General Info, Melaka

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I enjoyed it and I recommend the riverboat tour on the Melaka River, because it is pleasant and fun.

Tours depart from the bank of the river right behind the Tourist Office in the Town Square, they cost just few RMs and they last about thirty-forty minutes. See picture attached for visual representation of what I saw.

The funniest part of the tour was the comment of the speaker. At the end of the tour, when we were heading back to the jetty, the guy you see in one of the pictures managed to goodbye us by saying "thank you and goodbye" in about thirty languages; no kidding. After the first ten, we, the crowd on the boat, began to laugh but we couldn't even imagine what was still yet to come; it was hard to believe he seemed to never run out of new languages to goodbye us. It was really fun.

Don't have great expectations from the ride; what you are going to see (pictures attached are a genuine representation) is interesting but nothing impressive, by the way my experience is of a pleasant and fun half and hour.

I arrived in the city of Malacca by ship from Port Klang. Since the port of Malacca is too small we had to go on anchorage off the coast. Our tender service brought us ashore. Arriving at the coast and entering through the channels it almost appeared as if the Dutch planned to build something similar to the “grachten” in Amsterdam, water ways that were used as main transport roads.

Situated in Banda Hilir Melaka and it is a very historical place especially in the area thats relates to the process of independency of Malaysia.

This is where Tunku Abdul Rahman Al Haj (Malaysia 1st Prime Minister) announced that the British Government had agreed to grant Malaysia (Malaya at that time) independence. The annoucement being made in 1956.

Why here in Melaka that Tunku choose to made his 1st annoucement? This is because Melaka was the first state that being colonized.

Now, a massive upgrading of the field (Dataran) is taking place and soon this will become a commercial centre with many carparks, exhibition hall, cineplexes, shopping arcades, departmental stores, international clubs and etc.

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Chinatown is another highlight of Melaka. It is situated on the westside of the river. The streets are lined with temples, mosques, Chinese Peranakan shophoues and antique shops. There are a lot of Chinese temples in this area of town, obviously. The most important and also the oldest is the Cheng Hoon Teng Temple dating back to 1646. All building materials used here have been specially imported from China. On the inside the temple is just beautiful. Walk in and take the time to absorb the atmophere.

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For some fresh air you can walk up to Bukit China. This area is about 25 hectares and is the largest Chinese graveyard outside of China. There are about 12,500 graves here. Most aren't in a very good state though. There are many trees here and there is a cool breeze. Just walk to the top and enjoy the breeze and the views.

This British villa was built in 1911 and is now a museum charting the history of of Malaysia's progression to independance. There is not so much to see inside the building but if you want to know more about this subject, there is a lot to read inside!