Melaka

Melaka has had an interesting past. The Portuguese came in 1511 and colonized the town. The reason being that Melaka was seen as a very strategic location in terms of trade between Europe and China. Just over a hundred years later, the Dutch took over after defeating the Portuguese. In the early 1800s, the English defeated the Dutch, and had their turn at ruling in Melaka. They stayed until Malaya got independence, apart from a brief period during WW2 when the Japanese invaded and ruled.
There are more Malays than Chinese in Melaka, but the most apparent ethnicity has been and remains Chinese. The Chinese are highly visible in Melaka. The Chinese influence on Melaka’s past is readily apparent, and today there is still an active and vibrant China town.



This is a photo looking up Jonker Street (the main tourist street) during the day. At the weekend the street gets closed for traffic, as it is a hive of activity with tourists. While we were in Melaka, the streets were decorated with Chinese lanterns, and at night the buildings were all lit up with red lights. We suspected this is because Chinese New Year is in two weeks. We were staying in a guesthouse just one street over from Jonker St. The guesthouse was very long and narrow, as in earlier times the owners paid rates based on the street frontage of their premises. For this reason, most of the buildings in the original part of Melaka are built like this.




The only relic of the Portuguese era is the main gate to A’Famosa, a fortress built in 1511. The maritime museum includes the Portuguese galleon – Flor De La Mar – that sank in the Straits of Melaka on its way to Portugal; however, the one at the museum is a replica.







One of the most picturesque shots in Melaka is around the Town Square. The Dutch influence is obvious in Stadthuys; built in 1650 as the residence of the Dutch Governors and their officers. It shows the Dutch architecture of the time. Christ Church is next to Stadthuys. It was built in 1753, and can be seen near the centre of the photo. Melaka must also have more museums per head of population than anywhere else in the world! There was the Museum of Enduring Beauty, the Stamp Museum, the Education Museum, the Islam Museum, the Literary Museum, just to name a few…….


And to go from one cultural extreme to the other, Melaka is also famous (??!!) for its trishaws – like rickshaws powered by a bicycle. These are throughout town and are used by locals as well as tourists. All of them are decorated with artificial flowers, and most have streamers and umbrellas. We didn’t go on one – Shane refused!- but I just had to take a photo!

So after five full-on days sightseeing, we went back to PD and left to head up the coast. One thing that has astounded us as we travel up the coast is the amount of rubbish in the sea, particularly plastic drink bottles. They are visible, floating on top of the water, from quite a way off. Everyone is concerned about shopping bags taking so long to disappear, plastic drink bottles are going to take forever. However, that won’t worry the fish. Given the number of fishing boats, in five years we don’t think there will be a fish left in the ocean around here. Oh, and by the way, enzwell has turned more in to a motorboat than a yacht. The winds are minimal, with very calm seas, so we aren’t getting too much practice at showing off our sailing expertise.
We have just spent the last five nights anchored off Pulau Pangkor (Pangkor Island).


Lovely white sand and clear water in which to swim. It is the first time we have swum in the sea since our last week in Indonesia. It has been really hot lately, so it has been good to be able to just jump off the boat and cool off! It is really laid-back on the island, and very cheap to eat out, so I have been granted leave from the kitchen!
We will be in Penang in a couple of days, and will stay there to join in the Chinese New Year celebrations. Then it will be a quick trip to Langkawi, before we head up to Phuket to leave the boat there when we fly home on February 25th. See you all soon!


Heather and Shane