MALACCA PART I

Nov 22nd, 2015

We had a smooth journey from International Islamic University Malaysia, Gombak to Malacca World Heritage City to perform a task given to us, which is a site visit!

We need to do observation on ‘Tourism and Hospitality Practices in the UNESCO World Heritage Site – The case of Malacca Historical City’.

I am with my sweet and lovely partner, sister Awin! 

and in doing the 'site visit' task,

We chose to focus on Malacca Tourism Hotspots Attractions.

When we arrived at Malacca World Heritage City, we were asked to gather at Malacca Coronation Park for briefing.

Hmmm, I looked around and ... I could see there were two coaches trains, been there since few years ago. Yeah that two coaches trains were still there since I last visited Malacca with my friends in 2011.

We were briefed about the site visit by our instructor and after a few minutes we were released and allowed to start our tasks. During the site visit we were not provided with any transports but if we have extra money we could rent a car, take a cab or use any transports to ease our tasks (Public transport were almost everywhere). However for my group we chose to walk because we wanted to know how does it feel to be like the backpackers. At first I did think that it was a really daunting task for us to walk all over Malacca World Heritage City by foot because we often travel by car, but we took it as a challenge for us.

We started our site visit at Jalan Kota and from the Coronation Park we took the road on the right side which headed to Porta de’ Santiago (A’Famosa) which is one of the main attractions in Malacca World Heritage City. Along the road we could see another tourist attraction which were Trishaws that have been decorated attractively and we were offered a free ride to A’Famosa.

However we didn't take much time at Porte de’ Santiago as we were eager to go to another places. We walked along Jalan Kota which headed to our gathering place at Coronation park which is also one of the tourists hotspots with a displayed first airplane of the Malaysian airforce and a couple coaches of train. We passed by Malay and Islamic World Museum, Old Museum, People’s, Kite’s Museum and Enduring Beauty Museum, UMNO museum, Malaysia Architectural Museum and Stamp Museum. Near the Stamp Museum we stopped by at a shop that were selling hats and merchandises as we could see many people were there looking for goods to be bought.

After a while we continued our journey to the Dutch Square at Church Street (Jalan Gereja) and we could there were many people buying goods, wandering around, taking pictures, resting near the Victoria Fountain and so on.

In our observation, Dutch Square could be one of the best views amongst the other hotspots of Melaka with its Town Hall which also known as The Stadthuys, Tan Beng Swee Clock Tower, Christ Church, Youth Museum and Art Gallery and The Queen Victoria Fountain.

(While my partner was taking a picture of me, I heard a chinese tourist told to her husband that I am pretty in their language ~Well I did understand a few words ya know hekhek~ Then they suddenly asked for permission to take photo with me. Beauty is in the eye of beholder hehehe)

When we were at Dutch Square we didn't miss a chance to top up our knowledge of ‘ancient’ Mela- ka by visiting Stadthuys Museums Complex. In 1650, the Stadthuys used to be the official resi- dence of the Dutch Governor but nowadays it became a complex known as Stadthuys Museums Complex that places the Historical Museum and Ethnographical Museum. Ticketing cost for enter- ing Stadthuys Museums Complex is only RM5 for adult and RM2 for kid.

We also visited Christ Church which is the oldest Protestant church in Malaysia that built in 1753 to commemorate a century of Dutch rule in Malacca, it is one of the most notable heritage sites in the city and hotspot for non-Muslims tourists and when we were there, local people and tourist were holding a prayers ceremony in the church.

Then we decided to start walking to Jonker Street and on our way before crossing the Jonker Street Bridge we stopped by a Cendol stall with many customers were buying the Cendol. We guessed it is also one of the hotspots in Malacca World Heritage City as the location is right in front of Dutch Square the center of attraction and just beside the Malacca River. The stall was name “Cendol Jam Besar” and they offered Cendol that come with various flavours and reasonable price.

To be continued ...