Malaysia Visit the essentials of Malacca in one day Melaka, Travel to Malaysia 4 (11)This is my 3rd day in this kingdom of Malaysia (a little reminder that we are here in a constitutional monarchy, although the word "kingdom" does not appear in the official name, unlike countries like the United Kingdom, Belgium or even simply its Thai neighbor).I arrive in Malacca, a historic city of importance, a former Portuguese trading post, with its share of old buildings to see, and a small seaside town that is pleasant to visit. A quick overview. Summary hide Brief History of Malacca Welcome to Malacca Where to sleep in Malacca Dutch Square or the “red” square of Malacca Walk to the estuary The Fort A Famosa Saint Paul's Church The Legend of Saint Francis Xavier Jonker Walk and Malacca nightlife Brief History of MalaccaMalacca (Melaka in Malay) has a long colonial past of 450 years, which began with the arrival of the Portuguese, who favored commercial exchange through the control of the famous strait of the same name.The Strait of Malacca was in fact a strategic issue coveted by the European powers which made the city an important port from the 16th century (it is also the oldest port in Malaysia as it was founded at the beginning of the 15th century) when Malacca was still only a Sultanate.Antonio de Bocarro, Goa, 1635, CC0, via Wikimedia CommonsPortuguese rule would last 130 years from the conquest of the city by Afonso de Albuquerque in 1511 and it was in 1641 that the Netherlands took control until 1824 when the British Empire came to establish its sovereignty in Southeast Asia, until the independence of Malaysia in 1956 (not counting the period of Japanese occupation during the Second World War).The city has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site (just like Penang where we went last time) since 2008. The modern city is very large (even larger than Kuala Lumpur) and still has more than 500 inhabitants, but the historic center is concentrated in the same area, making the visit easily accessible on foot.Welcome to MalaccaLet's skip the historical minute and get back to my trip. I left my hotel in Kuala Lumpur at 9am and reached the bus terminal via KL Sentral, taking the local RER, the KTM. I stopped at the Bandar Tasik Selatan station (Terminal Bersepadu Selatana – Bandar Tasik Selatan, abbreviated as TBS -BTS) to the new bus terminal going to the south of the country.For the record, between the train stop and the main hall I came across a blonde girl, a tourist apparently, clean-cut, but who was begging or rather brandishing a piece of cardboard with a nice smile saying give me 1 or 2 RM to buy me a ticket… What we commonly call “begpackers”, a recent phenomenon of Europeans, who finance part of their world tour or trip, thanks to donations…Not always appreciated in Asia, because many find it indecent, given the differences in salaries and the very chance of being able to go to the other side of the world easily (a "powerful" passport, means for the plane ticket etc.).Anyway, back to the point, I'm going to be confronted with the little "scam" of the day. Arriving at the Melaka Sentral bus terminal, I see a sign that displays something like:ignore the taxis that come to solicit and go to the official stand to get the taxi metersI think to myself, fine, I follow the signs and go to the stand in question. There, I start to get rebuffed for no reason by the guy at the kiosk and all the taxi drivers jump on me saying "no taxi meter in Melaka". OK... and your sign over there, is it for decoration?So, I am disturbed by the logic of the warning, which clearly does not change anything in the behavior of the locals, while the officials of the place also seem to be in cahoots... I was sent packing, to the point that all the drivers refused to take me, once I agreed to pay the 20 RM requested, seeing that I would have no choice... Finally, someone will decide to take me, but hello the atmosphere... And I will not be the only one to be a little disappointed by this welcome.There were people, but the queue was not that long, the ticket is not expensive, just 12 RM to go to Malacca, which is about 2 hours from Kuala Kumpur. There was a choice between several dozen companies, the prices varying a little, especially depending on the quality of the services and the bus. Personally, I took the first bus that was going to leave depending on the time it was, I have nothing to reproach the company in question (Transnasional I think).Where to sleep in MalaccaFinally arrived in the small room of my guest house, River One Residence in Malacca, I like its relaxed atmosphere, right next to the canal. It's a very simple room, with air conditioning, a fan, a piece of furniture and a single electrical outlet (which I didn't have an adapter for since it was an English outlet). It's a shared bathroom and I paid 400 baht per night (less than €10).The hotel is close to the famous street which becomes pedestrianized with a market on weekends, the Jonker Walk (which is officially marked “Jalan Hang Jebat” if you search on Google maps)The view of the canal from the common room.Common room of the guesthouse, with the showers just to the right.Shortly after, I met a group of young French people, passing by my hotel while I was having lunch on the terrace overlooking the canal. When I heard them, I couldn't resist saying hello. I then learned that it was a group of students from Singapore and Kuala Lumpur (but all from the same