Lost in Melaka

Imagine your favourite part of Bristol on a summer’s day. Now add a few more canals, a bigger budget for Upfest and St Paul’s (and better weather) you’re not too far away from a sunny afternoon in Melaka.

We both like it here, and have to admit that we both need to recover just a little bit from cycling and trekking in the humid heat of Malaysia, so we’re taking a minute to soak it all up.

Too hot to walk? No problem, you’re probably looking for these guys! No idea how these decorated (and loud) trishaws evolved in Melaka, but Pikachu is faster than Spiderman - who knew?

Hungry? Let’s head into the UNESCO world heritage site for some Malay, no wait, Indian? Chinese? Korean? Mexican? Somali? Spanish? Portuguese? Syrian? Japanese or maybe American? …and if none of that tickles your fancy you can always fall back on fish n chips or a pie and a pint.

We soon establish that everything we want to try is good, and all of it less than a kilometre’s walk. Jonkers street is right at the centre of it all, when we visited this was definitely the place to go for strange nibbles and odd battery powered gifts.

Sadly one of the snacks available bears a striking resemblance to our much loved Draco.

We both hope we’re wrong and opt for the Buah Keluak instead - a large, poisonous seeds from the Pangium edule tree found in Southeast Asian mangrove swamps. When properly prepared (by burying in ash for 40 days to ferment) the inner mush is delicious and apparently quite good for you, unlike the cyanide-heavy raw form.

Melaka is a bit like the Tardis - it’s not actually bigger on the inside, but spend a bit of time here and this small city will slowly reveal how much is packed into it. Beyond the main tourist highlight that is the hectic street-food night market of Jonkers walk, and the slightly niffy canal and it’s turbo bathtub tour boats, there is much more going on - new alleyways open up each night, fresh murals show up on walls that were blank the day before, cool little live music bars materialise out of nowhere, you can only see them if you stop long enough to hear them.After nearly 2 weeks on and off in Melaka we discovered all kinds of fun corners.

We’d recommend staying in at least a couple of different hotels while you’re in the UNESCO world heritage site. Even if you think you’ve found the coolest place, the next corner you turn will probably prove you wrong. Unassuming entrances lead into cool dark hallways packed with antique Malay and Chinese furniture. Next come the carp ponds and water features at which point you might find the reception counter. Intact buildings open up much further and wider than seems possible on to inner courtyards and spiral staircases. The intense heat of the street outside long forgotten by the time you reach your room. Yeah, Okay, sometimes the air conditioning might sound like a plane trying to land, but the location!