Walking in old Malacca is the best way of soaking in its history and atmosphere -- the narrow streets were made for oxcarts and rickshaws, and not cars. Start at Jalan Lelah. There are antique shops with enough furniture and knick-knacks to make any collector think that he had died and gone to antique heaven.

Lantern shops, resplendent in their rich array of yellow and red hues, dot the streets, alongside neighbours selling anything from RM1 bowls of pig intestine soup to fine hand-make silver filigree. Exceptionally impressive are the gold-leafed wooden doors that used to guard secret society quarters and /or rich merchants, such as the one at 7 Jalan Tokong. Drop by Wah Aik Shoemaker at 92 Jonkers Street for miniature hand embroidered shoes.

Along Goldsmith Street (Jalan Tukang Emas), there is a unique congregation of a Buddhist temple, a mosque and a Hindu temple. It is impossible to miss the Kampong Kling Mosque.
   Completed in 1748, the garish green structure excludes a strong sense of its Hindu influence, juxtaposed with the unusual blend of English and Portuguese glazed tiles, Corinthian columns with symmetrical arches and the massive Victorian chandelier that hangs in the main prayer halls.

Cheng Hoon Teng Temple (Green Clouds Temple) is the oldest functioning temple in the country. Dedicated to Kwan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy, probably the most striking aspect of the temple is the that it is devoted equally to three doctrines: Taoism, Confucianism and Chinese Buddhism. Every aspect of the the temple, from the intricate and ornate carvings on the eves to the kneeling people chanting between the incense hazed columns, telling the story of the Chinese in Malacca.

Kuil SriPoyyatha Vinayagar Moorthi is a surpisingly small and unimpressive temple with a pungent smell of olive oil. Devotees come to pay their respects to Vinayagar, whose statue (about the only thing worth noting) is made of highest quality Indian black stone, occupying the central altar.

Walk down Jalan Kasturi, and you'll find people still reliant on the traditional methods of hand-weaving baskets and making rattan furniture. Sample the ice-kacang made from manually-shaven ice or the fresh and hot peanut pancakes sold by the roadside, only however, if you have digestive problems later.

What must be the highlight of the walking tri is found along 48 and 50 Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lok. The Warisan Baba Nyonya (Tel: 06-231 273) is located along the historic "Millionaires Row." Converted into a museum that retains the essence of the Nyonya way of life, it not only houses fragments of a not-so-distant history, but also showcases the ingenuity of the Peranakan Chinese. An example of this is the staircase, with its underside intricately carved and painstakingly gold-leafed, and built without the use of a single nail. The latched boarding and the top of the stairs not only serve to protect the household against burglary, but also help the wife ensure that the husband does not wandr out off the house in the middle of the night to see other women.

Four generations of Peranakan owners have maintained impeccably the facade and interior, from the oiled wooden walls to the handsewn ornaments. Your guides for this RM7 historic trip punctuate their tour of this stately residence with humour.

Walking farther down Jonkers Street will lead you across Sungai Melaka, the river that runs through Malacca. Parameswara, the Sumatran prince who founded Malacca, first paddled up in 1400. The Dutch architecture in the town square gives you the feeling of being in a tropical Amsterdam.

The River, a narrow, murky and pungent stretch of water, pales in contrast to the red facade of the Christ Church (Gereja Christ), originally a Dutch reform church that was later consecrated to an Anglican church by the British. Seeing its rather simple structure makes one wonder what could have taken them 12 years to complete the church meant to commemorate the centenary of the occupation of Malacca. The plain interior is whitewashed, which contrasts starkly against the dark ceiling beams, each cut from a single tree. The clock tower in front of it and the patch of vibrantly coloured plants make this place a favourite haunt for photographers.

Beside the clock tower is Stadthuys, the town hall that was the seat of Dutch power in the 1650s. The oldest structure in Southeast Asia was originally white. For aesthetic purposes the facade was painted the same shade of red as the church and clock tower. What remains a fasination is that plarts of its history are buried. For example, it was recently discovered that a Portuguese well walled with coral stones was covered up by the Dutch to make a courtyard, and later filled up by the British to accommodate classrooms.

Cutting through Stadthuys, past the open field, brings you to Prota de Santiago, the southern gateway of the Malacca fortess. A surprisingly small structure that is frequented more by people buying cold drinks and tidbits, this gateway leads 147 steps to the ruins of St Paul's Church -- built in 1521 by a gratefu Portuguese captain after his escape from attackers in the South China Sea. The statue of St Francis Xavier overlooks the serenity of the sea. You might spot a lone guitarist standing in the shadows of the ruins by the tombstones, strumming some haunting melody, followed by the latest cantopop.

Visit the small fort at St John's Hill Lane for a whiff of the colonial past. If you find yourself traveling on flat road, you're on the wrong road. On turning into the fort, make a short climb up high stone steps, past neat rows of hibiscus flowers. The old guns point inland, where the threat was supposed to have come from. Signs prohibiting vandalism are blatantly ignored- some vandals leaving their entire birth certificate names behind. The place seems marred by the water tower built nearby, but you can get a good view of the city.

From St. John's Hill Lane, turn left near a condo and you'll see a sign on the right side of the road pointing to a Portuguese Settlement. Turn into the lane. The settlement is at the end of the road, with a bell in front. If you see the bell on the right, you have passed the settlement.

Built in 1984, this is a sad skeleton of its former self. Just 10 years later in 1994, with the paint peeling, it was sold to private parties. There are two restaurants, Restoran de Lisbon and Restoran D'Nolasco, open in the evenings.

There were originally some Portuguese dancers at Restoran de Lisbon (Tel: 06-284067). When it was sold, the dancers went and the place now supplies its own dancers. The folk dancers are on Saturday nights only at 8.30 pm - De Lisbon supplies live music on the other evenings. Go before 7 pm to get good parking and seating positions. Worth ordering are: sotong fritters with chilli (for starters), baked fish with banana leaf and devil curry.

Back to Regional Travel