Melakka was first colonised by the Portuguese, then the Dutch and finally the British, so an appropriate place for us to visit! The Dutch influence could be seen in the many tall houses complete with long windows and shutters, at Dutch square (where every building was painted a deep brick red for some reason) and the obligatory windmill (?). Today the Dutch houses have been integrated into China Town, so unfortunately there weren't any 'kroketten'!
Exploring China Town and Dutch square took us most of the afternoon. Given that it was still Chinese New Year (it lasts 2.5 weeks) China town was especially colourful (as per all our other visits to China Towns in Malaysia) with red lanterns everywhere, decorated temples, incense and many street stalls (we sampled some of the dumplings but didnt get tempted by the grass jelly drink.) There was also a lot of giving away of oranges/satsumas so by the end of our time in Melakka we had gone through quite a few - it seemed rude to decline any offers.
In the evening, we had seen in the local paper that there was a festival to celebrate Chinese New Year, with the king of Malaysia present. Needless to say we thought it would be worth a visit.
We took up our positions on the side of the road along with hundreds of other people at around 8pm. We then endured a 1 hour procession of cars dropping off the VIPs and VVIPs. Then the king arrived in a car with blacked out windows (so that no-one could see him!), which was the starting sign for an hours worth of speeches. Finally the street parade began - a lot of colourful costumes from all cultures that make up Malaysia, but unfortunately for us mere mortals the parade only performed in front of the king (however all was beamed onto a TV screeen directly in front of the king, in case he missed anything) - so needless to say we didn't see too much - but we had waited so long that we couldn't leave. However, we enjoyed the atmosphere and the finale fireworks - although during the display Nicola got cornered by 2 market researchers who were eager for her to fill in their questionnaire on the event - great timing!
The next day we carried on exploring Melakka. Highlights included a Dutch fort, a traditional village where the majority of houses were on stilts and a Chinese graveyard - a first for the both of us. For those that don't know the best way we (Nicola) can think of describing them is that they are similar to the hobbit homes from Lord of the Rings - semi-circular mounds rising out the ground.
The only disappointment of the day was the Portuguese Quarter - recommended in our guide book as being pleasantly typical of a Portuguese seaside town, it was anything but - more like a once tacky but now discarded seaside town! So unfortunately we didnt stay for the drink we had planned as a reward for the 40 minute walk it took to get there!
We left Melakka the following morning to begin our journey to Sarawak - Malaysian Borneo (via Johor Barhu, where we had an overnight stop). The bus journey to the Melakka bus station took 1 hour and 20 minutes (1 hour longer than the journey in) as we were told that although it meant a small detour, the bus stop by our guest house was the most convenient for us as it was the closest and therefore the easiest for us (we had all our rucksacks etc)- small detor indeed!.
Once we arrived at the bus station we were targeted for a bus scam:
- we asked 2 tickets to JB, we received 2 tickets but they charged us for 4 tickets;
- after pointing out the error we were given 3 tickets but no more change;
- then we were given change for just one of the excess tickets and then finally
- we were given the correct change for two tickets!
All this took 5 min and they only relented as the queue behind us grew and they realised we were blocking the way and not going to give in! Fun and games but we were happy that our Vietnamese lessons had paid off and that we stood our ground! We boarded the bus and were on our way to the jungle.....
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