You say Melaka, I say Malacca
Trip Start
Nov 15, 2006
1
81
228
Trip End
Jul 15, 2008
Melaka,
Malaysia
Saturday, April 7, 2007
Melaka, Malaysia
This morning we took a bus from Johor Bahru to Melaka. The taxi from the hotel to the bus station was RM10 and the two bus tickets to Melaka cost RM25.20. We are staying at the Chong Hoe Hotel and the price for three nights is RM135 with bathroom and AC. The hotel is on Jalan Tokong just a couple blocks from Jonkers Street with lots of antique shops. Down the street from our hotel is the Merciful Cloud Temple which is the oldest Chinese Buddhist temple in the country. And directly across from us is the Mosque, Masjid Kampung Kling, built in 1748 and next to that is a Hindu temple. A short walk over the bridge crossing the Malacca river takes us to Christ Church built by the Dutch in 1753. Up the street from Christ Church is St Peter's, a Roman Catholic Church. All these temples, mosques and churches reflect the unique history of Melaka. It is just so great being here.
Melaka also known as Malacca is a place of great history. Not just local tribal history but world history. It's location on the Straits of Melaka, where half the year there is favorable winds for sailing east to the Spice Islands and the other half favorable winds for sailing west to Persia, made it a hub for world commerce ages ago. An unnamed European wag said, "Whoever is lord of Malacca has his hands on the throat of Venice." In preparing for our trip we had read bits of the history of the area and were looking forward to just being there and soaking it up. The founder of Malacca was Paramesvara a prince from Sumatra who in the 1300s had some problems in his home town implicating him in an assassination there.
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Not saying he did it but he did leave suddenly. He stopped at the mouth of a river and let his dogs out to do their duty and while he rested under a melaka tree a small deer showed up and kicked his dogs' butts. He was so impressed he decided to stay. Some Malaysians insist Paramesvara adopted Islam but that religion didn't arrive until the next century. These things apparently are important to some people because in Java our guide insisted that Christianity arrived there before Islam. Whatever. But in 1511 Henry the Navigator of Portugal sent Captain Albuquerque around Africa to conquer Malacca. One of Albuquerque's lieutenants was Magellan who would later try to take a short cut from Spain by going from east to west. Some Malays tried to revolt against the Portuguese and were caught by Albuquerque. They were turned over to Magellan to be taken to India to be executed. Magellan liked one of the rebels and took him back to Portugal and named him Henry the Black. Henry later sails with Magellan when he made his famous voyage. Henry the Black made it back to the islands of Malaysia before he died, but not to his home in Malacca. The Portuguese held on until the Dutch arrived in 1641. When Holland was threatened by Napoleon the Dutch handed Malacca over to the English in 1795. We learned all this and more at the Melaka Museum of Natural History. We'll stay here for three days and then travel on to Kuala Lumpur.
