Melacca, Malaysia

With fewer days spent in Terengganu and Kuantan than planned, we had a few extra in Melacca, which is spelled Melaka in Malay and I will use both spellings in this post because I often type one when I meant to type the other. I was fine with this because I had heard nothing but good things about the town and had travelled with somebody in Vietnam for a bit that had volunteered there for more than three months, absolutely loved the place, and was sure I would too. I do not know if I loved it but I certainly enjoyed my time there and was happy to have the extra time. Though it is the second biggest city in Malaysia, Melacca does not have a city feel. It feels more like a small town with a few malls set among a winding river. The malls are the downside to the town. There were more than I cared to keep track of but they provided a nice refuge from the heat and free wifi, and we took full advantage of both.

Melaka is a pretty chill place. Like its big brother, Kuala Lumpor, there is not a lot to do but the joy of the town is just walking around exploring the different neighborhoods and the local food of each. Most of the sites (Stadthuys, Christ Church, and Jonker Street) are in one central area so the obligatory pictures are largely out of the way within a couple hours. A river sprawls through town but the water is not nice and the riverside is not as built up as you would guess. It is still nice to walk along for a bit but the dirtiness of the water gets old and the rundown buildings that line most of its length gets old too. There are plenty of museums but we did not visit any, just some more pictures of the buildings from the outside. The Dutch influence on the city is pretty obvious even though I have never been to Holland. The architecture is decidedly less Asian/Malaysian.

Not far from the central part of town is what is called the "Portuguese Settlement." I am not sure how many actual Portuguese are in this settlement but I understand that the people that live here are the descendants of the Portuguese that conquered Melacca in 1511 reside. The area did have a different feel and it seemed richer, not necessarily Portuguese, though there was an increased presence of Jesus and the Virgin Mary. Either way, the thing to do is to go for dinner, which we planned on doing, except the walk there was shorter than we expect and none of us (Shaun and I were walking with a friend we made at the hostel) were especially hungry so we explored the residential area. This is primarily where this area felt different than the rest of Melaka. The food was good but the most expensive we had had in a long time (about US$7 for a lot of fish and seafood and rice).

One day Shaun and I decided to summit this not-too-high but wide hill. As we went up we realized that it was a cemetery. It was not too densely populated (I doubt "populated" is the right word considering the circumstances but I do not know what is) and was clearly designed for people to walk around and spend some time. The top was a decently sized flat area that made for some more nice pictures. There we spotted a temple that we wanted to visit. We got the general direction and started to descend. After not too much effort we reached the temple. It was very unclear whether tourists were allowed in but we decided to take our shoes off and go in anyway figuring we would just be asked to leave if we were not welcome and would not offend anybody too seriously either way. We barely got ten steps in when, using hand gestures, we were invited to eat with them. One guy spoke good English and confirmed that we wanted to eat. I had just eaten and was not hungry but there was no way I was passing this opportunity. Quickly a banana leaf was placed in front of us (a pseudo-plate) and then a enormous pile of plain rice followed by a couple spoonfuls of different curries. I made sure to tell Shaun not to use his left hand as that is used for other, less hygienic purposes, but that we were supposed to eat with our right hands. Somebody gave up a spoon and fork but we wanted to eat how everybody else was so continued eating with our hands. The food was excellent and the experience was even better. With every bite we took we were offered more and, every time, respectfully declined. A couple of times somebody would give us a new item; not more of what we had and we had no choice but to accept. A couple of girls kept staring and laughing at us. Part of the laughter was no doubt that a couple of Westerners were eating with their hands and clearly had no idea what they were doing but I think they were doing a bit of flirting. After about half the food was gone they gave us another item, this one in a cup, explaining that it was sweet. It did not look very good but I tried it anyway. It was gross. Though at least theoretically a liquid it would not pour out of the cup into my mouth the way liquids do and once in my mouth I felt it was necessary to chew. I told Shaun, who had not tried it yet, that it was terrible and that he should consume it gradually with his food so that he can chase it with food. He declined. I powered through this mystery cup substance and was proud of myself for it. When he was done with his food Shaun finally tried it and agreed that it was not good but he had a plan.

We were finished with our food and after turning down additional offering for me we said thank you. To the guy that spoke good English Shaun asked what the stuff in the cup was called (neither of us remember what he said) as if he was really enjoying it and wanted to be able to get more in the future. We thanked everybody again and parted ways. Once out of the vicinity of the temple he disposed of the cup and what it was that was inside without more than a small taste.

I really liked Melacca a lot and is easily preferable to me over KL.