Melaka (also spelled Malacca) has been an important center in the spice trade since the 15th century, initially as a Chinese port. The Portuguese ran the show for 150 years until the Dutch East India Company took over in the mid-1600s. Melaka, along with Penang and Singapore, became one of the British Crown Colonies in 1824 as a spoil of war but its importance declined as that of Singapore grew and Melaka faded into obscurity.
Today Melaka is Malaysia’s – and probably the world’s – newest World Heritage City, receiving the honor this past July. With its blend of Chinese and colonial architecture and immaculately clean streets it is one of the most charming we have visited. Many of the traditional Chinese residences and shophouses have been converted to hotels and restaurants. We were heading for one of the boutique hotels when Mr. Lee enticed us to try his Kota Hotel in the same neighborhood but at half the price. The noisy morning market is just below our balcony but otherwise we are happy with the choice.
Melaka is tourist oriented but it doesn’t feel ‘touristy.’ We haven't seen the usual bus loads and even the Sunday night street market was clean and well organized. There was room to walk and no one hassled us to buy. Chinese lanterns add atmosphere and bathe the buildings in a red glow. The history museum is housed in a replica of a 17th century Portuguese merchant ship and they did a good job of explaining the Chinese, Portuguese, Dutch, Muslim and British influence on Melaka.
We have run into several instances of ‘you can’t get there from here’ and have had to adjust accordingly. We were, however, able to plan a little further ahead and bought onward tickets to Kutching, Sarawak on Malaysian Borneo for Wednesday. We will work our way up to Brunei then fly on to Jakarta.
