19:55 28/4/2012 Have you stayed Melaka at night? That was a first question thrown at me when my local friend asked after knowing I spend a weekend in the historical city. Yes, but I totally regretted it, I answered. Why laaah? I regret because an overnight was not enough to enjoy the vibrant spectacle of Melaka. Got yeah! I burst into laughter after I change her mood to amazement. My friend really thought I abhor the place or something. If she just knew how I love this odd historical city and its casual atmosphere. After that she pummelled me with non stop query of what we did, eat, places we visit . Well, let me shared what made our eyes feast during our traipsing at night in Malacca.
Exploring the quaint town during the day might be boring for non historical aficionado. But don’t be disheartened, there’s a lot of things you can do during night time that will surely made you occupied.
We started the night indulging the famous Satay Celup near the replica ship of Flor de la Mar. While enjoying the food our sight was glued with the pink lights illuminating Sungai Melaka (Malacca River). It’s actually just a preview of what we experience through out the night. With half filled stomach we continued our meandering passing at the back of Muzium Samudera. From a distance we saw a beautifully palace like that caught our attention.
Tadaah! Malacanang Palace with the Pasig River on the foreground. No! It’s Casa del Rio Melaka Hotel, one of the five star hotel that’s glamorously lighted stood on the Malacca River bank. The last time we check from our favourite booking site Agoda, for accommodation the regular rate was 800 to 1000 MYR. If got a promo you’ll secure half the price of it. Indeed, an elegance and fine accommodation has a price. An overnight stay alone cost more than total amount of what we spend during our 2D1N trip in Melaka. If given a chance and got invited to stay for free in this hotel, without second thought we’ll go for it. It would be our first time to experience a five star accommodation. Then we continued walking along the Malacca river bank when we saw some commotion. Not in a violent way but how people were eager just to get a ride to a water taxi.
Did you know that Malacca River was hailed as Venice of the east during the old times? Maybe because of its narrow river channel resembles of that submerge city of Venice in Italy. You’ll not able to find any gondola here but river boat cruise is a good alternative. This is one of the things we missed in Melaka, and we had a good excuse for that. We both have motion sickness esp riding a boat. If we insist, it will surely put us to hall of shame, if you know what I mean :). So we skip that idea since we forgot to bring some anti sea river sickness pills. Anyway, there’s always be a next time :). People queued up just to take the ride of a lifetime on the historical river of Malacca. We’re so jealous when we saw all the crowd disembarking from the boat with all that happy faces. Sigh* and we keep walking along the bank just like JW.
When we traverse the plank walkway, we reach the lover’s lane, along the bank. The wooden long chair along the walkway were perfect to relax while gazing the river boat cruise that momentarily disturbs the calm river with lighted tableau on the background. Sounds romantic? Yes it is , it would be an ideal spot to kneel down and offer her that ring with all that flying colours (literally) with Malacca river as background. Actually we tried to spot any takers who’ll do that scene but failed to witness one. We had spend like more than 15 minutes here enjoying the fresh air and it’s tranquil atmosphere.
When we turn 45 degrees from our sight, the dull gigantic water wheel at daytime turns into a great a masterpiece at night. Malacca Sultanate Water Wheel is truly a work of art and it’s beauty amplified by powerful spotlights. It’s one of the spot that shouldn’t be missed when visiting Malacca at night.
Just as we came close to the famous historical landmarks of Malacca, we bump to the trees on which Melaka was named after. Meet Pokok Melaka (Malacca Tree), heavily illuminated with green lights at night. We haven’t notice it during day time as it looks like an ordinary tree but can’t ignore it’s significance.
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| The Trishaw Batmobile |
Then we marched along the pavement leading us to the old Dutch town square. We can’t believe on what we saw on the road side, the densely ornamented colourful rickshaws at daytime turned into mobile christmas tree at night time. Just kidding, these rickshaws were truly an eye candies. Each one had their own theme and decorated to every tourist delight. I bet you’re eyes look to amazement upon seeing that rickshaw with a batman theme. As much as we like to ride on these ever colourful lighted trishaw but we pass. Our next destination is just a stone away from where they parked.
The red buildings of the old Dutch town square were beaming with lights of different colours. Herds of tourist from an arrange tour swarmed the whole vicinity and endless honking of cars to people who didn’t cross on the pedestrian lane. It may seem chaotic but I wasn’t disgruntled.
I even took a risk criss crossing the road just to get close with the subject for snapshots. It’s definitely one of the splendid view to see in Melaka. The ordinary reddish Christ Church was illuminated with whitish light while the Dutch tower’s orange spotlight makes it more appealing. Looking at it made me recall during the BER months in the Philippines. Where the town hall or park are beautifully lighted with all kinds of colours and ornaments.
Then we passed the bridge connecting the town square to the famous Jonker Street. We halted and watch the river cruise passed under the bridge. We waited until the waves subsided and until it returns to calmer state before we headed to our destination.
As they said, when you visit a night in Melaka, you’ll end up in Jonker. Indeed true and this is the best place to conclude the night traipsing. Want to know why? that will be shared on the next entry 🙂
Night City Wanderer,
Sky and Summer
This is part of our Melaka Trip Series
01 Restrospecting Melaka an Overview
What to Do
02 Finding road to Melaka
03 Historical Sites and Museums
04 St. Paul Hill and Church
05 A Famosa
06 Melaka Sultanate Palace
07 Jonker Walk
08 Vibrant Night of Historical Melaka
09 Flor de la Mar
10 St. Francis Xavier Church
11 Bukit Cina and Poh San Teng Temple
12 Melaka Zoo
13 Melaka River Cruise
Where to Eat
14 Foodie Trail
15 Jonker 88
Where to Stay
16 Temporary Abode: L’Armada Guesthouse
Nice place indeed… Hmmm,a traveler with motion sickness??? Kakaiba yun ah… 😀
Ironic right? pero sa boat lang talaga kami may motion sickness 🙂
nice shots 🙂
too bad we were too tired and want to sleep early kaya afternoon kami nag-river cruise.
Meron pa namang next time 🙂 Kami din eh, nde nga nakasakay diyan, wala kami baong dizzy tab ^_^
wow .. very nice place … it looks clean .. I wish the Pasig River in Manila is the same as Malacca River. I really wishing to have a tour in other country by next year .
Maganda lng pagka maintain Dennis, pero halos kasing kulay sila ng Pasig river minus basura nga lang.
Yeah, sa mura ng mga airfares you should start exploring our neighbour countries. If you visit Malaysia, we'll be glad to accompany you. ^_^
Love the photos! Haven't been to Melaka. So near yet so far lagi ang peg ko kapag nasa KL ako LOL. Hopefully I can visit this part next yr. Lalamon ako ng lalamon ng bonggang-bongga 😀
Mica of http://www.senyorita.net
Thanks! 🙂 Ang lapit lng kaya ng Melaka sa KL, sabihan mo kami pag ppnta ka, mahilig din kami sa food, hahaha.
Ang daming Melaka posts! Pag mapapadpad ako sa Melaka, I'll make sure to visit your blog as my guide. 🙂
actually meron pang pending post sa Melaka. We'll finish it all by October before pa kami mkabalik dun.
Thanks for visiting Cris.