Heritage Trail: Malacca town

When I proposed to go to Malacca for a short holiday, some said that it was a boring idea.."ada apa di Melaka..?" and so on..but to me any trip to Malacca is never a boring journey even thogh I've been visiting the same place many times. The place is there but it change a little bit or some rather tremendous compared to last few years.

We left for Malacca on Saturday morning after having nasi lemak daun pisang and arrived at Emperor Hotel at Jalan Munshi Abdullah at 1.30pm, it was just a decent hotel with only 3 star rating but at least the location is near to Oldtown not hard to find but En Haffis who went adventurous on his own at night could not the way back to the hotel...I think that you're relying too much on GPS rather than memorizing the landmarks.... ;-p

view from Emperor Hotel overlooking Straits Of Malacca and oldtown


Even though I'm familiar with this area but there are some places that has been upgraded and lost it's charm just like this one:-
Dataran Pahlawan,...new building with shops like Mc Donald, Euro Moda...etc.
A row of food stall has been replaced by so called 'modern attraction'...stu*i*

This is where Padang Pahlawan used to be, it is historically significant in our country's independent but look at what happen when we try to please and attract tourist. We forgot that by doing this dramatic changes, we've lost the sense of place in the name of tourism. This new development comprises of well known company like MNG, Mango,Padini,Gulatis,McD,..and the list goes on...by introducing this mega mall and what not, we are not only destroying the sense of history but we make future generation to totally forget about the hardship and struggle of of past ancestor. I don't see how are we going to connect to the past even though they provide a square or something at roof level and these new shops at sub-basement..but to me the square should be at road level where people could just walk thru and there should be some kind of vista or focal point.


Natural history...at least they could think of conserving this old tree... not far from those red building- Stadhuys

Jonker Street:
One of Oldtown attraction - Jonker Walk, where roads are narrow and shophouse are full of history and charm of Peranakan legacy. They best way to experience it of coz by walking but don't forget your hat and sun block :-)






But...of coz I could not shut my mouth and dear husband has to tadah telinga listening to me and my membebel about this gerbang or entrance or what ever they call it..I think this is unnessary, I know that they need sponsor and conservation need a lot of fund but these ain't a bill board..sigh...talking about World Heritage...

River Cruise:


I should give a credit on this wall...made of pebblewash..indicating a map of Bandar Hilir, Kg Morten and other places where the boat cruise along..The yellow line in the heart of this map is the Malacca River


Family photo..Hadif was sleeping and Sufiya was so happy waving to each boat that passed us..





I like this facade treatment where light were only on the edge of these grey old building, it really stands out at night


Blue river..reminds me of this song - Moon river...



Kg Morten..a place not to be miss..typical Malacca House that has been restored and conserved..most of the house are like a living museum with antiques and old and rustic furniture including old black and white photos of their ancestor..but the best thing is to go there and talk to them, hear the story and appreciate that moment..

I think that the aim of this River Cruise is a success..the objective has been achieved and most of the historically building has been well uplifted and the river bank are in good condition with board walk...except for some small fake replica of mushroom..??...but I think one major part of muara sungai Melaka telah hilang begitu sahaja..there used to be an old godown with boats full of timber and batter trade were an important element..maybe they have a better reason for that...




Lights and more lights by the riverside


Almost a full moon

Final day

Sufiya's new friend..Ah Meng...

no.. no...they are not our long lost family..but a family from Beijing who loves to show their traditiional dance...

There are many places that we skip due to time constraint and travelling with small kids are different all together...but we will definitely come again to trace the history