Malacca… Land of Hang Tuah – Day 1 • Reflections

Kee and I were bored coz we didn’t really get to go anywhere this hols. Decided to make a short trip to Malacca on our way back to Singapore. We went totally trigger happy! Ok… rather, I went trigger happy. It was my first holiday with my LX3…and I realize that I have plenty more photography skills to learn. Malacca is actually a very old town but it is developing really fast. The malls there are waaaaaaaay better than those in Alor Setar. At least there’s MNG and FOS. Oh, and did I mention? A&W!!!!!!!!!!!! I thought that fast food joint was extinct! Didn’t leave Malacca without my fair dose of curly fries and root beer float.

DAY 1

Hotel Puri on Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock

It was great that my cousin, aunt and uncle were in Malacca. My uncle picked me up from the bus station in the wee hours of the morning, and my aunt and cousin picked Kee up later and brought us for lunch. They brought us on a quick ride around Jonker Walk so that we wouldn’t get lost in the maze of lanes there. Our hotel was a pretty little Peranakan styled place converted from an old house along Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock…. just one street away from Jonker Walk.

On our first day there, we really didn’t have much time left coz Siew Kee’s bus arrived later than expected. So, we covered Jonker Walk and the riverside which was closest to our hotel.

The buildings there are actually old houses converted into shophouses. They still have much Baba Nyonya characteristics in terms of architecture though.

One thing we especially noticed was the wordings on the window shutters. Almost every house had these wordings. Also, the corridor outside the shops were all separated by a wall. Pedestrians have to walk on the road… pretty dangerous considering that Malacca drivers seem to drive through Jonker Walk as if it’s like an F1 circuit!

We saw lots of interesting stuff from antiques to colourful hand painted clogs. The artist was a really friendly guy.

He was actually painting his T-shirt while we were looking around in his shop. Many of the things in his shop were not for sale but for display purposes only… and that included his Beatles collection painted on some mini clogs. Kee bought one of his postcards with a sketch of Malacca streets.

Jonker Walk in the evening on weekdays is pretty dull. Shops close around 6pm-7pm and the place is practically dead soon after.