Things to do in Melaka
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Honky Tonk Haven
A great new addition to the Melaka drinking scene, this music bar is run by Kiwi jazz pianist Joe 'Itchy Fingers' Webster and his singing wife Jill. Jazz memorabilia photos line the walls and spontaneous sessions of live music are performed by Joe, Jill and their collection of talented friends. It's a place to make fast friends, grab a quick meal (including real New Zealand-style burgers, and all-day breakfasts) and find out how funky you really are.
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Bukit China
East of Little India is Bukit China, which, besides being the largest Chinese graveyard outside of China, is also Melaka's best jogging track. More than 12,500 graves, including about 20 Muslim tombs, cover the 25 grassy hectares. Since the times of British rule until today there have been several attempts to acquire Bukit China for road widening, land reclamation or development purposes. Fortunately, Cheng Hoon Teng Temple, along with strong community support, has thwarted these attempts.
In the middle of the 15th century the sultan of Melaka imported the Ming emperor's daughter from China as his bride, in a move to seal relations between the two countries. She brought…
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Putuo Traditional Chinese Medical Therapy Centre
The original, and still one of the best reflexology centres, is Putuo Traditional Chinese Medical Therapy Centre, which offers straightforward, excellent-value services. If you have specific ailments – anything from migraines to water retention – the owner will create a special treatment for you. There are also ear candles, fire cupping, body scrubs and more. The centre’s ambience is no-frills Chinese institutional.
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Fortune-Teller Booths
Uncover your destiny at one of several little Chinese fortune-teller booths along Jonker's Walk on Friday and Saturday nights. The local Chinese in Malaysia frequently consult these mystics to ask for advice or to find out the most auspicious times of the year for certain occasions (such as weddings, financial investments, travel etc). Techniques range from card reading to fortune sticks, palm reading and Chinese astrology.
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Howard’s
A finely crafted ambience of creaseless linen, elegant furniture, black-and-white chequered tile floor, flavoursome international cuisine (lobster bisque, roast rack of lamb) and nonintrusive service, Howard’s is a thoroughly unhurried and intimate experience and a top romantic dining choice. Topped off with an impressive wine list, this is definitely Chinatown’s swankiest choice.
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Geographér Café
This ventilated, breezy bar with outside seating and late hours, in a prewar corner shophouse, is a godsend. A tasty choice of local and Western dishes (meals around RM8) and laid-back, but professional, service round it all off.
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Discovery Café
The staff take things at a serious stroll and the food is mediocre, but the location near the Melaka River, the late hours and the outside seating maintain a somewhat shaky allure. Stop by if you're looking for a tour guide.
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Poh Piah Lwee
An authentic and lively hole in the wall with one specialist cook preparing delicious Hokkien-style popiah (RM2), another making near-perfect rojak (RM3) while the third whips up a fantastic laksa (RM3).
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Architecture Museum
The Architecture Museum focuses on local housing design. It is worth visiting if you have time on your hands.
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St Paul's Church
St Paul's Church is a wonderfully breezy sanctuary reached after a steep and sweaty climb up a flight of stairs. Originally built by a Portuguese captain in 1521 as the small Our Lady of the Hill chapel, St Paul's Church is a sublime testament to Catholicism in East Asia and offers bright views over Melaka from the summit of knobby Bukit St Paul.
Inside the decaying stone interior are hefty, intricately engraved tombstones (of the Dutch nobility that are buried here) that lend an eerie air to an otherwise light atmosphere. The church was regularly visited by St Francis Xavier, who performed several 'miracles' in the church, and following his death in China the saint's…
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Cookery Course - Hotel Equatorial
The best souvenir you can bring home from Melaka is the cuisine. The Hotel Equatorial runs the only cookery course in town, which is available both as part of a hotel package and as an independent course. Instruction in Nonya cooking is given at the hotel's Seri Peranakan Restaurant by its head chef, Bong Geok Choo.
The hotel package, the 'Wok and Walk', includes a one-night stay in a 'superior' room, one buffet breakfast, one Nonya set lunch, one buffet dinner, two cooking workshop sessions, a walking tour of historical Melaka and a souvenir cookbook. It's quite a bargain when you consider that the published price of a one-night stay in a superior room without all the…
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Porta de Santiago
A quick photo stop but a must for anyone visiting Melaka, Porta de Santiago was built by the Portuguese as a fortress in 1511. The Dutch were busy destroying the bulk of the fort when forward-thinking Sir Stamford Raffles came by in 1810 and saved what remains today. Look for the 'VOC' inscription of the Dutch East India Company on the arch; ironically, this part of the fort was used by the Dutch after their takeover in 1670.
In November 2006, work on a highly controversial 110m revolving tower at a site near the tourist office, uncovered another part of the famous wall, thus halting further tower construction. Locals are thrilled that the sure-bet eyesore will be…
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Chitty Museum
As well as the Baba-Nonya, Melaka also has a small community of Chitty - Straits-born Indians, offspring of the Indian traders who intermarried with Malay women. Having arrived in the 1400s, the Chitties are regarded as older than the Chinese-Malay Peranakan community. Their area of town, known as Kampung Chitty, lies west of Jl Gajah Berang, about 1km northwest of Chinatown; look for the archway with elephant sculptures beside the Mutamariman Temple.
It's a pretty district in which to wander and see traditional Malay-style houses. This tiny Chitty Museum makes a great excuse to stroll to Kampung Chitty. It's a community effort with a collection of colourful artefacts…
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Teachew Cuisine
We walked past this place for about a week before we realised there was a restaurant here, and yet it's Melaka's claim to haute cuisine. Duck past mum, who washes the dishes on the sidewalk and spends all day chopping veggies and dismembering chickens. Smile at uncle who runs the rickety soup stall that efficiently covers the restaurant's doorway, and then you're in for a surprise.
