History of Melaka 101 (3 credits)

"It's hard not to like this town." That's the first sentence in the Lonely Planet Melaka section. I'd have to agree.

These streets are full of life during daylight hours.

We spent our first day here walking around and seeing all of the historical ruins, excavated parts of the old Portuguese fort, Dutch-built buildings, an old church that was used for worship by the Portuguese and the Dutch, and used as an ammunition store by the Brits. The town is rich in history, but that's not the attraction of Melaka. The town has character. It looks cool. It feels cool. The roads are narrow and busy. Sidewalks are rare. There are shops everywhere. Parts are tourist-central, but it doesn't feel like it. You feel like a local (aside for the 6' white guy part).

Pier at the Portuguese settlement

As you can see from Janet's previous post, we finally found what we've been looking for all along: a huge variety of abundant, cheap, delicious local food! And fruit. We could spend weeks here eating on the cheap. One vendor made the noodles right in front of us! But alas, we're leaving in just a few more hours after just one more meal.

Canal at night from the back of our guest house

So if anyone is using this blog for travel ideas, there you go. If you come to Malaysia, don't skip Melaka.

Remains of the Portuguese fort, showing the emblem of the Dutch East India Company, which was the first corporation to issue stock and allow the common middle-class rich-world man to profit from foreign exploitation.

Melaka is perhaps the town with the richest history in Malaysia. Note - skip this paragraph if you don't care about history. Note 2 - I got all of my information from plaques near the historical sites (but verified dates online). If you look at a map, you'll notice that the most direct shipping route between India and China is south of the Malay peninsula and north of the island of Sumatra (known as the Straights of Malacca). The Hindu prince Parameswara (also a former pirate) founded the city. Due to its convenient location, Melaka drew the interest of the Chinese and became a trading partner and client kingdom of China in the 1400s. In the 1500s, when Melaka adopted Islam and converted to a sultanate, the port city also attracted Middle Eastern traders in addition to all of the Asian traders it was already getting. The sultanate took a laissez-faire (hands off) approach to trade and the city thrived. The wealth drew the attention of Europe, which spelled the beginning of the end for Melaka as an important trading hub. The Portuguese conquered the city in the 1500s, built a fortress, and taxed trade. In the 1600s, the Dutch took the city from the Portuguese. In the late 1700s, Holland was conquered by France and Holland's colonies were given to its ally, Britain, for administration. The British destroyed most of the fortifications and moved most of the city's population to its own regional trading colonies, Singapore and Penang. Aside from briefly being controlled by the Japanese in WW2, Melaka was in British hands until Malaysian independence in 1957.

We're heading back to KL today and staying with a friend of Janet's mother. Maybe this time around we'll actually make it up to the Petronas Towers sky bridge.