Melaka – Giddy with Delight in a "New" Old City (Malacca Part 1)

The Strait of Malacca and the new towering condominium units as seen from St. Paul's Hill.

Melaka, Malaysia - If you've been to Melaka in the last 3 to 4 years or so, you would find an updated Melaka if you visited now. The city brims with newfound life and a pulsating energy. What used to be a leisurely exploration of this former Dutch-Portuguese bailiwick has to be shared with multitudes of tourists. This really isn’t bad news. This turn of events have resulted into a flurry of tourist-baiting new attractions, like the Taming Sari Tower (Malaysia’s first and only gyro tower which, at 110 meters, offers a 360 degree view of the city).

In fact, a lot has changed since it was conferred its UNESCO World Heritage Site title in July 2008. I was here before all these designations, and I still feel smug for having gone earlier. There’s not a lot of World Heritage Sites in Malaysia: Penang, Kinabalu Park in Borneo, Gunung Mulu National Park (also in Borneo, near the Brunei Border) and Melaka, of course. Philippines and Thailand have 5 each, while Indonesia has seven! But India has 29! This is just a clue as to why I love getting lost in India!

A MOUSE DEER NAMES A CITY

Melaka was founded by Parameswara, a Malay-Hindu prince from Temasek (a city that would eventually become Singapore). After being expelled from Singapura by his father, he founded the sultanate of Melaka in 1402. As we’ve mentioned before, he was hunting with his dogs one day when, after seeing a mouse deer, one of his fiercest dogs got so scared. It jumped into the river! This occured beside an Indian gooseberry tree called Melaka which inspired Parameswara to name the place after the tree!

These days, one could see a statue of the mouse deer just a stone’s throw from the Stadthuy in central Melaka! Isn’t it ironic they somehow forgot Parameswara? You will see some of his paintings in one of the several museums scattered around town!

Malay-Hindu prince Parameswara founded Melaka.

FOREIGN OCCUPATION

What makes Melaka truly fascinating is the preservation of its rich historical past. From Parameswara’s sultanate in 1402, the Portuguese took control of the old trading town (1511) and ruled for exactly 130 years! The Dutch took over even longer – for 183 years, before they were turned over to the British (who ruled for another 122 years)! The Japanese managed to squeeze in a measly 4 years (1942-1946). After which, Melaka became part of the Federation of Malaya! So much foreign interference should clue us in on how important Melaka was as a trading post! I guess on the whole, it doesn’t hold a candle to Spain’s treating the Philippines as dirt for half a century, and calling the old denizens “indios” – yet never letting us go for 500 years! Some perceptively advanced societies do love to play with dirt, don’t you think? Oh gawd, I am digressing!

Mouse deer scares a hunting dog!

Melaka is a city that straddles the west coast of the Malay Peninsula in the state of Melaka, directly facing the island of Sumatra (Indonesia) to its west! It is home to some 770,000 people. It is also the 3^rd smallest state in the country (after Perlis and Penang). Many Singaporeans visit Melaka for day tours as it sometimes takes 3.5 to 5 hours to cross the border. From Melaka, buses leave from Lavender Street and price may range from 15 to 50 Singapore dollars!

This post shall serve as an introduction to my recent visit to Melaka – a pleasantly surprising return to a city that I once described with words like “laidback”, “humdrum”, “ghostly”. See how a “UNESCO World Heritage Site” title from 2 years ago (2008) has changed this into something that befits “bustling”, “throng”, and “flurry of activity”.

Up next: A Day Trip to Melaka Part 1 - with information on bus travel & fares and other specific information you may need! (Click here - http://eye-in-the-blue-sky.blogspot.com/2010/08/christ-church-and-stadthuys-red-square.html)

Here's our first ever post on Melaka just a few years ago. Check out the big difference. - http://eye-in-the-blue-sky.blogspot.com/2007/12/fascinating-malacca-malaysia.html

To orient yourself with Melaka, click on this site for a map of the city! - http://www.malaysia-maps.com/malacca/index.htm

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Christ Church - 1753 original Dutch architecture.

Stadthuys - Residence of the Dutch governor during their reign from 1650 onwards.

Ubiquitous, garishly decorated 3-wheelers or bicycle-rickshaw - strictly for tourists!

One of the several Melakan river cruises at 10 ringgit per adult.

Idiosyncratic designs at Jonker's Street - the antique haven at Jalan Hang Jebat!

The Famosa Restaurant, one of the Nyonya Restaurants at Jonker's Walk (at the main street - Jalan Hang Jebat)!

One of the first temples to see along Jonker's Street!

A 1 ringgit delicacy made of coconut, caramel sugar and milk that was sweet and tasty, but... (see below)

... almost cracked my teeth to pieces! It was as hard as steel! To allow it to melt in your tongue might take forever!

