Malacca
The second stop of our SE Asian odyssey was Malacca (or as it is known in Malay, Melaka - they seem to use the names interchangeably, so I have stuck with the more familiar English version). After a smooth 4hr journey by taxi from Singapore, we checked in at our hotel around lunchtime.
Our base was about 1km out of the city centre via the road, or we could walk along the Malacca river which was pleasanter but longer.
We had arranged a walking tour for our first afternoon and were joined by 3 other people - 1 Brazilian, 1 American (of Chinese heritage) and 1 Dutch. Our guide, Imrahn, was very enthusiastic and kept us going for about 3 hours. We met in the square in front of Christ Church and the Stadthuys.
Malacca was a thriving Malay kingdom in the 14th century, attracting the attention of the Portuguese, who finally conquered it in 1511. They held it for 130 years, but were ousted by the Dutch in 1641, who held it until 1795 when the British took over (with a brief return of the Dutch in 1818-1824). Remnants of the Portuguese fort and city wall survive in the Porta De Santiago, below, but most of the visible influences today are Dutch
Much of the tour focussed on the Asian quarter, laid out by the Dutch with distinct quarters for Malay, Chinese and Indian (mainly Tamil) migrants. We spent a lot of time on Heeren Street, looking at the Chinese shophouses and larger mansions, and on Harmony Street, where we saw the oldest mosque, Hindu temple and Chinese temple in Malaysia.
Houses are very narrow in width but very long (tax was calculated on the width of the street frontage). Women weren’t allowed to leave the external curtilage, but could talk to neighbours through unglazed windows between the properties, as shown below.
We didn’t spend much time on Joncker Street, which is much more commercialised and a bit of a tourist trap, but it did have a very colourful dragon at its entrance, probably a leftover from the celebrations for Chinese New Year.
We had an early supper on the way back to the hotel, sampling the Malaysian national dish Nasi Lemak, with some Beef Rendang.
The next morning we went back to the Asian quarter, to visit the Baba and Nyonya Museum, a well-preserved Peranakan mansion from the late nineteenth / early 20th century. Peranakan culture is a big thing in the Straits Settlements - basically the marriage of Chinese male immigrants (Babas) to native Malay women (Nyonyas), with the inter-mixing of customs, cuisine etc etc. The self-guided tour around the house was excellent.
On our walk back to the hotel, back up the Malacca river, we spotted quite a few crocodile-like creatures both in and out of the water, which we later discovered to be Common Water Monitor Lizards.
A couple of hours by the hotel pool in the afternoon, then back into the centre for dinner. Wednesday morning saw us en route to Kuala Kumpur by taxi, of which more in the next update.