Malacca

March 04, 2024

Malacca

I ended up staying in Malacca for three nights. Malacca is the English spelling of Melaka, which is in Malay. I see both spellings throughout the town and I’m going to be consistent with Google Maps.

The first morning, I walked around Chinatown via Jonker Walk. I also went inside Cheng Hoon Teng Temple briefly, but wasn’t impressed. I was more impressed by the Melaka Street Art, which is a small street that has some cool murals. By the time I finished eating a vegetarian lunch the afternoon humidity and heat made me decide to go back to the Cardamom Hostel, where I was staying.

I booked a room at the hostel since I wanted some quietness, but the room doesn’t have a window, like the inn in Johor Bahru. Every morning I felt like I was waking up in the middle of the night even though it was past 8 AM.

In any case, on the second morning I walked to the east of the town that’s separated by Melaka River. I went to Dutch Square with all the red buildings. Then walked up a hill to get to the Church of Saint Paul, which is in ruins. I took a photo of what remained of a fortress called A Famosa before spending 20 MYR (~$4) to go to the Melaka Sultanate Palace Museum. Lastly, I went inside the Proclamation of Independence Memorial. I learned that Malaysia was formed when a bunch of states decided to vote to form a country in the early 1960s and Singapore opted out of it, thus forming its own city-state.

Once again, the afternoon’s heat defeated my energy to walk and explore more. Since I’ve seen most parts of Malacca I felt it was enough for my visit this time.

This morning, I took a Grab taxi to Melaka Sentral bus terminal and spent a little over 10 MYR (~$2) for the 10:30 AM bus to Kuala Lumpur’s Terminal Bersepadu Selatan bus station. The Grab taxi I took to the hostel was more than three times the cost of the bus ticket, which I thought was amusing.

This hostel is called KLCC Dorm and is actually located inside a hotel. I plan on going to the pool later and enjoy the afternoon in the cool water rather than in the heat.