business school). We got on well and finally, we decided to meet up to visit the city together (and we ended up spending a good part of the evening together as well).Dutch Square or the “red” square of MalaccaWe start with the unmissable place in Malacca! Sometimes called the Dutch square… Or even Red Square. It is easy to understand why, when you see the buildings surrounding the square in question, it is also called City Hall Square.It includes the Melaka Clock Tower and the Queen Victoria Fountain (dating from 1904), the Christ Church which dates from the time of Dutch rule and the Youth Museum which was once a post office and now serves as a documentation centre on associations and other activities for young people in Malaysia and elsewhere.My 4 companions of the day are getting ready to visit the church which is of a very refined style, nothing to do with the large stained glass style, etc. No, it is a Protestant church, it is also the oldest in Malaysia still in activity.This is the local attraction! The rickshaws (or tricycles) with the flashy decor, in addition to this very flowery style, they push the music to the max (well more or less) with on-board sound systems, you can even choose your music!Most of the buildings were built during the 19th century, the oldest dating back to the end of the 17th century. It is said to be the oldest building still intact from this colonial era in the Orient.Le City Hall, its pretty name, is said to have been completed in 1660 and to have first served as a place of residence for the Dutch governor in charge of the region, before becoming a town hall during the time of British rule. It is also the latter who attributes one of the names to this place, because in old Dutch it means town hall.Walk to the estuaryKnowing that Malacca is on the seaside, we said to ourselves, let's go there! And there, not having a map, I thank the GPS on my phone... We first took a look at the remains of the fortress next to the square, where there is also a reproduction of a 13m water mill wheel, built in 2008.As soon as we moved away from the historic district, the streets became very quiet. We passed in front of the maritime museum, installed in a reproduction of an old Portuguese ship, it is a beautiful effect.The streets are deserted as soon as you leave the tourist area...A boat, an obvious shape for a naval museum (which we did not visit), itself next to the customs museum.And there you have it! Opposite is a small island on which is the famous Selat Mosque (famous in the sense that normally, it is one of the main attractions of the city because it is on the seaside and therefore rather photogenic) But we will not go that far. Groups of buses full of Chinese pour out their stream of tourists who take their photos here and then leave, these people will always amaze me…After this little moment of breathing the breeze coming from the sea, we retraced our steps and first passed through a small covered market (look for the Newton Food Court on Google Maps), looking for a place to sit (and which we didn't find...).We then passed through the small Taman Merdeka Square, which seems to be popular with its train and plane parked there. Next stop, the remains of the A famosa fort and its 16th century gate.We wander through a local market looking for some fresh air and with the aim of possibly stopping for a drink, while we see this woman and her baby in her "hammock" rocking.The Fort A FamosaWe arrive at the famous gate which is all that remains of the original fort, dismantled in 1807 by the British. The fortress, of Portuguese construction, dates from 1511, so it is also a European-style architecture among the oldest still standing in Asia. The fort is known as “A Famosa” in Portuguese or “the famous” in good French.Its dismantling was ordered (just like the capture of Malacca) to deal with Napoleon's expansionist ambitions... Which shows that it is linked to the history of France! The reasoning at the time was that we did not want to risk maintaining it only to end up falling into the wrong hands...It is actually thanks to the future founder of the city (and future state) of Singapore, Sir Stamford Raffles, a great lover of history, that the gate called "Porta de Santiago" still exists today. While visiting Malacca in 1810, he ordered that it be preserved while the fort was almost completely dismantled (Too bad he didn't arrive sooner. But that also shows how long it took to dismantle the fort!).The Memorial Pengisytiharan Kemerdekaan was a club and established in 1911, it has now become a memorial to those who worked towards Malaysia's independence after more than 450 years of European domination…A newlywed couple was taking pictures, it works with tourists too!It's the wedding day, another couple, definitely!Before going up to see the remains of the Saint Paul church on its hill, we needed a little refreshing break. Luckily, there is a beautiful shopping mall right next to the fort.Head to the shopping mall for a refreshing break!The design reminds us that we are in a country with a Muslim majority.Saint Paul's ChurchAfter this cool drink break, we returned to the door, to go up and see the remains of Saint-Paul church, which could have been called Saint Francis Xavier given its history. The name is actually given by the Dutch, also attributed to the hill on which the building is built.This church was once a simple chapel, built in 1521 to the glory of the holy virgin Mary, by a Portuguese