Visiting Malacca – 1st time through the stra

Malacca City, Malaysia

We spent yesterday at sea, sailing around the bottom of the Malaysian peninsula toward the west and up through the Malacca Straits, fabled shipping passage, and past Singapore (we’ll be back later) on our way to Malacca, Malaysia. Today, we visit Malacca – a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2008. The city was founded in 1403 by the Portuguese and changed hands many times over the centuries – the Dutch controlled the area for some time and we visited Dutch Square and Jonker Street, home to many shops and cafes. This area featured many tri-shaws (the word ‘rickshaw’ isn’t used anymore) and you’ll note the Western influence as they are all decorated with such themes as the Pink Panther, the Disney princesses and Frozen characters. Local parents take pictures of their toddlers as the children ‘ooh’ and ‘ah’ over the brightly colored buggies and embark on a ride.

First up when we hopped off the bus was a walk to the Nanking-style Cheng Hoong Teng Temple, one of the oldest Chinese temples in Southeast Asia. Chinese temples are usually a combination of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism (and others) and are prevalent throughout the region. Inside this temple were smaller altars and shrines all the way around the main building. One to Confucius where a family was leaving an offering of green spring onions (the Chinese word for ‘spring onion’ is the same as for ‘wisdom’). The family comes to pray for wisdom for their children and then have the children run 3 times around the small altar to seal the deal. Another featured the Tiger God, whose birthday is March 6. The small statues of the Tiger Gods were festively adorned in yellow robes.

This temple was crowded with young and old, come to celebrate the New Year (the observance and celebration of New Year varies country by country in Southeast Asia) with incense waving, offerings of fruit, murmuring of prayers. This temple was just beautifully decorated and has many little sections (like smaller chapels) all the way around the main central room. There are even glassed in cases with containers holding the ashes of those who have died (like a mausoleum).

Then we walked the 120 steps up to St. Paul’s Hill – and the church at the top – where we got a view out to the straits. I think the guide said that between 250 to 300 ships pass through here each day. The ruins of St. Paul’s Church, built to honor St. Francis Zavier, who brought Christianity to Malacca, sits at the top. From here, we could look out and see where the walls of the old Portuguese fort had surrounded the hill. Back in the day, the beach was just beyond this wall. But over the centuries, occupants have ‘reclaimed’ the land from the sea and the shoreline is now quite far away. There was a young newlywed couple being photographed in the church – she was lovely and willowy in purple silk that fluttered in the breeze.

There were “No Smoking Allowed” signs and billboards in the streets everywhere. When we headed back to the ship, our group met at the Hard Rock Café (there is one in almost every city we’ve visited) beside the canal. It was a very hot and humid day; we were glad to be back on the air conditioned bus for the short ride back to the dock.