The secret interior room is air-conditioned, the tables are set with China's finest and the walls are decorated with an impressive collection of hard liquor bottles and odd landscape paintings. There's no menu but everyone knows that you're supposed to order the soft-shell crab or the prawns.…
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8 Hereen Street
Run by the Heritage Trust of Malaysia, this 18th-century Dutch period residential house was restored as a model conservation project. The friendly host will show you around and describe what era each style of the building came from (some as far back as the Portuguese occupation) and what life would have been like inside its walls over the centuries. The project was partially chronicled by Lim Huck Chin and Fernando Jorge in their beautifully designed coffee-table book Voices from the Street, which is for sale at the house along with other titles on historical Melaka. You can also pick up an Endangered Trades: A Walking Tour of Malacca’s Living Heritage (RM5) booklet and…
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Masjid Tranquerah
Masjid Tranquerah takes a back seat to Masjid Kampung Hulu in terms of age but is still one of the oldest mosques in Malaysia (over 150 years old). In its graveyard is the tomb of Sultan Hussein of Johor, who signed over the island of Singapore to Stamford Raffles in 1819. The sultan later retired to Melaka, where he died in 1853. The mosque is out of Chinatown about 2km towards Port Dickson along Jln Tun Tan Cheng Lock, which turns into Jln Tengkera.
Avoid visiting this and any Malaysian mosque during prayer times, always remove your shoes and dress conservatively (knees to elbows covered). Although not required, women should wear a headscarf if possible.
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Cheng Ho Cultural Museum
A lengthy paean to Ming Admiral Cheng Ho (Zhenghe), this extensive museum charts the tremendous voyages of the intrepid eunuch Muslim Chinese seafarer. As a favourite servant of the Chinese emperor’s fourth son, Prince Zhu Di, Cheng Ho later became an army officer and ultimately the admiral of China’s ‘Treasure Fleet’, a convoy that solidified China’s control over most of Asia during the 15th century. It’s a great stop for history buffs, although there’s too much information here for anyone expecting a casual visit. The ticket price includes a 15-minute film presentation on Cheng Ho.
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Eco Bike Tour
For something different and to explore the fascinating landscape around Melaka, join Alias for his popular three-hour bike ride through 20km of oil-palm and rubber-tree plantations and delightful kampung communities surrounding town. Pick-up is from the Travellers' Lodge. Alias changes the tour around local events or festivals in the area such as a stop at a local wedding ceremony (only when available, of course).
The tour can leave at either 08:00 or 15:00 any day of the week as long as there are at least two people. There aren't any big hills and water is supplied.
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Restoran Sek Yow Fook
There's a little of everything at this hodge-podge Chinese place but it's all surprisingly good. English cooked breakfasts are available from 08:00 or there's a little congee (rice porridge) stall for those wanting to start the day local style. For lunch dive into the excellent Chinese buffet, but don't arrive past around 14:30 when the dregs have been sitting out sans refrigeration for hours.
For kids (or fussy grown-ups) there's an 'Elvis Presley' peanut-butter-and-banana sandwich on offer. A bar in the back serves beer.
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Jln Hang Jebat & Jln Tun Tan Cheng Lock Antique Shopping
Taking time to browse Chinatown's eclectic mix of shops is an activity in itself, even if you hate shopping. Start with the antique shops along Jln Hang Jebat (Jonker's St) and Jln Tun Tan Cheng Lock where you'll see dusty old junk, polished ancient relics and everything in between. Unless you really know your antiques, be very cautious about spending money in these shops. Rumour has it that some folks build new furniture out of old, discarded wood to make 'antique' pieces.
Prices are high and haggling is essential.
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Medan Portugis
Roughly 3km east of the city centre on the coast is the Medan Portugis. The small kampung centred on the square is the heart of Melaka's Eurasian community, descended from marriages between the colonial Portuguese and Malays 400 years ago, many of whom speak the creole language of Kristang (also called Papiah Kristang, Cristão or Cristan - derived from the word Christian). (For further information on the Kristang language, go to www.joanmarbeck.net.)
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Fort St John
Although the British demolished most of Porta de Santiago, they spared the small Dutch Fort St John. Originally a Portuguese chapel dedicated to St John the Baptist (until the Dutch rebuilt it in the 18th century), it stands on a hilltop to the east of town just before the turn-off to Medan Portugis. Only a few walls and cannon emplacements of the fort remain, but there are fine views from the hilltop. In the mornings a group of locals practice t'ai chi on the grassy field next to the fort.
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Cheng Hoon Teng Temple
Malaysia’s oldest traditional Chinese temple (dating from 1646) remains a central place of worship for the Buddhist community in Melaka. Notable for its carved woodwork, Cheng Hoon Teng Temple is dedicated to Guanyin, the Goddess of Mercy. All building materials for the temple were imported from China, along with the artisans involved in its construction. A robed effigy of Guanyin can be found within the main temple hall, itself an explosion of black, gold and red.
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Masjid Kampung Hulu
The oldest functioning mosque in Malaysia, this was commissioned by the Dutch in 1728. The Portuguese had destroyed all non-Christian establishments during their occupation, but the Dutch had different colonisation tactics and decided to help the locals rebuild their places of worship instead. The resulting mosque is made up of predominantly Javanese architecture with a multitiered roof; at the time of construction, domes and minarets had not yet come into fashion.
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Villa Sentosa
While not an official museum, the 1920s Malay kampung house Villa Sentosa, on the Melaka River in Kampung Morten, is well worth a visit. A member of the family will show you around the house. There’s a varied collection of objects, including Ming dynasty ceramics and a 100-year-old copy of the Quran, but most of all it’s an opportunity to wander through a genuine kampung house.
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