melaka

Malaysia

From Singapore we take a 4hr bus ride to Melaka, a port town with a long and famous sea history, relics from each of the conquering nations and food!!!!!

We stay at Chinatown in a very basic homestay on the third floor overlooking the river. The river has a constant flow of tourist boats travelling a half hr trip up river and then returning. They go from 9am till 12pm, often several in a line heading in both directions. The bulk of the tourists are Malay with the occasional European. The whole of the riverside area is set up for tourists with many museums and relics; old churches, fort relics and graves c1640’s. In addition are more amusement type facilities, shopping malls and trinket stalls making it the complete tourist destination.......
The history of the town starts with a Hindu Malay prince (14th C), Chinese protectorate (1405), Portuguese (1511), Dutch (1641) then the British (1795) until independence (1957). The relics around town reflect this past with many of the more recent (1930,s) British terrace houses still standing throughout Chinatown and Little India.

 

Street market



Becaks done up with plastic flowers and lights



















The food is an amazing blend of the Malay, Chinese and Indian ways of cooking resulting in the famous Baba Nonya cuisine. Taking the good things from the Europeans (cakes and biscuits) and inventing an endless array of unique dishes. We eat well during our stay, trying out some of the famous dishes and queuing with the locals to get into some restaurants.

 

Satay fondue boiling in the middle of a table in which you place a variety of satay sticks into to cook. Indian curries on banana leaf at one restaurant, with a visit from parliamentary dignitaries thrown in. Clay pot fish cooked in spices. Pineapple tarts and Portuguese egg tarts. It seems you just need to think of a food combination and they will try it, and cook it amazingly.

The art and craft scene is just as famous as the food with artists operating from their own galleries, working on pieces as you look around. Nearly all have a magazine or newspaper article about their work, poster size on the wall, and have photos with Malaysian famous celebrities and politicians who have purchased their work or resorts which have works hanging in their foyers. The art work is impressive enough without the recommendations, Batik paintings, water colours, oils and unbelievable embroidery.

Day trips and lunches not too far from Chinatown, an afternoon nap and then the night market and dinner. The town is a great place to hang around and the Malaysians know it, filling the place from dawn until late and we join them.