Doug and Kerry Hudson in Melaka, Malaysia, South East Asia

World Trip >> Asia >> Malaysia >> Melaka

Our final destination in Malaysia was the historic port town of Melaka. For us it was only a two-hour bus journey from Kuala Lumpur. It usually takes two and a half hours, but our driver was a frustrated Michael Schumacher. According to his priorities, passenger comfort was a distant third place to driving extremely fast and terrorising as many other road users as possible.

It was a hot walk from the bus station in Melaka to our accommodation, a restored Peranakan shop-house now catering to travellers. Peranakan is the label applied to the original Chinese who settled in Melaka five hundred years ago, when it was a busy trading port on the spice route between India and China. Their homes traditionally feature patterned tiling around the doors and colourful shutters, and intricately carved wooden screens and staircases inside. Our quiet guesthouse was a fine example of such a home.

The young man who seemed to run the whole place single-handedly explained to us that business had been very quiet recently. He attributed this to the (at the time) pending war in Iraq, and a general fear of visiting Muslim countries among Westerners. He kindly suggested a good Indian restaurant for us to try, and we gorged ourselves there on outstanding chicken curry served on banana leaf mats. While it poured with torrential rain outside and a river of water flowed past the doorway, we ate to the point of being stuffed, and had a cup of hot Milo each as well as a big bottle of water, all for two quid. It’s laughable, really. Ah, how we enjoyed the food in Malaysia!

The first full day in Melaka we spent exploring Chinatown. It is the most colourful Chinatown we have seen. There were lots of old Peranakan shop-houses in excellent condition, and temples that were even more colourful. We saw the Cheng Hoon Teng temple, the oldest Buddhist temple in Malaysia, and smothered in red and gold. We also spent a couple of hours looking in all the fascinating antique shops. Kerry bought some sandals that are such a work of art that Doug thinks they are too good to wear. She also bought a couple of pretty blouses. We enjoyed a Tiger beer and gorged ourselves on curry again before returning to Chinatown’s night market to buy a beautiful batik to decorate our home with. When we have one…

The next day we explored the historic quarter of Melaka. This town was originally a trading port on the spice route between India and China. Then the Portuguese conquered it and built a fort here. 150 years later the Dutch came and took over, and then 150 years later still, the British conquered the town.

Each successive conqueror left their mark on Melaka in the fascinating architecture. All that remains of the Portuguese occupation is the gatehouse to their fort, the Porto de Santiago. Upon the hill above this you find the ruins of St. Paul’s Church, originally built by the Dutch. Of the graves there, one especially worthy of note is the wife of Jan Van Riebeeck, the original governor of Cape Town. There are many other, less obvious but equally fascinating, ways in which the history of Malaysia parallels that of South Africa. We also saw the old Dutch stadthuis, or town hall, as well as the Christ Church, built in 1757. Both of these buildings are painted very distinctively in terracotta red.

In the evening we ate Portuguese food at the Discovery café. Doug had the Devil’s Curry, but he says it wasn’t as hot as it sounds. Doug, maybe you’d been eating just a bit too much curry lately...

Anyone who has a DVD player will be interested to read about the night market that we visited that evening. There was a stall selling DVDs at three quid for two. And we are talking very up-to-date titles here, such as films that had only just come out at the cinema!

On our last morning in Malaysia, we were up fairly early, knowing we would have to pack our bags for the journey to Singapore.

World Trip >> Asia >> Malaysia >> Melaka

Last updated: Sunday August 27, 2006