Fort Melaka

Taming Sari Tower - Malaysia's first and only gyro tower! It seats 66 people at a time, and will cost you 20 ringgit per adult - for a 7-minute ride!

Maritime Museum - a faithful 1990 recreation of Flora del Mar, a Portuguese galleon that sank at the Strait of Malacca!

Melaka's relatively new commercial area of huge shopping malls luxury hotels. This is also the city's fastest growing district.

St. Paul's Church up the hill - and my favorite spot in the whole of Melaka! Don't forget to buy a painting - 10 ringgit for one or 15 ringgit for 2! This was constructed in 1521 by a Portuguese captain, Duarte Coelho and named "Our Lady of the Hill" ( or "Our Lady of the Anunciation") and later renamed into St. Paul's Church. St. Francis Xavier's body was temporarily interred here before it was taken to Goa, India!

The Eye on Melaka - a ride at 20 ringgit per adult!

St. Paul's church up the hill.

An impressive indoor fountain/pond inside Dataran Pahlawan Mega Mall - South Malaysia's biggest mall which looks small to me! Love this place because I found cheap DVDS here! This is Melaka's latest landmark, located right across Mahkota Parade Shopping Complex!

Slices of a variety of fruits sold at the Main Bus Terminal located about 5 kilometers east of city center! I bought several - at 1 ringgit each including, dragon fruit (pitaya), sweet balimbing (carambola or star fruit), and those yellow round ones that were too sweet for me!

Red marks Melaka! This photo only courtesy of wikipedia's kawaputra.

Fascinating Malacca (Malaysia)

When Malaysia was just a pipedream and I was still brainstorming with myself on how to go about with my Malaysian visit, the one place that fascinated me no end wasn't KL or Penang or Johor Bahru. It was "Malacca"! For how can one forget a place often alluded to from History lessons. There was Malacca (of Malaysia)- and there was Moluccas (of Indonesia)! And any form of association was welcome: Portuguese, Galleon trade, barter, spices, etc. I would be thrilled to visit distant images from the "past"... visiting such faraway places. This was my chance.

Malacca is conveniently located between KL (125 km.) and Singapore (225 km.) This is why many of the Singapore tourists are found on day-trips to Malacca (as well as Johor Bahru). The border crossing takes from 3.5 to 5 hours!

I approached my trip to Malacca with a bit of skepticism. I would take a bus from KL's Puduraya Station and pray to the heavens that people I meet along the way would a> understand english, b> be helpful. Finding Puduraya was a breeze. After taking a nice breakfast at a popular backpacker's hotel along Bukit Bintang (I found myself sitting on their front-of-house "veranda" directly facing the street - which was supposedly reserved for their in-house guests – but I was allowed by my friendly waitress to stay there if I please, so I was smug!), I took a leisurely walk going North. Some 15 minutes later, I found Puduraya Bus Station.

I expected a crazy environment teeming with people, but instead I found a building which looked like the old Ali Mall Building - only bigger! I crossed the street, went inside, and saw organized rows of buses with digitized signage’s bearing the destination and their exact time of departure. It WAS a cheap ticket too, and the buses looked new, well-maintained and clean. Inside, it smelled good, the waft of the air-conditioning was regulated and the seats were comfortably distanced. YES! My bus left on time! Everything was pretty convenient and well organized.

The 2 hour trip was a breeze. Scenic route it was! As we neared the Malaccan bus garage (I always remember a Scottish friend saying, "garr-ij"), I recognized some points of interest that I read from my guide. The bus depot was a sprawling one-storey berth. I went off my bus and headed towards the shops. I wanted to check out what was there. Went to a DVD shop and got crazy buying original DVD's and VCD's of Malaysian and Indonesian movies (this usually takes a while coz I have to make sure that they have english subtitles). I found some shawl and shirts as presents. Cheaper here than in KL.

Took an early lunch (restaurants everywhere) and bought bottled water at their 7-11. Also checked out the ticket counter where I would purchase my return ticket back to KL. Nice place. There was a seating room (like in airports) where travellers can comfortably wait for their bus rides. Malaysia is unexpectedly tourist-friendly. Most people speak or understand english (a lot better than Indonesia). The transportation fares are cheap, and the whole transportation system is well organized.

I also found a travel shop advertising local packages. I realized that it will be a very, very far walk to the city center, and since I am wary of a taxi ride from there (“Hostel” anyone?), I decided to hire a 1-hour local tour.

