The Marvelous Kirchner Adventures in Hong Kong: Malacca

Yesterday I took another day tour with the same guide as the day prior to the historical town of Malacca, which is located about an hour and a half southwest of KL. This town has the most complicated history I've ever heard. I'll try to explain briefly. It started with a Hindu sultan arriving in town around 1400. He wanted to attract Muslim traders, so he married a Muslim princess, and became a Muslim himself. He developed a town for trade based upon a fresh water source, a river called the Sungai that empties into the Strait of Malacca, or the waterway between the Malaysia Peninsula and the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Portugal realized people were trading spices there, so they came and took it over in the 1500s. During this time THE Francis Xavier, one of the first ever Jesuits even lived there for awhile. Yay Jesuits. Then came the Dutch, overtaking the Portuguese in the 1600s. Then came the British in the 1800s, around the same time they took over Hong Kong. And during all of this, the Chinese were there as well making millions behind the scenes while the Europeans tried to manage the place. So, when you think about it, not only were there so many countries involved in this tiny town, but so many religions as well. Hindu, Islam, Catholic, Protestants, and Angelicans! Yikes! Today, the town is not so tiny, with about 600,000 residents, and its an interesting mix of very old and relatively new.

The tour began by seeing the oldest working Catholic Church in Malaysia, St. Peter's Church, from 1710. Based on the dates I mentioned above, you can probably deduct that this church was built actually during the Dutch reign for the leftover Catholics to keep them happy. You know how cranky Catholics can get when they don't have a church. Bring on the guilt ... :)

Next was a river cruise on the Sungai river. This river is ultimately what started everything! Some of the waterfront buildings had these beautiful murals painted on them, depicting a broad range of things.

Then, we went to a Baba Nyonya Heritage Museum that was one of the best museums I have ever been in. More history. When a Chinese man immigrated to Malacca and married a local Malay lady, the resulting match was the Baba (man) and Nyonya (woman), and they created more babas and nyonyas. The Chinese man was often times British educated, and he made lots of money as a business man. This family was particularly wealthy, so their house was unbelievable. Every room was stuffed full of furniture and decor that was priceless. For instance, this blackwood table covered in Asian marble (which has way cooler patterns than say Italian marble) with tons of mother of pearl inlay. Stunning. And the whole house was like this. Right after I took this picture, I was reprimanded, as photos were not allowed. Oops. Not only was the furniture incredible, but they left all of these little artifacts that really allowed you to visualize what is was like to live there. Like unopened bottles of Hennessy cognac from the 1800s. Or bottles of perfume, or coffee grinders, or noodle presses. It was like the family one day decided, you know our house is so awesome, I bet people would totally pay to see this. Ok, let's leave everything here and just go. Ok.

Next stop was a Chinese temple. This one was unique with the dark wood and golden detail. Most of the temples I have seen are painted with a ton of colors, in an almost overwhelming way.

In the back of the church were thousands of urns with pictures of the deceased. Sad but cool at the same time. Some of them were really old, and some (the black ones in the back) had obviously survived a temple fire way back.

After the temple, we walked around Chinatown for while, in particular a place called Jonker street. We tried durian puffs, which was a puffy pastry filled with durian flavored cream. Based upon that one experience, durian is not my favorite fruit. But, I still need to try just the straight up fruit. The worst part was I kept (sorry this gets graphic) burping up the terrible flavor for several hours afterwards, exactly like what happens when you take a fish oil pill. Bleh. After Chinatown, we went to the old Dutch church, that was later turned into an Angelican church by the British. So confusing. Notice the elaborate rickshaws waiting for hot and sweaty tourists. The next pic is another example of Dutch influence. That was the best part of seeing Malacca, finding how all of these countries left their mark on the town.

Next, the original Catholic church built by the Portuguese in 1510. 15010!!! It is up on a hill overlooking everything else. The Dutch used it as a cemetery, hence the really cool tomb stones in the next pic, and the British used it for ammunition storage. I love just standing in a really old place. You can feel how many lives have been influenced by it.

At the bottom of the hill was the last remaining gateway for the Portuguese fortress that at one point encircled the entire city. Notice the worker sitting on the top.

Last museum was a recreation of the Sultan's palace from back in the 1400s. Lots of dark wood and intricate carvings. Plus a garden that reminded me of the palace in Aladdin. Inside that garden was the craziest tree I have ever seen. It had a few trunks, with leafiness at the top, but coming out from the trunks were all of these tubular things stretching towards the ground, crisscrossing in a crazy way. It was difficult to decide if the tree was growing up or growing down.

The strait of Malacca! On the other side is Sumatra Island!

Near that sign was a new mosque, built out over the water. Again, another example of a religious space incorporating the natural beauty around it.

On the way back to KL, we stopped at Putra Jaya, a preplanned city 20 years in the making where the majority of the government buildings will be located. In the picture below is a beautiful mosque (Islam is the national religion), and the Prime Minister's Office Building located right next to it. I can just hear Americans screaming "Where is the separation of church and state!" No comment.