Storyline: Home to home westward
Oh Melaka, Malacca, a name we’d only heard of not long before in connection with piracy on the Malacca Straits. A World Heritage Site, a city of rich history, unique cultural background, a rainbow of ethnicity and religions and variety of spoken languages. Nowadays Malay is the main language with about 60% of the population being Malay. Chinese and Peranakan are the second biggest group, then come Indians, and a variety of smaller ethnic groups and mixtures.
Founded as sultanate in the 14th century from a small Malay fishing village, Malacca became an economic power and target for many invasions, changes in rulers and empires, from Portugese, Dutch, English, Japanese and Malay affiliations. A city full of temples, ruins, historic sites and…
regrettably a city full of dirt, garbage, open sewers and horrendous smell filling the hot thick air.
And so, we arrived in Malacca from Singapore by very pleasant, airconditioned luxury coach on a hot and steamy day. We checked in early, dropped off our bags and off we went on exploring. It was our first stop in Malaysia and we had a few errands to run. We had some cash, exchanged in Singapore, to get us by, but needed to find an ATM for more. The second was to do laundry. With Google’s help Alex found a few nearby laundromats, just one of which looked worth checking out. We, sooner Alex, could do the laundry the next morning. However I wanted to check how clean the facilities were.
Our first round of walks was a bit uncomfortable for me. As a matter of fact, I had watched the roads from the height of the front window as the bus was entering the city. No sidewalks. Cars, motorbikes, bikes and people all in the same pot. A few steps away from the hotel and the smell of the sewers running in open trenches by the roadside hit me.
We had to walk in a narrow strip between these diches and the traffic. If one is not careful and watching every single step, they will either fall into a ditch and perhaps break a leg or get hit by a car. And then comes the challenge of crossing. Cars and bikes don’t stop. They drive fast and it is up to you to find the moment and run across the busy street to the ditch at the opposite side of the road.
Somehow, we made it to the river, took some photos. This is almost the first photo we took from the walls of what was considered a café by the river. Yes, attitude is definitely the difference between an ordeal and an adventure.
The river banks look nice in photos though; the smell and the dirt don’t show. You have to visit to experience it! At that moment it became clear to me that we would not be taking the river cruise. I wouldn’t survive this thick, malodourous air. Later on, we’d find why the river doesn’t clear into the ocean and stays so stinky.
There were locks downstream and a dam that maintained the water level in the river: not much water gets through to the Straits, at least at this time of year.
We hadn’t been out for more than 30 min and we both were soaked in sweat. It was hot. Not that it wasn’t hot in Singapore or Darwin, but this is so very different. With the smell, the humidity and the thick air accompanied by garbage and dirt one walks on and breathes through, it was oppressive.
Somehow, we also made it to the laundry. It was a ground floor room open to the street, sooner looking like a garage bay, with laundry machines and dryers ranged along the walls. There was a sign to remove shoes. Alex, who wore socks, went to check it and they all looked clean. The washers and the dryers were operated with 50 sen (cent) coins. All together we needed 8.5 MYR in 17 coins. He also noticed that the change machine did not work. So another task was to change some ringgits.
We continued our walk and eventually reached the famous Jonker Street (We didn’t know it at that time, as the street name on the map was Jalang Hang Jebat). It was late afternoon and we hadn’t had much to eat since our 6am breakfast in Singapore. I needed a coffee too. We walked into a nice tea house. They had some special coffees, but after such a long day I wanted espresso.
We eventually ran into The Stolen Cup, a small café open to the street, which stole our hearts. It was all organic fresh juices, food and great coffee. We shared some nice mushroom soup, I had cappuccino and Alex tried the Gula Melaka latte. It turns out that Gula Melaka is a palm sugar from which a syrup is made and added to the coffee. Neither of us normally sweeten our hot drinks, but the smoky sweetness of this drink was quite pleasant.
I used the WC for the first time in Melaka, and I was prepared. It was cleanish, though, to Malaysian standards. Wet everywhere. They use the wall mounted bidet (a shower type) that sprays everything, floors included. Everywhere in Malaysia, unless you are in a very upscale mall (and even then), always carry your own toilet paper, enough to dry the wet seats and more. Some malls have toilet paper at the entrance to the toilets. Just look around, but don’t count on it. We also carry small microfibre towels with us to dry our hands.
After the refreshment stop, we decided it was time to find an ATM. We crossed the river, bypassed the crowds taking selfies in front of the “I love Melaka” sign and continued to where Mr. Google sent us. It was close to 5pm and banks were closing at 5.
We found the mall, but not the ATM. By that time, we both were baked, dried and cracked as oven burned prunes. Entering a mall here is a refreshing shelter from the sweltering heat. (A – Given Diana’s dislike of air conditioning, that statement carries a lot of weight!)
I was wearing light leather sandals with suede insoles and in the first 10 minutes into our walk I knew they won’t survive this city. I have arthritis on top of my feet, and some of you have heard my complaints of difficulty finding comfortable walking shoes, any shoes for that matter. So, losing my soft leather sandals would be a disaster. As we walked in the mall, almost the first store we saw was a shoe store with some plastic sandals, sold as ‘Birkenshoes’. And the first shoe I tried on fit me.
Never ever had this happen before. And…I equipped myself with a pair of plastic sandals for MYR9 (about $3 CAD), that I immediately put on. My sandals are packed away for now.
And it was time for dinner. On the second level of the mall we ran into nice Chinese restaurant
and had even nicer veggie dish with home made tofu, and green beans as a second dish.
Next morning after sumptuous breakfast at the hotel we found an ATM nearby and then Alex went to do the laundry. He has a separate post for his experience.
