Melaka : The Cheng Ho reminder (Part 1)

This trip almost did not happen due to some internal problems. So it’s with great relief that Shikin, the organiser of the event did not call it off due to her dedication to the people who wanted to go for the trip.

Where you may ask?
Melaka!

With less than 20 attendees, we made our way to the meeting point and after the initial get together & signing-in plus last minute payments, we boarded the coach & left for the highway and from there, we relaxed.

Razak, a good friend and colleague, began telling everyone about the adventures of working for the government and his research into biotechnology. He’s actually a Dr. in title but he prefers that friends call him by his usual name. Anyways, his tales of Harley bikers, private vacations, government forest conservation efforts…etc…  got us on our toes – all the way until we reached the Ayer Keroh toll. Quite entertaining.

When we got to the Dutch Square, it was quiet and rather empty. Except for a few trishaws lined up by the side of the road waiting for customers, we were the first signs of life around that area. It was beautiful and I couldn’t resist taking a picture of the scene, it’s so rare for me to see it bare.

Dutch Square on a beautiful sunny morning

Once we touched down at this point, we had to cross the bridge to the old part of town for our first class of the day. The walk was pleasant and brisk, and in a short while, we found ourselves infront of the Cheng Ho Cultural Museum (a new spot) which has an upper level with a view to the ancient Melaka River.

The class was headed by Mr Desmond Liau, who happens to be the Director of the Melaka CTRE (Continuing Tourism Related Education) program, and for a rather hasty class session, he was very detailed and even I had a bit of a problem trying to swallow most of the information that he was presenting us with. At the beginning of the talk, I found myself nodding off – thanks to my 3 1/2 hours sleep the night before due to restlessness, I was further lulled to sleep by the dark and air-conditioned room. After a nice nyonya kuih tea break & thank God for my trusty little Fuji F11, I could take pics of the slide presentations quietly and without flash.

The curator showing the group around

After the talks, we were taken around the new museum to get to know the whole Admiral Cheng Ho story. I wasn’t too taken in by the whole tour because I recognize the exhibits in the museum. A few years back, the same exhibits were shown at a huge make-shift tent outside of Mines Wonderland for the education of the public – those who were interested of course. I happened to be there on assignment at one time, and took 2 hours to walk around, absorbing the exhibits. It’s mainly inspired by the book “1421″ by Gavin Menzies. Malaysians knew of Cheng Ho (or Zheng He, as mentioned in the book) long before this book was ever published – it’s just that the western part of the world never knew of his existence until someone came along and wrote a book about this great Chinese explorer. Greater, we can say, than all the other Portuguese, English, Italian or American explorers – for Cheng Ho / Zheng He came way before they did. The Malaysian Chinese, especially the ones in Melaka, even have a temple dedicated to the great admiral in his name.

File picture : Mike Yamashita - when he was in KL for his talk after the National Geographic edition on Zheng He's voyage was published following the success of "1421 : The Year China Discovered the World "by Menzies.

At one time, the famous National Geographic photographer, Mike Yamashita (one of my favourite photographers) – came over to the National Museum in KL to give a talk on his completed journey in the footsteps of the famous Zheng He – one in which he documented in pictures. I remember alot of guides being there, and some, sad to say – asked some pretty stupid questions. Let’s just say that they didn’t believe what Mr Yamashita had to say even when he had proof in pictures to show them of his journey. And for goodness sakes, he’s not even a historian or a researcher – he was only narrating his part of the experience with his pictures. They bombarded him like he should have known the history as if he’s a university professor. I’d side with him because I could understand his work. Even Jet, another guide friend of mine, who came along with me for the talk (mainly to gawk at his awesome pictures since Jet is also a photographer) was kind of disgusted over the questions posed by the others. We & the other photographers went to listen to his narration of the pictures, the others (mostly the guides) went to show-off their knowledge of history. Sigh…

Once the tour of the museum was done, it was already 2pm and everyone’s tummy was growling. More than half of the group were Muslims so they had very limited choice to choose from as to where they should eat. I, for one, would definitely go for the famous Chicken Rice Ball store. According to Desmond, the owners of the store had expanded into a new area which is very tastefully decorated.

“One of the reasons why alot of people are eating at the old place as compared to the new is because they think that it (new place) looks fancy, and therefore, the food there must be expensive,” Desmond said. “But the truth is, the price is the same. The place is worth visiting.”

Interior of the new Chicken Rice Ball Restaurant

And visit I did. The place looked really good. Some of the others were already there, and so I joined them for lunch. I’m sorry I couldn’t take any pictures of the food we had, we were too hungry to bother. Once it came, we just snapped it up like wolves and in less than 15 minutes, most of what we’ve ordered were gone from the table hehehe!

There is no complete Melaka tour without a stop over at the tasty pineapple tarts store (Pooh Keon Enterprise) that’s found at the end of Jonker Street. Oh man, I love those tarts. I would never turn down a Melaka assignment for this very reason (unless ofcourse if I was otherwise engaged with something else). I could even just eat those tarts for lunch! Each time I bring home the tarts, it’ll be gone in a day. And because of this, I’d normally get 2 boxes You can even smell the tarts just walking there. Either that or I must be really nuts about them.

Tarts! Tarts! Tarts!!! Hot right out from the oven!

Don’t they look lovely? Yummy!

Immediately after this, we decided to hunt for cendol before meeting up with everyone else. The famous cendol stall located in the middle of Jonker was packed full of locals and tourists, mostly tourists. It was so packed, we had to squeeze our way in, only to find all the tables inside taken up. Not wanting to waste time, we hustled over back to the Dutch Square, and there, at the opposite of the square was a small little cendol stall located at the side of the Melaka river, manned by an Indian man with his 2 helpers. Here is where the ordinary folks would stop by to have a bowl of cendol as refreshment from the heat. There were even a few traffic police officers occupying a table, enjoying their desserts. Again I didn’t take pictures of the cendol because I was too uhm… excited I even ordered another bowl only to share half of it with Kenny, another fellow guide who previously had one bowl before this.

While waiting for the coach to arrive, I went about the square, happily taking pictures. The trees around the square were unusually loud with birds & I kept wondering where did all the birds come from.

Christ Church Melaka 1753 - on the right is a portion of the Stadhuys

By the time the coach came to take us to the hotel, everyone was tired – from the heat. Once we reached Naza Hotel, everyone went to their rooms gratefully to shower and rest.

I’ll write about the Night River Walk later…