Malaysia – Melaka Hill

By Rough Guy’d

If there is only one noticeable landmark you see in Melaka, then that would be the hill. Clearly visible anywhere in the town, it is the home to Bukit St. Paul church and a must-see for anyone. As well as being the home to the church, the hill also has a collection of museums and other sights on its slope. This would keep me busy for the whole day as I walked from one to the next and by the end of the day, I still wasn’t done.

Personally I found these very interesting as they gave me a greater understanding into the history of Malaysia. As I mentioned in earlier posts, learning the history of a place is something that interests me. This is not because I’m a fan of dates and musty old places but because for me, learning the history of a place is an integral part of enjoying the place. Throughout my travels around South East Asia there was many times where I saw something that was comparable to something else in another country or place. After months of traveling around seeing things, you would quickly develop a sense of ho-hum like you were watching a movie again. It is at those times that learning about the history is what separates those places and allows you to really enjoy yourself.

The next day I woke up late and ended up having lunch with another guest I met at my guesthouse at a classic Chinese noodle shop. After this, I finished up my museum tour by visiting the maritime museum which is not too surprisingly, located right next to the river. The museum itself was broken down into different sections, with each section telling a different story from when Melaka was a trading port to the current military appliances that they use nowadays and part of the museum included an old sailing ship that you could walk into.

At night, I ended up going to the Chinatown portion of Melaka with my two Spanish friends and another new friend from the guesthouse. There was a big night market there with lots to see and so much great food and drinks available from the street stalls. As well as trying as many different things as we possibly could, we were also treated to a series of performances as various acts followed each other on a big stage ranging from dancing, magic shows and singing. It was all good fun and a great way for me to spend my last day in Melaka before I headed up to Kuala Lumpur and met up with more family.