Today we had a late start – we only woke up at 9.30! All the traveling we did yesterday had us exhausted. So after rubbing the sleep from our eyes and filling up our water bottles (gotta stay hydrated!), we headed off. We walked along the Melaka River towards the main town centre and decided to pop into the museum there. As luck would have it, the museum had the World Press Photo ’11 on exhibition. We were surprised to find that the winner that year was a South African photo journalist. The photos were both compelling and disturbing. You can check them out here: worldpressphoto.org. Documenting abortions in Uganda; the volcanic eruptions in Indonesia; and gang violence in Mexico - it was intense!
After about two hours of emotion abuse at the museum (and a few tears) we caught a bus from the Dutch Square, just outside the big red Christ Church building, to the Portuguese Settlement. The Portuguese Settlement is basically the remnants of the Portuguese rule over Melaka in the 16th century. I was amused to find Texeira road. ‘Texeira’ is a very common Portuguese surname!
Apparently, shortly after the Portuguese arrived they built 10 homes along that road as sort of a ‘pilot project’ for upliftment in the community of very poor fisherman. Unfortunately, it seems as if that’s all they did. We wandered off along that bay and found, tucked behind some restaurants, the museum. The old man running the museum was thrilled to see us (it really is a sleepy town!) and refused to let us leave until we sat and chatted with him. He said that in the last year he had had only one other South African through the museum. The cherry on top, of course, was when I told him of my Portuguese heritage. He went on to tell me all the Portuguese words he knew and showed me some textbooks in the language. He very proudly said he was the oldest person in the town and that he would continue to learn about his history until he died.
Apparently, shortly after the Portuguese arrived they built 10 homes along that road as sort of a ‘pilot project’ for upliftment in the community of very poor fisherman. Unfortunately, it seems as if that’s all they did. We wandered off along that bay and found, tucked behind some restaurants, the museum. The old man running the museum was thrilled to see us (it really is a sleepy town!) and refused to let us leave until we sat and chatted with him. He said that in the last year he had had only one other South African through the museum. The cherry on top, of course, was when I told him of my Portuguese heritage. He went on to tell me all the Portuguese words he knew and showed me some textbooks in the language. He very proudly said he was the oldest person in the town and that he would continue to learn about his history until he died.
We then took a 20-minute bus ride into town and were dropped off at Jonker Walk, which is famed for antiques. I loved it! When it started to rain we took shelter in the Maritime museum; which is housed in a huge replica ship. The learned a great deal about the part that Melaka played in world trade throughout history. The Dutch, the British, the Portuguese; everybody wanted to lay claim to the port and the riches it offered.
Then we headed back to our Guesthouse, L’Armada, and got the shock of our lives! Our room had been cleaned out… everything! Phil marched down the passage and woke the sleeping owner. Turns out the windows, we stupidly left open, had let in all the rain. He kindly moved all our belongings to a much nicer room and gave us a discount (!) for our ‘trouble’. Yay! Once again, our budget is on track. We chilled, played cards, and high-fived over saving money for the rest of the afternoon.
At night we headed towards Chinatown and were treated to some spontaneous street-side karaoke. Then a local, who didn’t speak much English, approached us pointed in some general direction and said ‘Chinese Temple’. We took this as an instruction and went along to see the temple. And, oh boy, there was lots of action at the temple. Turns out that they were celebrating that temple’s ‘birthday’ and there was a really cool ceremony going on with fireworks, people in dragon costumes, drums and bells – much merriment for all. We were the only Westerners who had been ‘tipped off’ about the ceremony and felt honoured to watch the goings-on (although I’m sure the symbolism was lost on us). After that our day felt complete.
All in all, a wonderful day!
Until next time,
Luisa
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