We had 3 hours to refresh, relax and rejuvenate. I had wanted to sleep, I really did, but once Loh (German-speaking guide) and Shikin (the organiser) started talking about some issues, I was pulled into the whole conversation and in the end, I was kept wide awake giving comments even though my entire body was screaming for sleep. Oh well… The pineapple tarts made up for it 
Dinner at 7pm was brief and after a few small chats, I went back up to the room to lock my wide angle lens into the safety deposit box. I didn’t think it would be wise to carry it since it’s heavy and it’s going to be a long walk. Plus, the 50mm is good & light enough for me for night shots since I need it’s wide aperture for light. Besides, I have my trusty F11 with me, so it’s good enough for wide shots. With that settled, I went back down for the briefing.
Mr Shaukani Abbas, a delightful fellow who was to be our local guide for the evening, gave us our briefing on what we will be expecting and how we are to conduct ourselves for the entire cruise and the night’s river walk. After a few more witty jokes thrown in here and there, the gang was ready and everyone boarded the coach for the jetty at Taman Rempah.
2.0 Our Melaka River Cruise at 8.30pm
Once we reached Taman Rempah, the outside area of the jetty itself was a sad set up with only a handful of stalls manned by half-asleep men or gossiping young girls sitting outside of their stalls. No one really paid attention to them and we walked straight on to the ticket booth. There, Shaukani gave us further explanation on the ticket fares and how the system works before we were ushered to our boat for the river cruise.
The cruise itself was rather enjoyable and he taught us how to recognize the speed of the boat as to what speed is better for tours and what is considered the captain’s hasty maneuvering to cover time (basically the good and the bad). Along the way, on an enjoyable cruise speed, he explained the different sights found on our lefts and rights. For the better part of the night, only Kampung Morten captured my interest, mainly because that’s the only sight that can be seen visibly since it’s nicely lighted up. Everything else was basically swallowed up by the night. Mental note to self, river cruise either in the morning or evening – if you want to see everything. Night has its charms too – a good example, you won’t be able to see the color of the river. 
I don’t know about the others, but I was terrified of being splashed by its water even in small amounts. I can’t even eat seafood if its produce come from polluted waters. (Severe skin rash is my number one enemy.) He mentioned that an estimated RM 320 million would be used as part of the project to beautify the river. Wow… just…WOW…
2.1 One of the residences located along Kg Morten beautifully lighted up
Many remarked about the effectiveness of the boats, and some were even in agreement that the boats should be used as part of a solution to ease the traffic congestion in the city. The river stretches itself to some good touristic spots and there should be stops that can be made to lessen the stress of driving around these very areas. Shaukani nodded and even agreed to it, but the problem, according to him, is that there aren’t enough boats to go around the river for such effectiveness plus, there isn’t enough space for the boats to dock when not in use should such a plan be implemented. He said city hall thought this out and decided to just make it a river cruise instead of turning it into a sort of public transportation. It would have been good if such a plan can work, that would really add more old charm to the Old Melaka City. Shaukani mentioned the city hall’s plans to built an “aerorail” around the city (like the Monorail in KL, only the wheels of the carriages will be located on the top instead of the bottom). Most of the guides scoffed at the idea for it will make it look over-developed when Melaka had only recently gained its UNESCO World Heritage City award/title.
I mean, come on. The whole idea of it being a UNESCO World Heritage City is for it to maintain its heritage look. I was utterly surprised further down the river as to what has happened to Melaka’s river banks. Read on.
2.2 Taken with Nikon D300, 50mm f/1.8 at ISO 1250 : the high ISO is not a problem and the camera handles the noise & light wonderfully.
A few of the other guides remarked on the disappearance of the monitor lizards and other life forms such as the mud skippers. This is because the river’s now being controlled by a water gate and the flow is restricted, hence the lack of wildlife. “But efforts are being made as you can see,” Shaukani pointed to one side of the river, “The mangroves were planted here to encourage fishes and mud skippers to breed.” Watergate + mangrove trees… hmmm…
We disembarked at Padang Niru jetty, a small jetty located just opposide the road from the Church of St Francis Xavier (built by the French, although Melaka was colonized by only the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British). From there, we began our River Walk into the night. It was such a shame that at that moment, an Indian wedding was taking place just on the road opposite the church (where we were) for its huge stage-tent occupied most of the space and obscured the main signage on the side of a building that read :
“WELCOME TO MELAKA
World Heritage City
Melaka and George Town, historic cities of the Straits of Melaka (Malaysia)
being inscribed on 7 July 2008 Quebec, Canada by UNESCO”
We didn’t stay long in that spot as we couldn’t really hear Shaukani from all the noise and music. He was telling us the alternative route that can be used in order to break the monotony of the old route – which has not only become boring but also a traffic nightmare. So the walking part of this tour was a refreshing change.
