Day 289: A Day in Malacca

I got to the city of Malacca (or Melaka) late in the morning and did my usual stubborn habit of walking from the bus station the few kilometers to my hostel. Malacca was made into a UNESCO site jointly with Georgetown, and they both have that architectural and cultural mix of a complicated colonial past. Malacca grew from a Malay fishing village to a major trading city for the Chinese before being captured and passing hands between the Portugese, Dutch, British and Japanese. Since I only had the single afternoon to explore the city I skipped having a nap despite being pretty exhausted by this point, and headed out to explore the city.

The central river though town that passed near the hostel was lined with buildings painted in colourful murals, mostly showing off aspects of local culture and history.

I followed the river down to the town center which contains a cluster of buildings that make up the local museum. The museum was quite varied and had a lot in it, but most of the information was just describing what things were, and there wasn't much historical / narrative information to really put any of it context.

Finally I walked back towards the hostel down Jonker Street. It's the major shopping street that has a lot of antique and artsy shops, and I had a good time browsing through things. I bought a new t-shirt and a pair of Thai fisherman pants to supplement my constantly evolving wardrobe.