Melaka
by prudence on 17-Feb-2010
We've just got back from spending the Lunar New Year long weekend in Melaka (or Malacca, if you prefer).
It was probably not the weekend to do full justice to this historic city, as some places were shut for the duration of the holiday, and the city got busier and busier as the days went by, until by Day 4 it was positively heaving with tourists. But having been there for only a few hours previously, it was a good opportunity for a more detailed look.
So, what's interesting? Well, the tourists for one. Local, regional, and global, they're great for people-watching. A little frustrating, sometimes, when you can't get round the museums for people having their photos taken in front of the exhibits (I SO don't get this...), but certainly good value for giving the place a vibe.
Their heterogeneity also mirrors Melaka's past. Waves of Portuguese, Dutch, British, and Japanese colonizers have rolled over the city, and Melaka has a highly cosmopolitan history, attracting in its heyday traders from China, India, Java, and West Asia, among others. It still has several "peranakan" communities (long-standing, local-born groups, which contain interesting blends of the Malay culture and that of the original migrants). Best known is the Chinese-Malay peranakan community. It was disappointing not to be able to visit the museum that focuses on this group, but some great Baba-Nyonya cuisine helped to compensate. Less well known are the peranakan Indian group (the Chitty community) and a community of Portuguese descendants. We tasted some great Portuguese-influenced food at the Eleven restaurant -- fiery and tasty, it's Nando's for grown-ups.
Melaka has had to reinvent itself several times over the course of its history. The same can undoubtedly be said of its trishaws. These are totally wacky. Long laden with all manner of rococo decoration -- flowers, tinsel, cuddly toys, twinkling lights for night-time -- many have now also adopted the boombox. Whatever the discord between a heritage town and thumping music, you can't help but smile as these carnivalesque contraptions sweep by, and it can certainly no longer be said that trishaw-driving is an old man's trade -- plenty of young men are willing to load up the tourists and pedal them round to the thrashing beat of portable sound systems.
Adaptation to the role of heritage purveyor to tourists is also reflected in the local authorities' stalwart efforts to beautify the river. You can enjoy a pleasant walk quite a way along the banks, thanks to the addition of boardwalks and promenades, and it's relaxing to sit by the water in the cool (cool?) of the evening to enjoy a beer and a meal. The modestly priced river "cruises" were attracting enormous numbers while we were there. Of course, there's always the problem of deciding whether to back the authentic or the attractive, and one local aboard our particular boat felt the balance of riverside beautification had shifted too far in favour of the latter.
So what's not to like about Melaka? Well, the sheer volume of tourists does possibly threaten to kill the goose... But as I noted in an earlier post, you can't really gripe about tourists when you are one... The real headache is the traffic... This is an old city, with narrow streets and non-existent pavements. And you share these narrow streets with cars -- lots of them. Walking definitely demands concentration. It's a living, working city, so you can't readily pedestrianize great tracts of it, but maybe something more creative could be done to minimize the number of tourist vehicles driving into the centre. A less fraught environment would certainly enhance the experience of the tourist (and probably the incomes of the businesses). But hey, Melaka is hardly the first tourist drawcard to experience this problem...
All in all, a great place to spend the long weekend. For more photos see here.
It was probably not the weekend to do full justice to this historic city, as some places were shut for the duration of the holiday, and the city got busier and busier as the days went by, until by Day 4 it was positively heaving with tourists. But having been there for only a few hours previously, it was a good opportunity for a more detailed look.
So, what's interesting? Well, the tourists for one. Local, regional, and global, they're great for people-watching. A little frustrating, sometimes, when you can't get round the museums for people having their photos taken in front of the exhibits (I SO don't get this...), but certainly good value for giving the place a vibe.
Their heterogeneity also mirrors Melaka's past. Waves of Portuguese, Dutch, British, and Japanese colonizers have rolled over the city, and Melaka has a highly cosmopolitan history, attracting in its heyday traders from China, India, Java, and West Asia, among others. It still has several "peranakan" communities (long-standing, local-born groups, which contain interesting blends of the Malay culture and that of the original migrants). Best known is the Chinese-Malay peranakan community. It was disappointing not to be able to visit the museum that focuses on this group, but some great Baba-Nyonya cuisine helped to compensate. Less well known are the peranakan Indian group (the Chitty community) and a community of Portuguese descendants. We tasted some great Portuguese-influenced food at the Eleven restaurant -- fiery and tasty, it's Nando's for grown-ups.
Melaka has had to reinvent itself several times over the course of its history. The same can undoubtedly be said of its trishaws. These are totally wacky. Long laden with all manner of rococo decoration -- flowers, tinsel, cuddly toys, twinkling lights for night-time -- many have now also adopted the boombox. Whatever the discord between a heritage town and thumping music, you can't help but smile as these carnivalesque contraptions sweep by, and it can certainly no longer be said that trishaw-driving is an old man's trade -- plenty of young men are willing to load up the tourists and pedal them round to the thrashing beat of portable sound systems.
Adaptation to the role of heritage purveyor to tourists is also reflected in the local authorities' stalwart efforts to beautify the river. You can enjoy a pleasant walk quite a way along the banks, thanks to the addition of boardwalks and promenades, and it's relaxing to sit by the water in the cool (cool?) of the evening to enjoy a beer and a meal. The modestly priced river "cruises" were attracting enormous numbers while we were there. Of course, there's always the problem of deciding whether to back the authentic or the attractive, and one local aboard our particular boat felt the balance of riverside beautification had shifted too far in favour of the latter.
So what's not to like about Melaka? Well, the sheer volume of tourists does possibly threaten to kill the goose... But as I noted in an earlier post, you can't really gripe about tourists when you are one... The real headache is the traffic... This is an old city, with narrow streets and non-existent pavements. And you share these narrow streets with cars -- lots of them. Walking definitely demands concentration. It's a living, working city, so you can't readily pedestrianize great tracts of it, but maybe something more creative could be done to minimize the number of tourist vehicles driving into the centre. A less fraught environment would certainly enhance the experience of the tourist (and probably the incomes of the businesses). But hey, Melaka is hardly the first tourist drawcard to experience this problem...
All in all, a great place to spend the long weekend. For more photos see here.