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Next on the Peninsular of Malaysia was the historical world heritage town of Melaka. We stayed in the Chinatown area where most of the history happened and a lot is still evident today.
We stayed four nights here and fell in love with the quirkiness of it. The buildings are so narrow but go back for what seems like miles (you walk in the door on one street and out the back on the next street!). They were built so long but narrow (if memory serves me, only 4 metres wide) because tax was paid on the width of the house, not the dimensions so practical reall. A lot of them had an open roof, making a courtyard in the centre aswell which provide ventilation and light. Really cute ittle places.
Through its history, the state of Melaka has been ruled by the Portugese, Dutch and British and now is back in the hands of Malaysia. The fort you see in the pictures was built by the Portugese to defend against invasion from the ex Sultan of Melaka. The Portugese were only interested in the trade they could get from this port town but didn't really achieve what they wanted whilst in rule and were defeated by the Dutch in 1641, the red buildings on the picture was built by the Dutch and many others with it. There is trail to which we walked around the town where you see the Dutch buildings and heritage. The British then took over, not through battle, they traded some land they had in Sumatra for Melaka with the Dutch uder the Anglo-Dutch treaty in 1824. We governed Melaka from 1826- 1946.
During our stay in Melaka it was the period of Chinese New Year so there lots of celebrations going on, music contests, streets full of market stalls and lots and lots of people. Chinese lanterns hung everywhere and the Dragon dancing was pretty cool to watch aswell.
Shopping was a pretty cool time-waster. The clothes shops were amazing, i could have bought so much but got only three vests ad Dave bought two vests.
We stayed in a really nice little place called Harmony Lodge, the owner was so cute. Always laughing and smiling and always offering fruit amd crackers when he thought we weren't eating much, lol. Such a friendly bunch.
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Lyu Thank you, Matthias!I am sure you would love it.Sometimes I regret my rules of evtral especially the no place twice rule. So I will have to wait till 2012 to return. Cheers Michael