{"id":1271,"date":"2015-05-17T19:26:17","date_gmt":"2015-05-17T17:26:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/travelbucket.co.za\/?p=1271"},"modified":"2018-01-19T20:02:34","modified_gmt":"2018-01-19T18:02:34","slug":"melacca-malaysia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/travelbucket.co.za\/melacca-malaysia\/","title":{"rendered":"MELACCA, MALAYSIA"},"content":{"rendered":"

I stepped back in time when we visited this UNESCO world heritage site that looks out over the Straits of Melacca.\u00a0 This town, which is situated about two and a half hours\u2019 drive south of the capital Kuala Lumpur, is filled with history and many other influences.\u00a0 Once we arrived in Melacca a lot of things looked familiar yet slightly different which immediately reminded me of my home country, South Africa.\u00a0 Then it dawned upon me that this is where a lot of the influences in South Africa come from as a lot of South Africans are of Malay decent.<\/p>\n

We had a weekend to spare after hubby concluded his business trip to Kuala Lumpur so we hopped on one of the many long distance buses which runs between KL and Melacca.<\/p>\n

\"At

At the bus depot in Kuala Lumpur<\/p><\/div>\n

Driving out of KL I noticed many kilometres of rubber and palm olive plantations.\u00a0\u00a0 At first it is impressive, because back in South African we are not familiar with rubber and palm olive plantations.\u00a0 But then as you travel further away from KL the sad sight begins to unfold as you notice the massive deforestation that is happening to make way for these plantations.<\/p>\n

\"Rubber

Rubber and palm olive plantations as far as the eye can see<\/p><\/div>\n

Then we arrived at the bus depot on the outskirts of Melacca. \u00a0There was no language barrier, as most Malaysians can speak English, when we boarded a taxi to take as to the Aldy Hotel in the historic part of Melacca.<\/p>\n

\"We

We stayed at the Aldy Hotel in the historic part of town<\/p><\/div>\n

The famous Jonker Street, well known for its small antique shops and traditional foods, kept us busy for a whole morning.\u00a0 Here we experienced the friendliness of the Malay people while we browsed in tucked away shops, tasted some traditional cuisne and wandered the streets \u2013 everything felt so familiar!.\u00a0 Even \u201cJonker Street\u201d is spelt exactly the way we spell it in SA!<\/p>\n

\"Walking

Walking in Jonker Street<\/p><\/div>\n

Walking back over the bridge you enter the \u201cold city\u201d which is riddled with history as far back as 1511 when the Portuguese constructed Formosa Fort\u00a0 – one of the oldest surviving European buildings in South East Asia.\u00a0 As I walked on the original cobbled floors of the fort I was reminded that South Africa is still a \u201cyoung\u201d country as Jan van Riebeeck, from the VO,C only arrived in Cape Town during 1652.\u00a0 The fort changed hands in 1641 when the Dutch and VOC took command of Melacca.<\/p>\n

\"At

At Fort Formosa<\/p><\/div>\n

From the fort it was downhill – luckily as we were sweating profusely at this stage due to the high humidity – towards the historic town centre which features the Christ Church and other historic buildings.<\/p>\n

\"Sights

Sights from the town centre<\/p><\/div>\n

The streets were filled to the brim.\u00a0 In front of the historic church a newly wed couple was taking their wedding pictures amongst the colourful sidewalk stalls, pedestrians and flower sellers.<\/p>\n

\"Streets

Streets filled with colour<\/p><\/div>\n

It was time to rest our feet so it was a good call to take one of the red hop-on-hop-off tourist buses that shows you all the noteworthy places in Melacca.\u00a0 The bus ride will keep you busy for about an hour, but at least you can rest your feet and have a bit of a breather while enjoying the sights and sounds of the city.<\/p>\n

\"The

The red tourist bus<\/p><\/div>\n

In the late afternoon, in search for something to eat and a cool breeze, we took a walk along the main channel of Melacca and stumbled upon several eateries such as the Dutch Harbour Caf\u00e9 with it’s (of course) Dutch owners serving excellent food.<\/p>\n

\"channel\"

The sight along the channel<\/p><\/div>\n

The weekend was drawing to a close and it was time to return to KL to catch a flight back to SA.\u00a0 We tasted food of good quality at very affordable prices, experienced the friendliness of the Malay people, could understand a lot of the Malay words as it was so close to Afrikaans and tasted some refreshing tea tarik that you buy in plastic bags from the street vendors! \u00a0 \u00a0It is traditional tea \u00a0made from black tea, condensed milk and\/or evaporated milk (I think I also tasted a little bit of ginger?) and is considered \u00a0the national drink of Malaysia.<\/p>\n

\"Tea

Tea tarik<\/p><\/div>\n

Should you visit Malaysia? \u00a0 \u00a0A definite yes from me!\u00a0 One of my personal favourites.<\/p>\n

“Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.”<\/span>
\n Dr. Seuss<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I stepped back in time when we visited this UNESCO world heritage site that looks out over the Straits of Melacca.\u00a0 This town, which is situated about two and a half hours\u2019 drive south of the capital Kuala Lumpur, is filled with history and many other influences.\u00a0 Once we arrived in Melacca a lot of things looked familiar yet slightly different which immediately reminded me of my home country, South Africa.\u00a0 Then it dawned upon me that this is where a lot of the influences in South Africa come from as a lot of South Africans are of Malay decent. We had a weekend to spare after hubby concluded his business trip to Kuala Lumpur so we hopped on one of the many long distance buses which runs between KL and Melacca. Driving out of KL I noticed many kilometres of rubber and palm olive plantations.\u00a0\u00a0 At first it is… Read more ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1291,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[154],"tags":[180,179,178,389,177,193,564],"geo":null,"yoast_head":"\nMELACCA, MALAYSIA - TRAVELBUCKET<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/travelbucket.co.za\/melacca-malaysia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"MELACCA, MALAYSIA - TRAVELBUCKET\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I stepped back in time when we visited this UNESCO world heritage site that looks out over the Straits of Melacca.\u00a0 This town, which is situated about two and a half hours\u2019 drive south of the capital Kuala Lumpur, is filled with history and many other influences.\u00a0 Once we arrived in Melacca a lot of things looked familiar yet slightly different which immediately reminded me of my home country, South Africa.\u00a0 Then it dawned upon me that this is where a lot of the influences in South Africa come from as a lot of South Africans are of Malay decent. We had a weekend to spare after hubby concluded his business trip to Kuala Lumpur so we hopped on one of the many long distance buses which runs between KL and Melacca. Driving out of KL I noticed many kilometres of rubber and palm olive plantations.\u00a0\u00a0 At first it is... 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