How would Van Gogh paint Melaka

Van Gogh got up on a January morning. He put on his straw hat, threw his packed painting gear on his back, and took his wood trekking poll. Off he went! It was a sunny morning in Melaka: air was fresh, birds were chirping and warm breeze was softly brushing his face.
Van Gogh walked along Sungai Melaka – a river winding through the city. His walk led him to some well-known sites, such as Dutch square and St. Paul Church.
After having visited those places, Van Gogh decided to just wander. While he was walking on the street Jalan Bendahara, a smell suddenly caught him like a hand. The smell was from the moss on the aged brick buildings, from the humidity, from smoking of cigarettes, from the aroma of cooking from each family, and from the spices shops were selling along the sidewalk. Van Gogh felt he was brought to and seated on a time machine by the hand. He could see a fishing village being turned into a very busy trading town: ships arrived and departed; the town was full of spices from China, India and Indonesia, waiting to be shipped or to be sold. Then he saw Zheng He’s fleet came to Melaka and how China built up a good relationship with Melaka. But one day Portuguese invaded in Melaka. Three centuries were fast-forwarded in front of Van Gogh: Portuguese and the Dutch had wars for the control of Melaka and afterwards Melaka was ruled by the Dutch and then British. People of Chinese descent, of Indian descent, Malays, Dutch people and British people settled down here, one generation after another. They lived in the town peacefully and harmoniously. Van Gogh was thinking: this was the smell of the history; this was the smell of the city, like every city had its own smell to make people to remember it.
The time machine stopped showing Van Gogh the history of Melaka, but took him back to his childhood. In front of him, there were the old, narrow and deep streets on which he walked and played in his city when he was a kid. Old people were sitting in front of their old houses, soaking in the sun, chatting and drinking tea. Spicy smell from strings of red small chili pepper under the roof was enhanced by warm air and the aroma of lunch cooked a while ago was still floating in the air… Van Gogh was not from China! That was me – I am day dreaming about my trip in Melaka back in January, 2012. Time to get up! But I am wondering: how would Van Gogh paint the smell of each place?