Melaka revisited

After three years I decided it was time again to drop by Melaka. Well, that and the fact that my old college friends were in town for a few days and I thought it would be nice to do a quick day trip over the weekend

A.m : Total driving time – ~1.5 – 2 hours in my slow and steady pace

We arrived by mid-morning given we had taken our time leaving the city. Looking back, it wasn't the biggest issue especially if you don't have as much issue with driving back at night (I have some issues with driving in the dark). So as soon as we got there and parked our car on Jonker street (I would recommend parking your car at the car parks right at the beginning of the historical area, it's a small road with dark red / rust colored buildings behind it, doubt you can miss it – more on this later).

(Famous Chicken rice balls)

We started with a lunch of chicken rice balls given it is what Melaka is known for. Well that, and cendol (shaved ice with coconut milk and rice flour). Its essentially your typical chicken rice fare, but with the rice made into small balls (chicken served on the side). Its one of my favorite dishes if for nothing else because of their delicious sweet spicy chilli (I am drooling revisiting this). You can find chicken rice ball restaurants pretty much in a few different locations in Melaka, but I liked this one for its authentic and historical ambience as well. Best to sit outside to enjoy the view of people walking by.

(Epitaphs inside St. Paul's church)

(Along the Stadthuys)

After that, we walked around a bit and headed to St. Paul's church and A'Famosa fort. Malaysia doesn't have a lot of historical buildings left, so these ones are very much cherished and protected and even more so after Melaka got its UNESCO heritage status. We headed out of Jonker towards Christ Church. You cant miss it with all the rickshaws parked here and the red buildings and all the stalls. Right behind it is the way up to St. Paul's church which is perched on top of the hill. If you walk through the church area, its not as taxing a climb as it would be if you had walked from the front (A'Famosa entrance). The church itself is really pretty, and I love the old epitaphs that you can find there. Unfortunately the street vendors have started infiltrating the inside and have set out mats of their wares. It was ok when it was just on the outside, but ruining the feel of the church by selling inside… I do hope the Melaka council will take some action on this.

(Rickshaw riding in front of A'famosa)

We then headed down to A'Famosa fort and hailed a rickshaw to bring us around the old part of town. The prices are regulated here, but you really need to watch out for the exact timing. Agree beforehand on what time it is, and what time the tour should end (typically RM40 for an hour). My trip was definitely shorter than the 30 minutes he had claimed, but as it was the fasting month and they were fasting I didn't argue much.

(Along Jonker street)

Back in the Jonker area we took a nice slow stroll along the different rows of shoplots. Visited the Peranakan house (of the Baba Nyonya ethnic group – denoting Chinese migrants who emigrated and adopted the Malay culture and way of living back in the 18th century). The house is gorgeous and huge, built usually to fit ~5 full families. Typically it has the entrance area, followed by an indoor courtyard, the middle area followed by a second!! courtyard. Absolutely gorgeous. You can still find Peranakan style buildings in KL, but unfortunately not much, and they're mostly in poor conditions. We also checked out the Geographer's cafe, nicely located in the middle of busy Jonker.

(Harmony street - Indian temple, Muslim mosque and Chinese temple all on one street)

We walked around and into the Orang Utan house – shop selling local t-shirts and struck up a conversation with the manager there who informed us that if we had parked our car on Jonker we better move it soon since the streets start closing up at around 6:00 p.m. for the night market. The sellers take up the parking spots and if your car is there, you may not be able to get out until the market is over at around midnight. So, we quickly moved our car away to another parking spot and walked back along Ironsmith street (Jalan Tokong Besi), or also known as Harmony street. Its much quieter here and known as Harmony street due to the fact that there are three religious sites located along this street, an Indian temple, a Muslim mosque, and a Chinese temple.

(The start of the food market)

(Selling fresh sugar cane juice)

We then headed along the night market (6-midnight on Friday, Sat and Sun) and my friends had a ball checking out all the different foodstuff for sale, including a 16 inch potato tornado and otak otak (literally means brains–brains but actually made out of grounded fish. No brains here)

(The variety of food you can find along Jonker's night market)

(Night market along Jonker)

After our gastronomical feast and slight exercise, we headed back into the city for our next brand new day.

Melaka drive – very easy, all you have to do is get on the North-South highway heading towards Johor and you should see signs for Melaka; its located ~150km outside of KL. Essentially it is ONE straight road the entire way, even after you exit to Melaka (exit at Ayer Keroh) its pretty much one main street right into the town.