Melaka or Malacca – that is the Question

Which is it – Melaka or Malacca

This confused me even before I got to Melaka.  Which one is the correct spelling and why was I seeing it spelt differently.

It’s actually fairly straight forward.  Melaka is the Malay spelling and Malacca is the English spelling.  The State of Melaka announced earlier this year that the name of the state has been standardised to Melaka.  The English spelling of the name Malacca should no longer be used.  So for this blog, I will be referring it to as ‘Melaka’.

Why Melaka

We had been House/Pet sitting in Singapore for the past 2 weeks and we had 7 days before needing to be in Kuala Lumpur to start our next assignment.  Seemed like a perfect opportunity to visit Melaka.  We like to call it our holiday time.  It’s important to us and our hosts to be 100% committed to the pets in our care when House/Pet Sitting, so we like to use the break as a bit of a holiday between commitments.

We departed Singapore by bus, bound for Melaka.  We booked the tickets on line so we just needed to show up to the office of Luxury Coach Services office at 7am on the morning of departure.  Our tickets cost $33SGD ($33NZ) each for the 3-4 hour trip across the border into Malaysia.

It was a very modern and comfortable coach with recliner seats and wifi once we crossed into Malaysia.  This is our second time to cross the Singapore/Malaysia border by bus.  It is very easy and quick and much more streamline than an airport.  It would depend on the amount of coaches in at the same time but we have been lucky both crossings.

Accommodation

Because we were staying for 7 nights, we thought that we would try AirBnB and negotiate a better price for a longer stay.

We’re not avid fans of AirBnB but we have found that it does depend on your destination as to the best booking site to use.  It is not always the cheapest option once you get charged booking and cleaning fees.

Never judge a place by the name……..we booked into Golden Showers Apartments and were in the Cobbywobbles Room.  Yup, I agree, it’s a very weird name.  To top it all off, it had a pole in the lounge – Joanne our host said it wasn’t for pole dancing but for pole exercise.

It was Joanne’s private apartment but we had our own room, ensuite, A/C and shared her living area and kitchen.  

Joanne was lovely and our room was large and clean.  The location was quiet and set off the road but that was where the pro’s stopped. We paid 113MYR ($36nz) per night which was cheaper than most places we looked at.  This was because we were quite a distance out of town.  Usually this wouldn’t be a problem, especially if we could walk into town or to a eatery for meals.

We walked into town once and that was enough.  It took us nearly an hour in 30+ degree heat and there were no footpaths so we were negotiating a busy road and pot holes the entire way.

There were also no eating places around us at all.  Our only saving grace was that there was a 7 Eleven and mini-mart close by so a lot of our meals consisted of instant noodles and peanut butter sandwiches.

We used Grabcar whenever we had to go into town but tried to limit this to once a day so our outings were all day affairs which included dinners before heading back.

It would have been better for us to be closer into the Old Town so that we could come and go as we please – especially for the length of time we stayed – even if it cost us a bit more to do so.

Steeped in History

Melaka is quite unique in that it is rich in a historical and cultural background from previous Portuguese, Dutch and British rule.

The city centre (Old Town) was listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 2008, along with Georgetown, Penang.

Melaka is the centre of the Peranakan culture.  This is a result of the Chinese coming to Melaka as miners, traders and coolies then taking local brides and adopting many local customs.  This resulted in an interesting fusion of local and Chinese cultures.  This is where the term Baba (master) and Nyonyas (mistress) derives from.

This mix of cultures is also evident in their food.  It is absolutely divine and we spent some time sampling the most authentic dishes we could find.  It certainly has a unique flavour and one hard to replicate.  Some of these dishes has been handed down through 7 generations.  Thankfully there was a lot of evidence that this culture is being kept alive and well in Melaka.

Melaka Highlights.

Melaka River

The Melaka River flows through the middle of the Old Town.  This was a vital trade route during the heyday as far back as the 15th century.

A couple of years ago, there was a project launched to revive and rejuvenate the river.  Costing 350million MYR (36.7m NZ) it included restoration of buildings along the riverbank, restoration of the many bridges, dredging, concrete riverbanks and river walkways.

We spent quite some time walking along these riverbanks and covered around 18kms from start to finish.  It is a great drawcard but we certainly didn’t pass many tourists enjoying it.  We loved the riverside eateries, homestays, Guesthouses and historic buildings with their own style of street art.

