Melaka

---

From Kuala Lumpur's huge Puduraya bus station, I got a bus to Melaka, a 2,5 hour trip.
Melaka, or Malacca, is becoming a modern city, but the houses and streets at the heart of the town are still like they were a few hundred years ago, when the Portuguese, Dutch and the British colonised it. Also, the Chinese have put their mark on this town.

I had a walk through most of the historical streets and got to see the sights. The main square consists of many Dutch colonial style houses and there is the famous "Stadthuys", or City Hall, which is now a museum about Malaccan history. After that, I went up the hill where (small) parts of an old Portuguese fort still remain and on the top there are the remains of the British St Paul's Church.

As for Chinese history, I visited some old Chinese houses that are now open as a museum, in which guided tours are provided. The houses and the interior are in the condition of that time and very well kept. A great history tour!

One of the Chinese museums was about a Chinese mariner called Zheng He (or Cheng Ho), who has sailed, with an enormous armada, almost everywhere in the world in the early 15th century, many years before the Europeans did. He also came to Malacca and according to the book "1421" by Gavin Menzies, allegedly "discovered" America before Columbus did. I had actually read this book a few years ago, so it was nice to see a lot about this great seafarer in a museum.
You can read more about Zheng He on Wikipedia
This is all the more interesting because I can't recall learning anything about him in my history classes at school. It was all about European seafarers! Hopefully, the history books are different now, and if not, it is time to do so!

On my last evening, I had dinner and a drink in one of the town's many nice cafe's and ran into a Danish guy who happened to know a great place to get a beer. It was actually at the house from an old Chinese man, who hosts people at his home and you can buy cheap beer from his fridge. Nothing fancy, just a TV, some chairs and Chinese television, a strange but worthwhile experience!

---