2.3 A Romantic walk by the riverside
All along the river, Shaukani explained the history of the buildings (although we’re looking at the back portion of it – but no matter) and we could imagine the old tongkangs coming in by the river to load and unload goods from the back of these lots. The funny part was how the people of the olden days would use the river as a ‘movable’ toilet – which in turn attracted alot of monitor lizards. We learned to appreciate Dutch bricks that were used for most of the buildings too (although secretly, I much prefer the rugged looks of the Portuguese laterites). Almost each and every building in the old town has a history and story behind it, to tell them all would be tedious and he recommended that we get our sources independently for our own references. Not a problem.
Earlier in the day, during Desmond’s class, he mentioned that although the river walk project has been completed, there isn’t anyone to really use it. The walk took us a while as there were many explanations to be made and honestly, the smell of the river is really a deterrent for any romantic couple who would want to spend their time there, which is why, I would guess, the place is so empty even on a beautiful Saturday night. One can’t imagine how much more of a deterrent it would be in broad day light. In regards to the earlier question posed by Desmond, your guess is as good as mine.
2.4 Romancing under the trees. Taken with the FinePix F11, f/2.8, 1/20 sec, ISO 800.
Towards the end of this walkway, we came back up to the Dutch Square (this place is like the centre of the Melaka universe, I swear). Immediately, Shaukani advised us not to walk under the trees. being a guide myself, you always heed the warnings of another guide in matters such as these. Someone asked why. He laughed and said that unless if we want “presents” to drop on our heads from the birds, we should avoid walking under it. Good advice!
This is also where the mystery of the noisy birds up in the trees at the Dutch Square was solved.
“Recordings,” he said and smiled. He was always smiling. “To scare away the other birds, and to make life easier for the cleaners and also the tourists.” That statement was followed by a lot of nodding heads. Ah ah ah… From there, we took a breather and some of the participants asked some detailed questions. After the short break, we walked opposite to the newly erected Dutch bastion.
Instead of retelling the whole tale, you might as well read about it on the Badan Warisan Malaysia website detailing the discovery of what could be the ancient Santiago Bastion, one of the four gateways of the old Portuguese fort thought to have been demolished in the early 1800s by the British. The only one of these gateways that was saved was the Porta de Santiago, the famous icon for Melaka Heritage City.
2.5 A former bastion remains unearthed
And here’s where we could feel our hearts flaming from the inside.
Instead of funding for the excavation, since it’s a very significant archaeological find for Melaka… (hell, for Malaysia even!) what did City Hall do? They built a I-think-it-looks-like-this kind of a Dutch bastion on top of the findings. Oh, they didn’t build it just like that, they had Dutch architects study the site and then study the forts found around Holland and then it was built as according to the fort designs found in Holland. The laterites were brought in from Thailand because Malaysia does not have any such materials here. One can’t even imagine the costs.
We were told that the excavation that we saw at the back of the new fort (facing the main street) costs RM 1mil to fund for just a tiny portion. Picture 2.5 shows the location to the front, facing the river. There is no doubt that historians, archaeologists, students, tourists…etc would find the original excavation site much more interesting than compared to this huge block of nothing built on top of it.
From this incident, we came to know that because the museum officers were so against the idea of the excavation being ‘blocked’, that when City Hall decided to build over it, they collectively resigned in protest to the government’s decision. Sigh…
2.6 Kincir Air Kesultanan Melayu Melaka
The next stop was even more bewildering. All these while, I have never noticed this huge thing that came out of nowhere. Fin, one of the guides, was fuming over the water wheel structure. No where in our history did it mention such a thing in the daily lives of the old Melaka era. The irony of the whole structure is that it doesn’t work, when it was originally built to turn with the river flow. What river flow?!? All of us looked out to the river with dumbfounded expressions, except Fin. So when the government decided that since there’s no natural river flow to turn the wheel, they decided then to build a machine to turn it from within. The anti-climax of the outcome? The machine either broke down, or it just does not work. Whatever the case is, this structure has become what we would call a”white elephant”. A big waste of effort and money. Much ‘off the record’ discussions were made about it, but I am not at liberty to reveal anything here.
By the time we were done with this part of the walking tour, our last quarter of a kilometer remained our final destination – the Maritime Museum, or popularly known to the guides and history buffs as the infamous “Flor de la Mar” (Flower of the Sea).