nobleman wishing to thank heaven for having spared him during a terrible storm, while he was sailing on the China Sea.It then became a burial place for nobles. It was renovated several times until the end of the 16th century before being enlarged, notably by adding a 2nd floor topped with a bell tower, this had already disappeared when the English arrived in 1824, while the church had been abandoned since the Dutch had built their Protestant church in 1753 on the town hall square.Contrast between this old 500 year old door and this new hotel (and the department store where we were on the left) not sure that much will remain of all our modern constructions in 500 years… Not necessarily nostalgic, but it's just an observation (because I can't see us building such large buildings entirely in stone eh).A pretty good singer who sang mostly well-known English songs.Facade of the church which lost its roof after it was used as a munitions warehouse.Pirate!Old cemetery next to the church.This tower placed just in front of the church is actually a lighthouse, added here by the British in the 1820s. In front is also a statue of the Saint.The statue of St. Francis Xavier is recent, dating from 1952. As an anecdote, the missing right hand is due to a falling tree branch, even though the real body of the venerable Francis Xavier does indeed have a missing right hand (see below, it would in fact be the entire arm), this having been required by the Pope as a relic in acceptance of the canonization of the Saint...Another street singer.Behind the church there is a small viewpoint.The Legend of Saint Francis XavierSo why this reference to Saint Francis Xavier? He was the first Catholic Jesuit missionary whose missions took him mainly to Asia, leaving Lisbon in 1541. He had previously founded in 1534 in a chapel in Montmartre the famous Society of Jesus, whose members, the Jesuits, are in the news after the election of Pope Francis.For 12 years, notably in India, Goa, Malacca, Japan and China, he preached the word of God, successfully converting the populations. His fame was such that many miracles were attributed to him.From his experience, he will remember the reception and his time spent in Goa. Thus, when he fell ill in the China Sea at the end of 1553, and feeling his time coming, he asked for his remains to be brought back to Goa. The process was not simple given the length of the journey, his body was placed in a coffin with quicklime (which burns the tissues and prevents odors), then temporarily buried under the church of Saint Paul of Malacca, the time to prepare the boat for Goa.The location of the tomb, which remained open, is surrounded by a gate.In the foreground, we can see the entrance to the vault where several high-ranking Portuguese figures were buried and, above all, the very place where Saint Francis Xavier was supposedly temporarily buried for 9 months, while awaiting the repatriation of his body to India.Legend has it that when he was moved to a new coffin for the journey, a finger was cut off as a relic, the blood flowing out as fresh as if he had died the day before, while the body was surprisingly perfectly preserved. The same phenomenon was observed 60 years after his death, when Pope Gregory VI agreed to canonize St. Francis Xavier in 1622, on condition that his right arm (with which he blessed) be brought back to Rome.The legend is all the more tenacious as his body is still in Goa, exhibited in public every 10 years and in a rather exceptional state of preservation.Jonker Walk and Malacca nightlifeFrom there, most of the sightseeing was done. The group of young people I was with decided to take a shopping break (especially the girls, the only guy just followed them), I took the opportunity to go back to my hotel for a good shower before going out to eat with them later.So after exchanging our contacts, just to meet up, I headed back to the River One. But I took the time to go for a quick look at Jonker Walk before dark, just to get my bearings. I also took some pictures of the sunset, which was absolutely bright red and painted the streets beautifully.Concretely Jonker Walk is THE lively street of Malacca, a sort of local Khao San Road even if less festive strictly speaking. There are many restaurants, cafes, souvenir shops and local merchants.There were people there that night. Once we had found each other, we found a nice little place to eat, in one of the streets perpendicular to Jonker Walk. In order to continue the evening, we looked for a bar to sit in, in another perpendicular street. We took a look at the Hard Rock Café but it is clearly too expensive (for the record, I finally went there the next day when I was going to spend the day this time with a Singaporean friend).A little heated, the group decided to go for a rickshaw ride as they passed Red Square, for fun. Personally, even when drunk, it didn't appeal to me so I had fun watching them do it and playing the music loud. Once we found a spot where we could stop (sorry, I can't remember the name...), we stayed there until closing time, at 4am. What a night!We will have our dinner here, good choice, good start to the evening.The great team!Back to my hotel. Did you like the article? Vote on the article Note globale 4 / 5. Number of votes: 11 No votes yet. Be the first to rate this article! Did you like the article? Follow me on social media Brand Culture and traditions Essentials to visit Historic Districts 0 4 Roman 28/03/2013
