We have now arrived in Malacca. We bussed down from KL on Tuesday (1
½ hours) and readily found a guesthouse we were targeting from the internet. It's a lovely laid-back place right in the centre of the old town of Malacca. It's been pretty hot - early to mid 30s and high humidity, so we are needing plenty of water and ice-blocks to compensate.
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| Town Square, 1600s |
This place is a World Heritage Site and is just awesome. Being on the coast, and between the old trading ports of Penang and Singapore, it developed as a significant trading post for trading ships and junks over the centuries. It was also a safe place to sit out the monsoons. Apart from local Malay fishermen, the Chinese lived here first in about the 15th century. It was then conquered by the Portuguese (16th century), then the Dutch (17th century) and then, because the French occupied Holland in 1795, the British got hold of Malacca as Dutch allies. Malacca finally got independence in 1957 with the rest of Malaysia.
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| Chinatown Street |
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| Replica Portuguese Warship |
There are some seriously old buildings here from 16th century onwards and the mix of architecture is so easy to see. Malacca has the biggest Chinese cemetery outside of China (12000 graves over 25ha), Malaysia's oldest Chinese temple , oldest Dutch building in the East and so on. We have counted 20 museums here, and obviously huge money has been invested by the government in upgrading many of the old buildings, installing riverside walkways and so on to fit with the dictates of World Heritage status.
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| Cheng Hoon Teng temple 1646 |
We have been on one of the short boat cruises up the river, walked through Chinatown, started on the museums/cemeteries etc. and so far have barely touched the surface. We try out different eateries each lunch and dinnertime - the average meal costs between $1.20 - $2.00 each, with a real pot-pourri of ethnic dishes to sample. We are thoroughly enjoying the scale of the place (only 2 storey), its history, relaxed feel and friendliness. We'll probably stay here at least a few more days.
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| Float & Karen |