2.7 Flor de la Mar - the flagship of Albuquerque in 1511
After a failed and disastrous first impression with the locals, Diego Lopes de Sequeira and the first few Portuguese ships that came into the shores of Melaka in 1509 were attacked, due to Gujerati merchants’ influence with the Sultan. Two years later, Albuquerque arrived with the entire army and navy of the Portuguese India, demanding the release of the prisoners from the attack. To cut a long story short, the Sultan refused, the Portuguese attacked, and finally Melaka fell into the hands of the Portuguese for the next 100 years.
The interesting part of this story in regards to this ship is this : when the siege was over, Albuquerque had intended to go back to India a rich man with the treasures from Malacca. Here’s an excerpt from “Old Malacca” by Sarnia Hayes Hoyt :
“While the Europeans came to South East Asia primarily to gain a stake in the lucrative spice trade, Albuquerque also had more immediate gains to secure. Against the advice of his pilots he set sail in December 1511 for India with gold, silver, precious stones, bronzes, and porcelain treasure looted from Malacca. Much of it included the wooden howdah the Sultan had mounted on his riding elephant, was laden on his flagship, the Flor de la Mar. At the northern end of the Straits, just off the Sumatran coast, a storm blew up and the Flor de la Mar struck a reef, broke up, and sank. Today the ship lies in 37 metres of water, buried under about 15 metres of mud as hard as concrete.”*
I have no doubt that That thought was in everyone’s minds as we approached it.
Up on the ‘deck’ or platform, we were greeted by the PERZIM representatives, Mr Abu Hassan, Manager of Naza Hotel – whose hotel will be providing us with the mattresses & pillows to sleep with that night and Mr Desmond. Following Shaukani, we decended into the ship and he began our tour of the museum. There isn’t much I can say at this point but just this, when you have the time, do visit this museum 
It’s got loads of information about the maritime history of Malaysia. I especially liked the model ships and galleons on display.
2.8 One of the museum's exhibits.
Back outside on the platform, we were treated to some light snacks whihc consisted of a piece of cake, a kuih (I think…) and a piece of fried chicken… Uhm… come to think of it, the snacks don’t sound too light anymore. Anyway, this was when the Q&A session started.
Right, so what can i say about this session? Nothing much. Basically the same old things are being asked and debated all over again. It’s like a never ending topic about the government’s lack of sensitivity to the voices of the conservationists, how few public toilets are there for the public (Razak actually counted only 4 in the whole CORE area!), traffic woes in all the major areas, and then a heated discussion about UNESCO guidelines and how everything is over-developed (this is true, Melaka does not feel like a Heritage City to me anymore, not like it did a few years back…)… and yadda-yadda-yadda.
Never ending…
2.9 Prisoners in the hull of the ship..
After a while later, as the group started breaking up, I went back into the ship to explore and take more pictures of the exhibits. The men were to take the upper deck and the ladies at the lower deck. I went to every inch and corner of the museum/ship and actually enjoyed the creaking and groaning of the wooden floor boards beneath my feet. No shoes were allowed inside the ship, so we were all walking around bare footed. It was really nice since it’s really clean and cool.
When I found out that my bed was to be directly under the imposing statue of Afonso de Albuquerque, with 3 cannons by his side, I was surprised. Everyone else picked amazing spots for themselves and I have to sleep under his nose? And wake up the next morning only to have him staring down at me?
No thanks!
I dragged my mattress away next to an exhibit with 3 treasure chests, and a pirate statue standing guard over it. Danielle, who helped me with the mattress, giggled before going back to her spot. Sigh…
There are only two toilets/bathrooms for both male and female, that was it. Everyone took turns to freshen up. Outside, at the so called upgraded quay-area by the river, some idiot was singing off-tune on an open air karaoke and puncturing the night with the most ungodly noises ever to be heard. Even the rest of the members who were still up on the platform discussing never-ending issues, shouted back at them to shut up. Thank God the inside of the ship muffled about 80% of the screeching that was going on with the singer. The singing did not stop until past midnight.
Secretly, I told myself that I would explore the place and read up on whatever interesting things that were there. The truth? I was so damn tired, that a little after 1am, I found the mattress to be most agreeable, pulled the blanket over me and slept like a log.
My last thoughts was that I would not want to sleep under Afonso. Although Albuquerque was regarded as a colorful character and a hero back in Portugal, there was one Italian by the name of Giovanni da Empoli – he served as the Portuguese king’s commercial representative in Sumatra & had followed Albuquerque from India, mentioned something rather contrasting about this captain. Empoli had wrote that Albuquerque “is one of those men desirous of earning fame by cruelty”.**
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* & ** pg. 34, 32 : ‘Old Malacca’; Hoyt, Sarnia Hayes. Oxford University Press 1992
Note : Will continue with the next day later…
