Tuesday 19 November Melaka / Malacca?

After the exertions of the assault course today's event was far more sedate, a day trip to the historic city of Malacca, known as Melaka locally. More beautiful air conditioned buses whisked us two hours down the coast to the city where we were met by our official guide. He had us off the buses and into walking mode straight away.

We went from the Dutch 16th century church to the old Dutch fort, past British colonial buildings to one of the many museums the city boasts, this the history of Malaysia museum. From thence it was back into the sunshine to see the remains of a Portuguese gateway,up the hill to remains of a Dutch church for fine views over the city, back down the hill and across the river into Chinatown for a couple of temples and we were done. Free to go for lunch and have the rest of the afternoon to explore on our own.

decorated rickshaws

Portuguese gate

Chinese temple

British church over river

Dutch church & Queen Victoria memorial

A very quick history of Melaka. In 1403 it was a trading port for traders from around the world then the Portuguese came and wanted to control the trade. They were quickly deposed by the Dutch who built a fort, churches, houses and left their mark until the British arrived to kick the Dutch out. The British left their mark with administrative buildings and churches and were the last to leave in 1956 when Malaysia gained it's independence from the Crown.

Today the city is a major tourist attraction with as many museums as restaurants it seems, tour guides on every corner and a UNESCO world heritage city listing. The historical part is small enough to walk around in a day and have time to take in a river cruise as we did and a visit to the Maritime museum which we also did being devoted mariners.

Our buses picked us up at 4.30pm and we were whisked home. The only disappointment of the day was when the driver declined to stop at Tesco's supermarket on the outskirts of the city as it wasn't on the schedule.