Malacca revisited

Peter joined us for dinner at our place after work on Friday and unexpectedly announced that I am currently the teacher with the most students enrolled in my classes at any MAE branch. While you have to take it all with a grain of salt understanding that parents enrol and withdraw their students from an individual's class for lots of different reasons beyond your control, he was chuffed that having crunched the numbers the person with the most was an older, experienced teacher. He is not at all happy with the current trend to employ younger, less qualified (or experienced) teachers as an improved image. Really it is a matter of cutting costs but couched under this reimaging excuse. So, celebrations all round! Mind you the next morning I noticed I had an new entry in my book for a withdrawal and where I usually take little notice I had a moment of anxiety so maybe it's not worth being at the top.

Saturday night we met Judie and a number of others at New Everest Kitchen as a final farewell. She has just spent a few nights at other teachers' homes. In the meantime I have spoken to Renee about the possibility of MAE promoting her Book Buddies project and she seemed positive and will now approach Mr Cheng on our behalf. If he gives permission we will advertise it in the newsletters, asking parents to donate pre-loved English picture books to the branches and I will coordinate their collection and the forwarding to Cambodia.

On Sunday night We got home as quickly as possible because Luke had just flown in for a stop over on his way home from Macau. He had been there on a fully sponsored trip from the Flight Centre Group as a reward for being one of the top recruits for the year. Well done Luke! We are very proud of him for taking the leap and stretching himself beyond the comfort zone. It has all worked out very well and he is now an assistant manager at the branch as well. If anyone needs some help organising a trip go ahead and contact him as he now has even higher targets to reach.It was a very short time together as we were already committed to the weekend in Malacca with MAE and couldn't change it, but we managed to talk all about their recent trip to NZ where the highlight was boarding in Queenstown, and the possibilities of a shared family Christmas somewhere in Asia this year.

We left early by bus from Kovan while he slumbered on, on Monday morning. It was 4 hr trip and I tried to sleep most of the way. Malacca is lovely though, as soon as you arrive and wend your way into the old quarter you are just taken up by the charm of the terracotta rooves and gorgeous tiles of the Malacca Straits architecture. We stayed at the Hotel Puri on Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock. 

It is is a boutique hotel in the heart of the old city of Malacca, just a 10 minute drive from the bus station (Sentral) where we arrived. The street is one of the oldest in Malacca, first called Heeren Street by the Dutch, and still known as Holland Street to the Chinese. It was also nicknamed Millionaires' Row as most of the Chinese millionaires of the pioneering period lived on this street. After Malaysia's independence, the street was renamed Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock. This is the residential heart of Old Malacca just west of the Malacca River, with its narrow winding streets, beautifully decorated houses, tiny shops, temples and mosques. Since 2008 when UNESCO listed it a world heritage site, the whole area is undergoing a renaissance with new shops, restaurants and hotels catering to tourists mushrooming everywhere. Our hotel is a carefully restored Peranakan house which once belonged to the descendants of an eminent philanthropist and rubber plantation owner, Tan Kim Seng (who later moved to Singapore and became even wealthier). The building is 100 metres long! Its other distinct characteristics are its beautiful and intricately decorated façade and the courtyards and light wells. We even have swiftlets nesting in the building. The edible-nest swiftlet is a small bird of the swift family which is found in South-east Asia. Its nest is made of solidified saliva and is used to make bird's nest soup.

 Breakfast area

The hotel is surrounded by antique and bric-a-brac shops and only one block from the famous Geographer's Cafe on Jonker Street where we had lunch.

 Heeren Hotel

 Geographer's Cafe

In the afternoon we took a tour of the Baba and Nyonya Peranakan Museum housed in another heritage town house to be immersed once again in the Peranakan culture we enjoyed in Butterworth. The word Peranakan was originally used along the length of the Malacca Straits for the descendants of immigrant Chinese who have lost their own language and integrated into the local Malay custom.. This unique ethnic group can be traced back to the 15th century when China traded far and wide including the rich and strategic port of Malacca. Many Chinese emigrated, working as miners or cooks and these early settlers married the local brides and gave rise to the first generation Peranakan, the male being known as 'Baba' and the female as 'Nyonya'. The descendants of these mixed marriages later married within their own community and Malay became the language of their offspring. However, the babas and nyonyas continued to practise the customs and traditions of their Chinese forefathers, while at the same time absorbed and assimilated some local way of life especially in the customs of dress and of the nyonyas in food preparation.Today we would call it 'fusion' cooking blending Chinese ingredients and wok cooking techniques with spices used by the Malaysian community. 

In the late afternoon we climbed up Bukit St Paul for some exercise and to enjoy the view from within the old Portuguese Fort. A'Formosa was built in 1511, the settlement used to sprawl across the whole hillside but now only a lone gate (Porta de Santiago) remains after being taken over by the Dutch and then the British who mostly destroyed it before handing it back to the Dutch who then chose to concede it. One of the oldest surviving European architectural remains in Asia.  

 Beginning the climb past Stradthuys

 looking towards the modern end

 In the ruins of St Pauls

 Porta de Santiago

We walked on through the modern shopping mall area near where we stayed last time then made our way back to the hotel to meet up with everyone else. We had a drink at The Geographer Cafe before moving on to Bistro Year 1673 for a Nyonya banquet which was spicy and aromatic.

 The trishaws have to be seen to be believed

In the morning we enjoyed breakfast in the lovely garden cafe of the Puri then took a walk along the river boardwalk which is being rejuvenated by the efforts of UNESCO and the local govt. Where once it was a main trade area of Melaka during its golden era it now tends to be lined with cafes and homes, many decorated in colourful murals. The paint is free through the council and the artists volunteer their skills. 

That brought us back to the historical precinct with its signature brick red buildings and the most ornate trishaws you have ever seen.

Our check out time was midday so we returned to the Puri in time for showers then wandered the nearby streets looking in the antique and curio shops, though many of them we found sell the Asian factory produced junk you can find in any market. We were both impressed by a watercolour artist who had some of his works on display at the museum yesterday. They remind us of the works of Tan Goon Chee from Penang. 

I had a massage at 2pm and then 9 of us assembled in the foyer for a taxi to take us to the bus terminal. Our bus was due to depart at 4:30 but we were expected there at 4pm. Our taxi-van was very late arriving and then once we were underway Robert realised he had left his passport in the room safe so we had to backtrack. Since the streets are narrow and many only one-way this took longer than any of us were comfortable with. To cut a long story short we made it with 2 minutes to spare. Phew! How to ring Renee and tell her 9 staff will not be turning up to work on Wednesday?