should be turned into a circus
Anyway, the Stadhuys - and surrounding 'red square' area photographed with as little 'tat' in the scene as possible:
The Victoria fountain stands in front of the Church and Stadhuys. The inscription reads “Victoria Regina 1837- 1901. Erected by the people of Malacca in memory of a great Queen in 1904”
Nearby is the Flor de La Mar, a replica of the Portuguese ship which sank in the coast of Malacca while on its way to Portugal in 1512. The replica is 34 meters in height and 8 meters in width
To escape the heat we decided to take a 40 minute river cruise to check out the sights from the river on one of these 'elegant' vessels:
some of the views from our boat:
This bastion, known as Middleburg, was built by the Dutch in 1660 as part of the plan to strengthen the defences of Melaka city which was busy with shipping and trading activities at the time.
Middleburg Bastion was demolished by the Brits and for more than 150 years the existence of this structure was forgotten until routine excavations around Malacca old town unearthed the foundations of the bastion.
The current structure is said to be an accurate replica of the original one based on extensive research and advice from historians.
There are a lot of brightly decorated buildings in Malacca - especially along the riverside
Opposite the remains of the bastion is 'Sid's Pub with a balcony area overlooking the river. Guess who has spotted the pub?!!
That's where we ended up - David was delighted to find they served Kilkenny and I enjoyed a frozen Colada from a coconut shell - well there was enough coconut attached to the shell to count as one of my five a day!
Suitably refreshed, we walked back to our hotel - just a few random pictures taken along the way
OK ... more bl**dy temples ... but you can't escape them!
Tea shop
More refreshment for our journey - this time a honey lemon ice tube each (bit like the popsicles we used to have as kids but made with pure ingredients - very nice)
I loved these gorgeous floral displays - to congratulate the owners on the opening of a new business
and just look at this neglected property - it must have been fabulous in its heyday.
Probably not much different to this one just a few hundred yards away. However this one is maintained by a family trust and seems to be in pristine condition. Built in honour of a Baba businessman.
Opposite our boutique hotel is The Baba & Nyonya House Museum which showcases the local history of ethnic Chinese-Malays called Baba-Nyonya or Peranakan in Melaka.
Sadly its closed for a few days but scheduled to reopen tomorrow at 10am. We may just have time to take a quick whizz round before driving to Johor (the border with Singapore). If it opens as scheduled it would be good to learn a bit more about this ethnic group as they are so important in the history of the country.
Then finally (sorry its been a long post) we decided to try the local hawker centre for our evening meal. Its not a huge hawker centre but had around 15 food stalls offering a variety of local dishes. The place was packed but we managed to grab a table in the inner section and bought main dishes from one stall
I had a plate of fried mee hun (bit like Singapore noodles) which came with a small bowl of green chilli sauce. David had Hokien Mee - rice noodles in a spicy meaty broth which came with a bowl of red chilli sauce. Having stuck my finger in his sauce to sample it I did warn him that it was HOT but he poured it over his dish anyway. He didn't stir it in properly, copped a forkful of hot stuff and was rendered speechless for a few minutes. He can't say I didn't warn him!
and as we were sitting in front of the satay stand it would have been churlish not to have ordered some from the very nice lady - 10 sticks with peanut/chilli sauce and rojak (rice wrapped in a leaf parcel). The whole meal came to less than £4 for the two of us.
We shared a bottle of Tiger beer. At the hawker centres you simply find a table, order your food from whichever stall takes your fancy and its cooked to order and delivered to your table. Very civilised. I'm so looking forward to eating at some of the Singapore hawker centres I remember from my time there.
Dubbed Malaysia’s unofficial historic capital, Malacca was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2008.
Apparently, in the late 14th century, Malacca was a small fishing village. Parameswara, a Prince fleeing from nearby Sumatra, landed on Malacca, founded the city and turned it into a busy port for ships waiting out monsoons or those plying the Straits of Malacca who needed to replenish supplies or carry out repairs. Becaude of its strategic location between China and India, Malacca came to monopolize the trading routes in this region. In 1405 Malacca forged an alliance with the Ming Emperor to gain protection against Siamese invaders; over time Chinese settlers who married local Malays resulted in what was dubbed the Baba/Nyonya peoples.
Malacca was attacked by the Portuguese in 1511 and the invader missionaries strove to convert the locals to Catholicism. Malacca’s popularity dwindled as Muslim merchants began to steer clear of the port. Malacca’s reputation improved again in 1641 when it passed into Dutch hands for 150 years and later the British assumed control for a short time, contributing further to its mish mash of cultural influences.
Our accommodation:
We're staying at Courtyard@heeren Boutique Hotel which is a converted shophouse with 15 rooms around a central courtyard. I chose it because of its proximity to all the main attractions including Jonker Street (cafes/food shops) and the night market - although this only opens at weekends.
