Last weekend we were granted a Bank Holiday in lieu of Malaysia Day – the day that Modern Day Malaysia was formed. With this in mind, a couple of us from the office decided to head out to Melaka to take in the sights. The old port city of Melaka has gone through a lot of Colonial powers during its history, from the Dutch to the Portuguese and finally the British. Each Empire has understandably left its mark on the city enough for UNESCO to warrant the listing of it as a World Heritage City. I had previously visited Melaka around 10 years ago, so I was eager to see how much had changed.
Starting off with a late breakfast, we slowly headed off on the 2-hour journey south of KL, reaching the historic city centre in time for lunch. With memories of Macau fresh in my mind, I was surprised how much of the Portuguese impact still remained after countless years of British rule. The iconic coble stoned paths were in full force in the centre, as was the abundance of Catholic Churches.
After walking around the heart of the city, we ventured a bit further out and stumbled upon a replica of an Old Portuguese ship that served as the local museum. It held an interesting collection of model ships and examples of plunder typically found onboard.
Still further out, we found ourselves in the art district, with workshops and galleries lining the streets. Many of these held beautiful woodcarvings and woodprints but were a little bit out of our price tag!
After lunch there, we began to walk up to the main attraction of Melaka – Formosa Fort. The only thing remaining from the supposedly gigantic fort is a tiny structure that forms the basis of a newly designed square full of rickshaws blasting out music to attract customers.
On the way to Formosa, we came across another ruin – The remains of St Paul’s. With only the exterior walls remaining and some arches held up by steel trusses, this hollow shell of a building sits atop a large hill overlooking the old and new districts of Melaka.
It occurred to me that after walking around for a bit, I only recognized two areas of Melaka from 10 years ago – The remains of St. Paul’s and a smaller Dutch fort near the centre. While it is obvious that the rest was not necessarily new, I was surprised by how little I really remembered of the place. Which made me think how much I would recall and remember this time round in 10 years time.
By 6pm we had had our fill of the place and headed off back to KL, but not before taking a pit stop at the local beach for sun set. On the way back home, we were hit with the post Bank Holiday traffic slowly trudging into KL. After an agonizing 4 hours of traffic, we were finally home.
