Malacca

Malacca (or Melaka in Malay) recently gained UNESCO world heritage status and it’s easy to see why. When the Portuguese colonised this town in 1511 they created a huge trading port allowing the town to prosper for centuries to come. There are still huge Portugese influences in the town, not least in the Portuguese Quarter, of course. Chris and I visited here on our first night and had a wonderful evening strolling along the residential streets whose houses were filled to brimming with Christmas lights! The Catholic Kristangs ( people with partial Portuguese ancestry) go all out for Christmas, it seems! Chris and I were so happy to be feeling Christmassy at last.

Until Singapore, where we landed on 7 December and found Christmas trees, fairy lights and Christmassy music, we hadn’t seen any signs of Christmas around. Such a change from the usual hooh-hah in the UK where supermarkets are already stocked up with Christmas cards and the like from September - I strongly dislike this about Christmas at home and was so pleased not to live through the commercialism this year. Having said that, by the time we reached Malacca on 22 December we were ready to soak it all in. And boy was there a lot to soak in:

The houses were streaming with twinkling fairy lights...

We saw a family of girls carolling…

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People were setting fireworks off in the square...

A Father Christmas was strolling around ho-ho-ho-ing…

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WOW! What a treat for us when we’ve been away from all things Christmassy since last year! It was a special experience made more so because we were in an Islamic country. We loved walking around this quarter and seeing the faces of the people change once again - this time we really could see the Portuguese ancestry in their faces.

Christ Church, Malacca

Following the Portuguese came the Dutch occupation of Malacca. In their quarter, amongst the parliamentary buildings now posing as an interesting museum of Malacca’s history, the Dutch left a beautiful red church: Christ Church. I was thrilled to be able to listen to the Christmas Carols here on Christmas Eve. The choir were practicing for the evening’s carol service and I sat down a while to enjoy it during an early morning walk. It was an eerie sensation to be hearing ‘Away in a Manger’ and ‘Hark, the Herald Angels’ as I looked through the door to the intense, dazzling sunshine where palm trees were swaying in the breeze. Weird. Especially as I knew that back home you were all expecting a tremendous white Christmas. I think I had a little teary moment at this stage as I hummed along to ‘Oh Come all ye Faithful’ and remembered the carol services I usually go to back home…

The Brits made their appearance after the Dutch but we couldn’t really see any examples of British architecture apart from a few red brick buildings. They did however make use of the Portugese church, storing gunpowder here and almost completely destroying it.

In addition to Portuguese, Dutch and British influences, the architecture here has been hugely influenced by the Straits Chinese culture.

Ruins of the Dutch St Paul's Church

where the British stored gunpowder

We had better luck in Malacca with our hostel than in KL. In fact, we stayed in an amazing little place, extremely old and charming - the Sama Sama Guesthouse. It was supposedly the oldest in town and with creaking wooden floor boards and a beautiful garden/courtyard just outside our first floor window, Chris and I were happy here.

We enjoyed exploring Malacca on the free bikes the hostel provided and loved how old it all was. Charming houses, pleasant cafés, delightful food courts; we enjoyed our stay in this friendly town. Visiting the Portuguese quarter had certainly put us in the Christmas Spirit and we were so excited now to spend Christmas with Sara-Sam’s family in Johor Bahru (JB to Malaysians). We caught the bus on the afternoon of Christmas Eve in high spirits…