Page 15 - Explore Magazine Winter 2016

13

48 HOURS PM: Melaka is renowned for its “hawker” street food
culture, with the most famous dish being the “World-
Famous Chicken Rice Ball”. Fish wrapped in pandanus
leaves and of course the renowned satay dishes are
also great, and incredibly cheap. Jonker Street is the
IN MELAKA starting-point for a street food and cultural experience
but do venture a little into the side streets where you
will find many family-owned restaurants and cafes
which are great places to watch the world go by.
Although everything is within an easy walk, we took
a super-fun, albeit garishly-decorated “Hello Kitty”
Louise Sneddon of Explore magazine finds that the historic city trishaw to get to Jonker Street, which added to the
experience. Our trishaw driver, who has been pedalling
of Melaka is the stuff that legends are made of. for nearly four decades, also took us to points of
interest that included Malaysia’s oldest mosque, and
a Chinese temple which was in all its glory during the
DAY ONE Chinese New Year celebrations.
AM: Once one of the most important ports in the In the evening I attended a corporate function at
world and now extensively protected as a UNESCO The Shore Sky Tower Melaka, adjacent to the Shore
World Heritage Site, the Malaysian city of Melaka has Shopping Centre and the Swiss Gardens Hotel and
a fabulous collection of architecture, monuments, Residences. The function venue was 42 floors up on an
churches and stories from its centuries of trading open rooftop with panoramic views across the city to
activity on the Straits of Malacca. the Straits of Melaka. The glass-bottomed Sky Walk is
not for the faint-hearted but it is exhilarating and makes
On an early-morning walk along the riverside I was for the best selfies in the region!
thrilled by the eclectic mix of European and Chinese
influences. Once dubbed the “Venice of the East”, On the floor beneath is the Sky Deli and Bar which
the main river canal is flanked by muralled houses, serves great cocktails and a locally-inspired à la carte
boutique hotels, bars and eateries. It is a great place for menu alongside Western options and bar snacks.
getting the measure of the town and planning where to Decorated in contemporary plantation style, the Sky
go next. Deli and Bar is a must-do!

DAY TWO
AM: I enjoyed morning coffee at a Spanish-style tapas bar PM: The sight of the riverboat cruises going up and
next to the Swiss Garden Hotel, then joined a walking down the river was too much to resist so we boarded
tour of the UNESCO World Heritage part of the city. We a riverboat cruise for a different perspective and more
met our guide in the town square, also known as Dutch stories about this town which comes alive at night. The
Square. From here we proceeded to see the “oldest” of old murals on the side of the houses and restaurants
everything in Malaysia and many incredibly preserved are floodlit after dark and the trishaws are resplendent
buildings and churches that are testimony to those who and no doubt traffic-safe in their night lights of fluoro-
came before. pinks, greens and blues.
St Paul’s Hill and the statue of St Francis Xavier added We ended the evening by wandering along the
another dimension to this historic walk, with even the riverbanks and popping in and out of the many small
hill itself hiding some secrets and many, many stories. bars and eateries along the way. And we stopped for
Portugese tombstones revealed more of the history of one of the great pleasures of this place: watching the
the region, while others were legacies of great explorers world cruise by.
and persons of note who travelled from the farthest
corners of the globe to seek their fortune in this mecca
of trading. This place really does evoke a sense of
stepping back in time to the era of galleons, pirates and
yes, much treasure!

HELLOWORLD : EXPLORE : WINTER EDITION