Malacca Travel Experience. First Impressions.

• Melaka
• YEASYTRIP

The city itself is incredibly modern, but the old town that centers around Jonker St. is a different world. Old, really, really old, and stunningly beautiful. Malacca ( AKA Melaka ) is UNESCO listed, conserved and preserved, painted, spruced and ready to impress. But I’ve got this weird feeling that I’m in a kind of historical theme park. It’s beautiful and gorgeous, but it’s SO full of tourists, so full you can barely move on the weekends, let alone find a room. The roads are littered with crazy, decorated, musical pedal rickshaws pumping Gangnam Style through pimped up sound systems. There is a Hard Rock Cafe.Jonker St. itself is a historical and architectural delight, turned gift shop.I have mixed feelings. I love it, but it’s not the sleepy old town I expected.The diversity is what gives Malaysia and Malacca it’s uniqueness. The Indian, Malay and Chinese communities live side by side with colonial history showing through. There is blending, of course, but each community retains some identity.Back at our guest house we’re woken by the call to prayer from the mosque at 5 something am, shortly followed by the gongs of the Chinese Temple directly opposite, our first day of exploration has begun.Within 2 minutes we can be in a Hindu temple dedicated to Ganesh, step inside and you really wouldn’t know you were anywhere other than India.I really love the authenticity, diversity and acceptance. Malacca is, without a doubt, my favourite part of Malaysia so far. If I had to recommend one part of Malaysia to visit, this would be it.It’s not what I expected, but that’s OK. I suppose it’s like going to Devon or Cornwall and expecting genuine fishermen to live in the fishermen’s cottages and finding tea shops instead. I think I just expected too much. Expectations are your worst enemy sometimes. We have almost a week to explore and enjoy Malacca before we head south towards Singapore for Johor Baru and Legoland, I’m looking forward to some great food while we’re here. I’ll let you know how it goes.