Reliving The Spice Trade

Shoes made for women who had there feet bound
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The bus ride to Melaka was incredibly comfortable after what we'd experienced in Indonesia.  We were met by a couple of "touts" but they didn't harass us, merely gave us info about where their places were and showed us which bus to catch.  The no. 17 bus into town was only RM0.80 pp and we were a stone throw from the area we wanted to stay in.  We stayed at Sunny's Inn (RM25) for the first night, but our room proved too noisy (traffic) and we decided to move in the morning.  Traveller's Lodge was heaps better and cost RM22.

Melaka town square
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Melaka is an easy city to get around.  We wandered over to the Museum of Enduring Beauty.  This museum is really interesting albeit a bit random.  The first floor has 3 completely separate exhibits; the local government's vision, spinning tops, and some politician.  The second floor has beautiful kites from various parts of the world and surprisingly NZ kites feature.

Finally, the reason for the museum, floor three: exhibits on the extremes that different cultures (western included) go, to improve the human form.  Wasp-waists, scarification, skull elongation - you name it, it's there.  Fascinating although the air-con let it  down; we were rushing in the end because drivelets of sweat were chasing each other down our backs.

St Paul's church
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Onwards and upwards to St Paul's church.  It is the centrepiece of the A-Famosa Fort that the Dutch built to protect Melaka, while they raped the spice route.  The church is a rundown, no-roof, tumbling beauty.  Gravestones rested themselves against the walls; kind of taking a break from their 300 year vigil.  We could feel the history of the town.

There's a a great fountain in the old town square, surrounded by Dutch-era buildings and as equally surrounded by the tourist army.  Information pointed us to Chinatown but that appeared deserted.  Still we sampled some Nonya (descendants from marriage between Chinese and Malays) food - Sean had a cracking laksa!  We visited a museum which encompasses three old houses of wealthy Nonya families.  The luxury was palpable and it proved to be a superb insight into the families elite lives.  Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take photos; looks like you'll have to go there yourself!

View from St Paul's to the Straits of Melaka
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As we're inclined to do, we started chatting to an Aussie woman in the house, who had lived in Jakarta for 7 years with her family.  The fortuitous part of this meeting is that we mentioned es campur and she pointed us towards the Malay version es cendol.  It's a bowl of jellies and red beans, heaped high with shaved ice and soaked in palm sugar syrup.

Suitably refreshed, we headed towards the Maritime Museum, but stopped on the way to try some pineapple tarts - Adrienne was hooked.  The museum was partially in a replica of a Dutch ship and continued in another building.  Expecting another numbing experience we were pleasantly surprised by the exhibits, which did a great job of illustrating Melaka's history.  Four thumbs up from us!

Gravestone at St Paul's
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On Wednesday we thought that we'd try aone of the river cruises on offer along Melaka River but for some reason they can only go out to sea at the moment.  After an amazing breakfast of banana roti (complete with curry dipping sauce, you have to try it!) we thought we'd try our luck at getting on one of these trips - RM10 pp for an hour.  They only run a few a day and it depends on numbers.  We were lucky, and headed into the straits of Melaka.  There wasn't really much to see, we'd envisioned plots of old warehouses left over from the Dutch occupation but the most interesting thing was the amazing mosque on the waters edge.

A'Famosa Fort
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After the cruise our time in Melaka was done and it was now off to Singapore (RM17 pp by bus)!