The Historical City of Melaka

Upon departing Danga Bay, our journey took us down the south end of Johor, past the point where we had visited the southernmost tip of mainland Asia and up through the shipping channels of the Malacca Straits.  We stopped the first night at a little island thinking that we'd make the rest of the journey an overnighter but, as seems to be the norm these days, if and when there is some wind, it's NEVER from a sailable direction, in this case, directly on the nose.  Along with that was the fact that we had several knots of current against us more than half the way therefore our brief trip took another day and a half to achieve.  Throw in a nasty weather system, unlit fishing boats and huge ships bearing down on us on either side - well, it didn't make for a relaxing journey but it wasn't as bad as this sounds.  We made it to Port Dickson, the next port of call on the Malaysian Rally.

Town square & clock tower

The rally was offering a couple of different bus tours from this point and the first was a day trip down to the historical city of Melaka (Malacca) which has a rich historical and cultural background from previous Portuguese, Dutch and British rule.  The city centre was listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 2008.

We visited the old fort of Fomosa built by the Portuguese in the 16th Century, wandered through the interesting Cultural Museum, Christ Church and St Paul's Church where the body of St. Francis Xavier was interred for a while then sauntered through the narrow streets of Little China and Little India.

Replica of Cheng Ho's ship

We also visited a museum dedicated to China's Cheng Ho (Zheng He), who commanded expeditionary voyages to southeast Asia, south Asia, the Middle East and east Africa from 1405 to 1433 long preceding those of Magellan, Columbus, Drake and Vasco de Gama, history that was somewhat unknown by the western world until recently.

What an interesting day it turned out to be, giving us a good insight into Malay history.  This cruising lifestyle is definitely proving to be the most educational way to take lessons in culture, geography and history.

PHOTO ALBUM:

Elaborately decorated bicycle rickshaws

Fort along the canal

View from St Paul's

Masjid Kampung Kling Mosque

Kuil Cheng Hoon Teng Temple

Chinatown

Tea Shop

16th Century vases

14th Century Ming vases

View along canal