River boats constantly cruise up and down the waterways.  This would have been a great way to see the town but we didn’t think that it would have been worth it seem we had covered the entirety by foot.

Museums and Historic Buildings

There are many examples of Melaka’s rich heritage including Portuguese fortresses, Dutch town halls, Chinese temples and various churches and mosques.  Many of them have been preserved as museums of history or culture.

Unless you are a museum junkie, it is a good idea to choose which museum’s are worth visiting.  A good couple of days can be spent walking around the historic sights and museums alone.  We decided on visiting the Maritime Museum on the river front.  Entrance fee of 10MYR ($3.20nz) each also got you into the Navy museum across the road.  A fascinating history all about important trading industry dating back to the Portuguese era.

We also visited the Prison Museum on the outskirts of town and a few smaller private museums that are dotted along Herron Street and Jonker Walk.

The Submarine Museum was located out of town but within walking distance from our accommodation.  We wandered along for a look. It is quite unique in the fact that you can wander through this French built submarine.  It was used to train Royal Malaysian Navy crews from 2005 to 2009.

There is also a couple of fighter jets on display as well.

There is also Chinatown, Little India, remnants of a Portuguese settlement and a climb to the top of St Paul’s Hill.  St Paul’s church which stands proudly on top is sadly in ruins but it does date back to 1521.  This makes it the oldest church building in Malaysia and SE Asia.

Speaking of old – we visited Bukit Cina (Chinese Cemetery) – This cemetery is one of the oldest and largest Chinese cemeteries located outside of China.  It is located in a huge parklike area taking up most of a large hill.

The more important your position in the Chinese community, the higher up the hill you were buried.

The oldest grave dates back to 1622 and it is estimated that up to 12,500 graves are located here.  The area is at full capacity and the only people that can be buried here are those who already have plots as part of a larger family plot.

Jonker Walk Night Market

The city gets very busy on weekends when the big drawcard is the Jonker Walk Night Market.  The surrounding Chinatown streets become a pedestrian area as stalls and hordes fill the roadway.

We jostled our way through the crowds as we enjoyed some local delicacies along the way.  Apart from the food, it is your usual night market with a great vibe and energy.

We found a great spot to sit on the footpath and partake in a ‘cold one’ and watch the passing pedestrian traffic, local sites and sounds.

Huskitory Cafe

This is a cafe full of Huskies – yes the dog variety.

There are 9 huskies for patrons to play with and they rotate them around during the day.  It is quieter on weekdays so we thought we might take a wander along to see what all the hype is about (it is rated #1 on TripAdvisor).

Entrance fee is 18MYR ($5.80nz) each to get in and you get a cold drink included.

The dogs seem to be in good condition, very well groomed and happy.  The cafe was A/C which would be a must for these types of dogs which are breed for the cold climates.

They brought out a little puppy but patrons could not hold it, only give it a pat a photo opportunity.  The money is said to go towards their breeding programme.

The only thing that we weren’t so happy with was that to get a free bag of doggy snacks to feed the dogs, you needed to post a positive review on Tripadvisor – that is when we realized how they are rated as #1 attraction.

We declined the free bag and brought two bags instead and saved our review for later.  Needless to say, we did not give them an excellent.  Although it was well run – it certainly wasn’t the best attraction we visited in Melaka.

Summary

Melaka is certainly worth a visit.  It reminded us a lot of George Town in Penang.  It is not as big as George Town but is older with more history.

As we were using this as a stop gap between house sits, we stayed 7 nights.  We feel that you could easily see all of the best parts of Melaka with a 3 night stay.

I would suggest that you pick your location carefully as there are a lot of accommodation options further away from the Old Town and feel that it is worth the extra money to be closer to the action of Jonker Walk.

As with a lot of cities in SE Asia, there is major development going on, mainly by Chinese investors.  A huge reclamation project has happened and is still ongoing.  Acres and acres of land is been taken from the sea to build large condominiums and commercial buildings.  From what we could see, a large amount of these are still empty – waiting for goodness knows what.

It is so fortunate that the Old Town has the Heritage protection and cannot be demolished, only restored back to their former glory. Many of the shops and houses have already undergone a transformation but there is still a long way to go.

Click on the link below for highlights of our stay in Melaka.