The people from the shop were obviously disappointed. ONE hour meant 30 Malaysian Ringgit (about PhP 370). I specifically told them, I just wanted 1 HOUR or "no go". Are they crazy? In the big city, KL offers a ride-all-you-want roving buses (hop on-hop off) that stops at various tourist attractions (like the Petronas Tower, etc.) for just MR35. This was good for 1 whole day! Compared to what KL offers, their MR 30/hr rate (though this is on a private car) is highway robbery of sorts. Well, I took that, and just decided to let the car go at one point (once I am at the town center) – I can go on my own from there!

The main tourist attractions comprise the "historic" areas heavily influenced by the Dutch and Portuguese settlers and traders, thus walls are painted in "red" (the Stadthuy Building), streets are cobbled, architecture is pre-war Portuguese and Dutch. There is "Jonker's Street", which was advertised for their "authentic" architecture and antique goods, never been rehabilitated, etc. This was supposed to take a carnival environment during weekend nights. What I saw instead was a row of run-down derelict houses in fast state of decay. Everywhere you turn, they were just ugly, dilapited relics of the past. Other than this disappointment, the whole town boasts of old colorful churches, a whole line of Chinese street, a mini-Lisbon square (ahhh I miss Lisboa!), and my favorite – St. John’s Fort, an 18th century fortress on a hill facing the Strait of Malacca, fortified with cannons from the past. This has stairs leading to the top of the hill, a church relic, and one of the best views overlooking the historic Strait, etc. St. Paul’s Church attracts the religious too. This was where the body of St. Francis Xavier was interred before he was transported to Goa, India. There is a huge Galleon ship marooned in front of St. John's. THIS was all part of the past, and I am so thrilled.

An antique shop at Jonker's Street.

Stadhuy Buildings, including Christ Church - Dutch architecture, red painted...

Mini-Lisbon Square

Stadthuy - in its characteristic reddish paint.

At the Church, I met an old man who volunteered to take my photo, so I decided to come back for him – to hire his trishaw (these are colorful tricycles decorated with either flowers or brass decors - and you see them all over the town) - after ditching my car service (my driver was morose).

Before my 1 hour ended, my last stop would be the hill. I went up while the car waited. 15 minutes before my hour, I decided to go back down (which was strenuous - it was a long way up and a long way down as well) and let my driver go. To my surprise, the idiot left me just like that! Might as well. I was about to give him gratuities that I was sure would help his regretfully dour life and his family! The nerve!

St. Paul's Hill and Church

I have accepted the fact that, in any travel, NOT everything will go as planned. Something will turn out not to your liking. This was one such instance. It's best to just shrug the shoulder and charge it to experience.

Entrance to the hill tower/church.

Long way down. Inside the fortress' entrance, some local art works are being sold. I bought 4 pieces.

Church relic on the hill

St. Paul's Church on the hill

The view from the hill: Strait of Malacca

By then, I was drenched with sweat from every tip of my hair and down to my shoes. It was that hot! I went to a carinderia. Braved some "colorful" viand on display, enjoyed one of my cheapest meals at just 5 ringgit (PhP60) – ice cold coca cola included! It was almost on-the-house, the owner kept asking me to "get more". I wanted to be sure I wouldn't be charged more than necessary so I timidly took a small portion of one viand. How shy! Hehe. I was still smarting from the stupid driver who left me - though I was gonna let him go anyway. It was just insulting, to say the least! The idiot left me!

Hospital (white), residential, shopping plaza... notice how the main road is "paved" with color concrete blocks.


Shopping Plaza

I noticed the regular movement of school buses. There was a school near the hill. Though it doesn’t have the bustle of a city, Malacca had constructions everywhere, and the structures standing were new - a shopping mall, a hospital, high-end residential tenements; wide, clean, "cobbled" streets. Some 2 hours later, I decided to leave Malacca not knowing how exactly. I wasn’t sure if those trishaws would take me to the bus depot. Seemed too far.

THIS was another adventure! From the sidewalk, I bravely hailed the public bus. I had NO idea where this was gonna take me. As I went in, I asked everyone, "Bus Station?" When one nodded, I took my seat and relaxed. I was still wishing they understood me. THIS ride took a good 1 hour! To my delight, this turned out to be a local commuter bus which traversed most of the 3 districts that comprise the whole town of Malacca – I inadvertently availed myself of an inexpensive local tour, one that will terminate at the main bus station! We passed by Jonker's Street again, some residential areas, a row of new hotels. I watched as the bus took in new passengers. It was fascinating people-watching, observing the change of faces. For just PhP 5!

THIS was gonna be a technique I will use in the future - maybe when i find my way to the new city of Putrajaya - I made a mental note!

You lose some. You win some!

My Transnasional Bus back to Kuala Lumpur

My updated visit of Melaka 2010 here - http://eye-in-the-blue-sky.blogspot.com/2010/08/melaka-giddy-with-delight-in-new-old.html

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