Later in the morning we took off to the bus station Melaka Sentral. We asked at the reception if we could walk to there. “No, you can’t walk it” was the firm answer. Hmm, why not. “It is very far.”
Well we had Googled it. It’s about 40 min. In the heat and traffic make it an hour and a half. “No, no, you take taxi. No one walks to there.” There are highways. “Can we cross the highways and walk on the road?” I insisted.
“Yes, you can cross and you can walk by the cars, but no sidewalks…” We decided to try it anyway. One can only know a city if they walk it.
We stayed in the old city centre, very close to the famous Stadthuys and the A Famosa ruined fort. We wanted to see more of Malaysian life. We packed tons of water, toilet paper, my flip-flops and off we went.
By now I had learned to balance on the yellow line that separates the cars from the open sewer channels.
And boy did we walk, and walked, and walked…. Soaked in dusty sweat, not a dry spot left, we first reached the Swiss Garden hotel and walked in the mall to cool off. The good thing in the malls is that their air conditioning is not as strong as back in Toronto, so one does not get the heat-cold shock walking all sweaty into a mall. It just gives you a break from the heat.
From there we kept walking, carefully treading between cars, holes, ditches, garbage, mud and puddles, crossing the roads where possible to the “better” walkable side. It took us a lot longer than expected. We had another refreshment stop at Bandaraya Melaka mall and eventually reached a long pedestrian overpass, which led us over Lebuh AMJ highway to Sentral bus station. Similar to our underground passes and paths, there are many overpasses and paths here, sometimes a kilometer or more long. There were many automated ticket kiosks at the bus station, but we wanted to talk to a person. It was well-organized. We took a number and when it showed on the calling board, we went to the corresponding kiosk. A nice lady helped us through the booking process (we already had a few bus companies in mind). It is only 2 hours to Kuala Lumpur and there are many busses every half an hour. We selected a convenient time slot, selected a company with ‘luxury’ busses, and then seats. It cost about $9 CAD for the two of us. There are cheaper buses, but again we prefer the little comfort the more luxurious buses (with 2+1 seating instead of the standard 2+2) provide We also bought a SIM card at the station, so we could call a Grab (similar to Uber, but with payment flexibility, since drivers here use cash only). It was afternoon and we were not walking back through the sheer mess of cars, bikes and dirt for another 2 hours. A Grab would cost about 6 to 7 ringgits (approximately $2CAD). There was a sign in the terminal, “Please avoid taxi scam and use the official taxi” or so. We decided to check it. “20 ringgits”, said the man at the kiosk. Well, no! We turned back and ordered a Grab.
And so, we were back in the city centre in 10 min. By now we knew the small city centre, and all the major attractions around quite well.
We decided to visit the replica Portuguese trade ship ‘Flora de Lamar’ which houses much of the Maritime Museum.
To get belowdecks, though, we had to remove our shoes. I learned from this and will carry a pair of socks around, because one walks on quite dirty surfaces. Being flat footed, it is not a comfortable walk for me and in 10 min I had the skin under my toes all cracked and sore. A great way to catch everyone’s fungus (athlete’s foot) I guess.
We wanted to reach the Straits of Malacca, but it wasn’t meant to be. Alex had googled a vegetarian restaurant. We could not easily locate it and we also knew that the safest place where they could have decent, or should I say usable to Malaysian standards, toilets was in a mall. So we walked to another mall, had Asan laksa (we have tried many types of laksa, starting at Sydney). Asan laksa is not coconut-based, so it was worth trying.
Our evening ended standing at the entrance to St. Francis’ church about 200 metres from our hotel, listening to the congregation then joining in, singing along to “Our God Reigns”.
We managed to reach the Melaka Straits on our last day, walking on the river bank path. We walked by the locks and the dam, then through something that was supposed to be a park, a not that busy road etc. It was an achievement but the view was not particularly stunning.
On our way back we stopped for refreshments, beer for Alex and Singapore sling for me, on the patio of upscale hotel Casa Del Rio, on the river. We have read that Melaka is a tourist destination for both Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. We wondered what a Singaporean would do in this dirty city until we visited that hotel. It was a totally different experience.
If you want to visit Melaka and have a budget for it, book this hotel (it is close to $400 CAD per night). But chose a room facing the courtyard and its fountains, not the stinky river.
We visited a few more attractions, walked in the Jonker Street area and…
had nice lunch at the Geographer The seafood pizza made with a spicy sambal base was delicious. Walked some more and visited our favorite café “The Stolen Cup” one last time. Back at the hotel we had the Ramadan buffet dinner. It was a great experience, mingling with the Muslims and experiencing their food and celebrations. A rich buffet dinner for two came to about $26 CAD.
If you go (travel tips)
Melaka is worth visiting. Perhaps a day trip. The best is to take a bus from Kuala Lumpur. It is only 2 hours so you’ll have enough time to visit most of the sites. However, all regular buses stop at Melaka Sentral. Take a Grab from there. It is about 7-9 ringgits (less than $3 CAD). Official taxi is about 20 ringgits.
Places to visit are all concentrated in the centre close to Jonker Street.
If you want to spend a night, chose your hotel carefully. The hotels on the Ocean side are far from the centre and isolated. The Swiss Garden is also far. We stayed in IBIS. Not a 4-star standard as it is listed for, but breakfast is good and staff was helpful.
Always have plenty of water, enough toilet paper and a small towel with you.
And although we didn’t try it, a tour on a gaudily-decorated, noisy (they blast their radios loud enough to be heard from blocks away) trishaw is often recommended to get a more complete sense of the old town.
The Portuguese village is a bit out of the center so use Grab to get to there. Or rent a bike if you are up to the Malaysian traffic.
Join the conversation around our e-Table