The Courtyard hotel is very pretty. It is decorated in the traditional Peranakan/Straits Chinese fashion with lots of small courtyards/atriums and covered walkways full of plants and lovely artefacts. The entrance lobby has a pond filled with huge fish and water features. I'm so pleased that we've been given a room on the ground floor. Much as we loved the boutique hotel in Penang there were too many steep stairs to climb to get to our room. This is a real treat for us
The entrance lobby
leading into reception area
and the first section of walkway leading to our room, I love all these little courtyard areas
So many things to look at along the corridors
Our bed
and lounge area
Back in England I'd read that the Malacca tourist office hosts FREE guided walks on Weds evenings around Kampung Morten, a traditional village, and there's the opportunity to meet locals whilst learning about their cuisine, clothes and lifestyle. I emailed the address given on the website and got a very unhelpful one back saying they are just Tourism Malaysia and their main objective is to promote Malaysia as a holiday destination, therefore, I should consult directly with the respective authorities for further assistance. (Despite their details being listed as the organisers). So I gave up on that idea.
At the hotel today David picked up a leaflet promoting the very same tour - it asked that interested parties email to reserve spaces. We did that and got no response ... So we're not impressed!
The area around our hotel is bustling with all sorts of shops and bars - known as Jonker Street its pretty lively - lots of arts, crafts and souvenirs, obviously aimed at us tourists but an interesting area. We had a brief walk around to get our bearings then headed down to the river to take a river cruise.
Sadly the area around the river and the 'Stadhuys' (the lovely historic 'pink' buildings of the Town Hall and governor's residence) is a bit like Blackpool now. Its been taken over by hoardes of tacky trishaws covered in plastic flowers and cartoon characters and blasting out music. There was a cruise ship in today and the trishaw guys were having a field day. Whoever licensed these guys should be shot - although there were plenty of tourists willing to sit on sticky plastic seats and be deafened by rock music whilst being pedal powered around the riverside area.
Perhaps I'm just a grumpy old lady but I find it sad that this area which has Heritage status should be turned into a circus
Anyway, the Stadhuys - and surrounding 'red square' area photographed with as little 'tat' in the scene as possible:
The Victoria fountain stands in front of the Church and Stadhuys. The inscription reads “Victoria Regina 1837- 1901. Erected by the people of Malacca in memory of a great Queen in 1904”
Nearby is the Flor de La Mar, a replica of the Portuguese ship which sank in the coast of Malacca while on its way to Portugal in 1512. The replica is 34 meters in height and 8 meters in width
To escape the heat we decided to take a 40 minute river cruise to check out the sights from the river on one of these 'elegant' vessels:
some of the views from our boat:
This bastion, known as Middleburg, was built by the Dutch in 1660 as part of the plan to strengthen the defences of Melaka city which was busy with shipping and trading activities at the time.
Middleburg Bastion was demolished by the Brits and for more than 150 years the existence of this structure was forgotten until routine excavations around Malacca old town unearthed the foundations of the bastion.
The current structure is said to be an accurate replica of the original one based on extensive research and advice from historians.
There are a lot of brightly decorated buildings in Malacca - especially along the riverside
Opposite the remains of the bastion is 'Sid's Pub with a balcony area overlooking the river. Guess who has spotted the pub?!!
That's where we ended up - David was delighted to find they served Kilkenny and I enjoyed a frozen Colada from a coconut shell - well there was enough coconut attached to the shell to count as one of my five a day!
Suitably refreshed, we walked back to our hotel - just a few random pictures taken along the way
OK ... more bl**dy temples ... but you can't escape them!
Tea shop
More refreshment for our journey - this time a honey lemon ice tube each (bit like the popsicles we used to have as kids but made with pure ingredients - very nice)
I loved these gorgeous floral displays - to congratulate the owners on the opening of a new business
and just look at this neglected property - it must have been fabulous in its heyday.
Probably not much different to this one just a few hundred yards away. However this one is maintained by a family trust and seems to be in pristine condition. Built in honour of a Baba businessman.
Opposite our boutique hotel is The Baba & Nyonya House Museum which showcases the local history of ethnic Chinese-Malays called Baba-Nyonya or Peranakan in Melaka.
Sadly its closed for a few days but scheduled to reopen tomorrow at 10am. We may just have time to take a quick whizz round before driving to Johor (the border with Singapore). If it opens as scheduled it would be good to learn a bit more about this ethnic group as they are so important in the history of the country.
Then finally (sorry its been a long post) we decided to try the local hawker centre for our evening meal. Its not a huge hawker centre but had around 15 food stalls offering a variety of local dishes. The place was packed but we managed to grab a table in the inner section and bought main dishes from one stall
I had a plate of fried mee hun (bit like Singapore noodles) which came with a small bowl of green chilli sauce. David had Hokien Mee - rice noodles in a spicy meaty broth which came with a bowl of red chilli sauce. Having stuck my finger in his sauce to sample it I did warn him that it was HOT but he poured it over his dish anyway. He didn't stir it in properly, copped a forkful of hot stuff and was rendered speechless for a few minutes. He can't say I didn't warn him!
and as we were sitting in front of the satay stand it would have been churlish not to have ordered some from the very nice lady - 10 sticks with peanut/chilli sauce and rojak (rice wrapped in a leaf parcel). The whole meal came to less than £4 for the two of us.
We shared a bottle of Tiger beer. At the hawker centres you simply find a table, order your food from whichever stall takes your fancy and its cooked to order and delivered to your table. Very civilised. I'm so looking forward to eating at some of the Singapore hawker centres I remember from my time there.
Must say the food looks good. The temples are beautiful though.
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