Sunday 19 April 2015

Malacca, in all its finery.

I love Malacca for the same reasons I love Penang - both are like multicultural soup!

But when I showed you pictures of Penang is was not architecture but street art that filled the blogpost. (If you missed it, you can find it here.)

Not to be left out, Malacca has also painted some of its buildings - though not with similar images to that  decorate Penang but with big, bold, wonderful sweeps of colour. These buildings were once the backs of small homes. People hung their washing here, and threw slops into the river. Now tourism has brought a different look to the riverside, and in place of washing and the stink of effluent, we have painting!! (This picture is taken from a boat, hence the odd shapes in the corners, and the pole!)


Those homes were once shacks for the poor. At the other end of the income scale, wealthy Chinese traders build mansions like this:


It's lovely from the front - and inside it stretches back with internal courtyards, one of which - right at the back - is full of small palm trees and green shrubs, and a fountain playing in the corner. Tables and chairs nestle among all the greenery. It's where I lingered so long over breakfast it morphed into coffee time.

In contrast, the Portuguese build solid colonial buildings like this:


Many of these buildings are now museums - some more interesting than others. I have no idea what a museum of beauty is doing in Malacca, but the display of Chinese foot-binding placed next to a display of modern women's shoes asked an interesting question.

And then I hit the streets. It was coming up to the Chinese New Year - well, I could hardly miss that, could I, with streets dressed up like this:


I'm not a shopper, but needed to do my bit to support the local economy. What better way than take a trishaw ride. A trishaw- for those who've not met one - is a bicycle with a seat beside it. I don't know when Malacca's trishaw riders began to decorate their contraptions. Last time I was here most had a few flowers and streamers. Over the years these decorations have become more elaborate (or maybe ridiculous, depending on your point of view) until they look like this. And what's more they come with music - and so one can ride through Malacca's streets to the theme from Frozen, or Justin Bieber ... and yes, you do feel a bit of a wally. But there are worse things to feel.


10 comments:

  1. You don't look like a wally (which I had to look up). But you do look like a tourist. Do the locals ever ride on those things?

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    1. No - it's just for tourists. I buy so little stuff when I travel, so every now and then I do things like this, just to do my bit for the local economy.

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    2. No need to apologise. It looks fun.

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  2. Oh Jo, what amazing pics ..I liked the one of you. These little snippets of your adventures are so interesting... xx

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    1. I just love Malacca - and that hotel is the one where Miss Jo lurks among the newspapers, looking like she might think about working one day!

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  3. I love brightly colour murals. I'd love to have one of my own. That trishaw looks amazing.

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    1. The mural are lovely - and the trishaw is just ridiculous! But it was fun.

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  4. So much colour and rich architecture. Wonderful, Jo! And wally or not, you look rather splendid in your Trishaw! What a throne!

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  5. Marvelous photos. It's funny that it's five years to the day since we returned from KL.

    Greetings from London.

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  6. Interesting to see photos of Malacca. I lived (with my parents) in what, in the 1960s, was a small village called Tanjong Kling about half way between Malacca and Terendak (then a Commonwealth military camp - we were attached to the military. Malacca in the 1960s was a sleepy backwater where we went to shop and get measured up for clothes. We weren't allowed to drink/eat from the stalls and went to Cold Storage (then the only place with air con in Malacca) and we had to take malaria tablets every day. Great memories. I last went in 2011 where a group of ex-Malacca/Terendak Brits, Aussies and Kiwis had a get together. Much changed since the 1960s but still a great place to go. Hope you enjoyed it.

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