Me like-a Melaka!

---

Driving half the length of peninsula Malaysia is always going to take a long time. Luckily on Chinese New Year's Day the vast majority of people were already visiting relatives so we had a fairly clear run all the way - until we got South of Kuala Lumpur. Then the heavens opened, visibility was reduced to a minimum, the traffic started to crawl but still several drivers thought they could drive like idiots. Thankfully we avoided any trouble and never witnessed any accidents. After about 5 hours we reached Melaka, or the outskirts at least. Then the traffic ground to a halt! Eventually we parked up at a posh hotel to enquire about their rates (way beyond our budget!), left the car there and walked towards town to find some accommodation. We looked at several options from the moderately priced to the cheep and not very cheerful before ending up at Hallmark Inn which ticked all the boxes and had a free car park. When we got back to the car we even found a way to weave through the traffic and get back to the hotel quickly!

Our first impressions of Melaka were that we loved it. That didn't change in the 3 days we were there which is always a good sign. From our room we could see a big wheel at the edge of the river so we decided to go out and have a look. As well as the big wheel there was a pirate ship ride and a replica of the Rialto Bridge in Venice! It was slightly tacky but it worked! We walked all along the river watching the cruise boats go by and admiring the hundreds of murals which have been painted on the riverside houses. It's really very nicely done.

We ended up in Chinatown where New Year celebrations were in full swing. Red lanterns hung everywhere and most shops and restaurants were closed but the streets were packed as everyone admired the decorations and browsed the stalls on the Jonkers Walk night market. We eventually ate at a Melaka Portuguese restaurant on a small side street. It was fairly quiet until a Chinese Lion dance began and the firecrackers exploding at close proximity threatened to burst our eardrums!! The food was a lovely mix of Malay and Portuguese and quite spicy too.

The Portuguese were not the only colonisers of the Melakan peninsular. The Dutch were here too. On Tuesday we explored the old colonial area beginning at the salmon pink town square. The town hall, clock tower and Christ Church are all painted the same slightly garish shade! We climbed the hill to the ruins of St Paul's church which afforded us a fantastic view of the whole city. Taking a side track down the hill we left the mass of tourists behind and found ourselves in the Dutch cemetery. There are only a handful of Dutch graves in there though, the vast majority are British, so the name seems a bit odd.

Needing to get back towards the throng we cut through a very nice garden which turned out to be the gardens of the cultural centre. They were wonderful but it looks like we were supposed to pay to go in and had, in fact, found an open gate to sneak in the back! After inspecting the ancient city gate and the old cannon at the foot of the hill, we headed into the shopping centre to escape the searing heat. It really was a hot and sticky day. Not many shops were open but thankfully Starbucks can always be relied on to provide an ice-blended coffee on such days.

We headed to the riverside next avoiding the enormous queues to ride the 80m high Menara Taming Sari, a revolving tower which now dominates the landscape. Tourist maps and leaflets still show the "Eye on Malaysia" wheel based on the London Eye, but this no longer exists, much to our disappointment. Instead we popped into the tourist office where we were given a discount for a boat ride. Never ones to pass off a bargain, we queued up for about 20 minutes until it was our turn to get on one of the small cruisers for our 45 minute journey up and down the river. We were taken upstream, past our hotel, all the way to the Spice Gardens. There seems to be a new monorail being tested which may take some tourists away fromt he river. That would be a shame as it was a lovely trip. At the Spice Garden the boat turned around and the multi-lingual commentary began. It told us all about the history of the city but failed to mention anything about the wonderful murals all along the riverside. It did suggest we ride the "Eye on Malaysia" though, so perhaps it is in need of an update!!

Getting off the boat we headed back to Chinatown hoping to find some lunch. It was VERY busy! We ended up in a small cafe down a side street which served traditional local nonya food. It was delicious. Then we did a bit of touristy souvenir shopping before stumbling across a couple of temples where Buddhist monks were giving ancient New Year blessings to anyone willing to make a donation. You had to register at a desk to do so, and it was so busy we decided just to watch. The "false monks" waited outside for any unsuspecting tourists willing to surrender their money for an "unofficial" blessing! That evening (after dinner, of course!) we sat in a riverside bar and had some nice cold beer whilst exchanging waves with the children on the boats which go up and down the river late into the night.

Wednesday was soon with us and we walked out to try to find Kampung Chitty which is an old community of Indian hindus who have tried to keep their ancient traditions alive. If they want visitors, they need to invest in some signs! Only the most committed of traveller (ie US!!) would be persistent enough to find them. We spotted a towering temple and wove our way through some pretty dodgy side streets before getting told off for not leaving our shoes outside the temple. We had taken them off but apparently carrying them around the temple is just as bad as wearing them!! The guide book said we should look out for the "Elephant Gate" which we saw no sign of, and nor could we find the museum which apparently exists. Still, the temple was very interesting and contained some pretty gory dioramas and intricately carved gods and goddesses.

Having given up on finding the Chitty community we were about to head back into town when we caught a glimpse of two enormous elephant heads just up the road. Sure enough, that was exactly what we had been looking for. Sadly, their temple was closed in preparation for a festival but we were able to see the traditional wooden houses and we did find the museum. It was small but very interesting and well presented. Everyone was so friendly but our advice for them is PUT SOME SIGNS UP!!!!!!

It was getting towards the middle of the day and it was getting very hot. It took us ages to find a taxi but eventually someone agreed to take us to Bukit China, the big Chinese cemetery on a hill overlooking Melaka. The taxi dropped us off at the temple at the bottom which had about 5 tourist coaches in its car park and along the road. We headed straight up the hill which was intriguing. The tombs are like nothing we have seen before, but I guess if you go to China they are commonplace. On top of the hill the graves have been restored and/or maintained but we couldn't work out if the large grave was for the man and the small grave nearby for his wife, or the large one for a couple and the small one for their servants. All the inscriptions were in Chinese characters so we were beyond help!! We did see one grave with a date of birth but no date of death on it - was that perhaps advanced planning? Imagine being able to visit your own grave before you pass on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That evening we went to Selvam, an Indian restaurant with cheap set menus served on a banana leaf. It was delicious and had we been travelling long term rather than on a two week holiday we would certainly have eaten in places like this much more often. Following the link to Trip Advisor you may not think this restaurant would be up to much from the photo of the outside, but believe us when we say this is some of the best food we have ever eaten! We also frequented the Discovery Cafe where we sat out drinking beer until the live music began. It was usually a little too loud and not quite to our taste to hang around too long.

The next morning it was time to check out and head back to Kuala Lumpur. The roads were not too bad so it was quite an easy drive. We still had more adventures to come though, so please read on next time!

---

Photos

Jonkers Walk
So why drive???

Dutch cemetery
With far more British graves than Dutch!