On my previous visit to Malaysia, I went to Malacca on 31st Dec 2015. It was a spontaneous idea, since I have 1 day off in Kl before I heading to Penang on the next day. I woke up early as always and had myself ready to reach the KL Sentral. Arrived in KL Sentral I walked to the tourist information centre and asked for the possibility for me to visit Malacca that day and comeback at the same day. The staff explained me that its possible and gave me the map of Malacca. She showed me attractions to visit and how to get there.
Approximately 15 minutes waiting for the monorail to the Terminal Bersepadu Selatan at Bandar Tasik Selatan, I met Indonesian lady who sit right next to me. She asked where I heading to. When she knew was on my way to Malacca, she surprised as she also on her way to Malacca. Her name is Mba Suryanti, she had an appointment with doctor in Malacca to did a general checkup. We share a lot and about everything. One thing that I like about her is she encouraged me to travel the world. She has been almost everywhere and shared the story with me.
The trip from KL to Malacca by public bus is 2 hours (depends on the traffic) and pay for RM 13 per way (price is subject to change). What I heard about attraction in Malacca are the Stadhuys (Red Buildings), The Famous China Town and also the river cruise. Arrived in Malacca I had lunch with Mba Suryanti at the bus station then we took taxi to the hospital. From the hospital, I had to continue walking to the Stadhuys. With the help of some locals I met along the way, I finally reached there after 15 minutes walking. As it started raining, I decided to explore by trishaw. The trishaws in Malacca are uniquely designed. The one I rent was with Hello Kitty Theme and Malay songs as back sound. The first stop, my trishaw driver dropped me at A Famosa, a Portuguese Fortress and the oldest surviving European architectural remains in South East Asia. Only a small gate house called Porta de Santiago still remains today. I walked along the small gate and there were local painters inside the gate and they sold their paintings and also offered me to do the live painting.
Nearby A Famosa, I found quite interesting spots; an old train with the old plane in the center of the park. What made this more interesting is they allocated the train as the souvenir shop. The Trishaw driver then took me to The Stadthuys – a historical structure situated in Malacca City which is famous with the red buildings and located close to the red clock tower. This area has a beautiful fountain in the center and I spotted a church, fountain, clock tower and windmill miniature.
Walking up to a hill behind the Stadthuys, standing the ruin of St Paul’s Church, the oldest church in the South East Asia. Built in 1521, St Paul’s Church is dedicated to the Virgin Mary and what made this church become more special is the relation with St Francis Xavier, where he used the chapel as base for his missionary journey and this church became temporary grave before his body shipped to Goa. Today the open grave still exist as the honor of St Francis Xavier.
The last place I visited that day was the Jonker Street. It’s an area where the 14th century china houses settled. Rich with the Peranakan culture, Jonker street offers plenty of attraction and culinary experience. I’m in love with the samosa. Its super delicious, probably the best samosa I ever had in my life, too bad I couldn’t taste every food they had since I travelling alone and it’s hard to eat everything in a visit. Visiting museums and shops selling antiques and souvenirs are also fun to do. When entering the antique shops, I suddenly felt like I was in old China era. Those beautiful antiques stufs really pampered my eyes. Another cool thing to do in Jonker street is the river cruise, imagine cruising in the river next to the beautiful old Chinatown. Its superb, but too bad I didn’t take the cruise.
After 5 hours of wandering the heart of Malacca, I had to go back to KL. I got another drama in the station, the bus ticket for 5pm already sold (it was a New Year’s Eve). And the only possibility was to take the bus at 8.45pm. Despite the drama, I was pretty lucky to get the last ticket for the day. Thank God.
Ps: due to the late arrival in KL, I missed the fireworks show at the KLCC tower #sad