Southeast Asia Travel Journal

Melaka seems to be one of those over-looked destinations. Penang gets all the attention from those looking for a glimpse at the colonial past of Southeast Asia. While I wouldn’t argue that Melaka is "better" than Penang, it certainly has a lot to offer, and it can be easier to get to. In fact, its close proximity to Kuala Lumpur is probably one of the problems. Melaka is a popular day trip destination, but you really can’t take in much of what the city has to offer in a day trip. Here’s a short guide to the city, for your consideration.

Melaka’s old town square

In a nutshell: Melaka was established in the fifteenth century by an exiled Sumatran prince. It soon became one of the biggest trade centers of Asia, attracting Arab and European traders from the West, and the Chinese from the East. The Portuguese took the sultanate by force early in the sixteenth century. They were eventually displaced by the Dutch, who in turn were forced out by the British. Evidence of all these influences can still be seen in Melaka now, so the city attracts those with an interest in history, as well as people with a keen interest in architecture. The city’s Chinatown area is full of mostly well preserved nineteenth century shophouses. Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008, there are more than 20 museums in the city, covering everything from the history of Melaka, to the history of Malaysian literature.

When to go: Picking the right time to go to Melaka isn’t so much a matter of the season as it is the time of week. Thanks to it’s location on the sea near the equator, the weather is warm and tropical with a chance of thundershowers all year long, so there is no time when it is really all that much ‘better’ weather-wise to visit Melaka. Instead, the city’s position just a couple hours’ drive from Kuala Lumpur makes it a popular weekend destination, making the city a lot more crowded on weekends and holidays than on weekdays. If you want to avoid these crowds (and some of the hotels charge more for weekends) the it’s best to plan on making a mid-week visit to the city. However, there’s one further complication: most of the restaurants and shops in Chinatown are closed on Tuesdays. Taking all that into account, my recommendation is to arrive on Tuesday or Wednesday morning.

The posh interior of Transnasional buses.

Getting There: Melaka is easy to get to, although getting there in style is not so easy. There is really no direct train or air service, although Melaka does have an airport. The nearest train station is in Tampin, on the main line from Singapore. Buses are plentiful between Melaka and both Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. It’s about a two hour trip from Kuala Lumpur, a little longer from Singapore. Malaysian buses are surprisingly comfortable and efficient. You can get buses from Kuala Lumpur’s bus terminal near the National Sports Complex, Kuala Lumpur International Airport bus terminal, or the Low Cost Carrier Terminal. All buses will take you to Melaka’s Sentral bus terminal, a short distance from the center of town. A taxi from here to any place in town will cost you no more than RM 15.00. The cost of the bus will be from RM 12 to 22, depending on where you get the bus to / from.

The shophouses of Chinatown

How long to stay: Most people visit Melaka on a day trip from Kuala Lumpur. While you can see some of the highlights in just the few hours a day trip allows, it doesn’t give you time to browse the shops or visit more than one or two museums. If you’re really interested in soaking up the sights of the city, then I would suggest a three night stay which will give you two full days to look around. Spend one day around St Paul’s Hill and the other poking around Chinatown.

Where to sleep: Most of the sights of Melaka are within easy walking distance of each other, so I think it’s best to stay as close as possible to the historic areas. There are several small hotels in Chinatown as well as several around the fringes of the area. See the link for a full list.

Getting around: As mentioned above, most of the sights are within easy walking distance of one another. You will only need transportation if you are staying too far away or want to visit some of the outlying sights such as China Hill or Portuguese Square. In such cases, a taxi will do and should never cost you more than RM 15. Note that Melaka taxi drivers have something of a bad reputation for over-charging and not using meters.

What to see: Melaka will appeal mostly to those with a keen interest in history and Architecture. The specific things that will interest you are of course up to you, but the "don’t miss" sights would include the old town square, the ruins of St Paul Church and the Baba Nyonya Heritage House in Chinatown.

For more details on what to see and do, where to stay, etc. see the full Melaka travel guide at AsiaForVisitors.com.

I seems like everyone has an iPhone these days, or wants one. One of the reasons is that there are thousands of ‘apps’ available for the device. It seems like there’s no question that can’t be answered by the response "There’s and app for that." Of course, there are a lot of travel-related apps available, but not all of these apps are any good. Some – by big names in travel guides even – are down-right awful. Since I do hope to be able to bring you my own travel app in the near future, I’ve been trying out a number of them on an iPod Touch.

The Travelfish guide to Angkor was one of the first apps I tried. Travelfish.org is one of the few sites I trust enough to consult when I’m planning trips to places I haven’t been to yet. The Angkor guide was their first travel app and it’s been updated several times since I first got it a month or two ago. They now have several apps out for many of the destinations they cover.

The Travelfish Angkor app. running on an iPod Touch

Although I’ve had it for a while, and thought it was good, I decided to try the Angkor app "on the ground" in Siem Reap before giving it a review. The Travelfish apps are oriented to some degree to the ‘backpacker’ types who don’t do too much advance planning, and often arrive at a destination without any reservations, so the apps are full of suggestions on where to stay and eat as well as what to see. The suggestions – all the result of on the ground inspections – are appropriate for most classes of visitor, so you may find them useful.

But the real potential usefulness of the app. for any kind of visitor is the guide to the sights of the archaeological park. The Travelfish app. manages to pack in quite a lot of information, including a map that doesn’t require you to be on-line, about the temples. While it may not have the level of detail that you’ll get from the Dawn Rooney guide, it has enough to help you decided what to see, or know what you’re looking at, and of course an iPhone or Touch is certainly a lot less weight to carry around than a thick guide book. The Travelfish app. even has a few temples and other sights that you won’t find in the standard guides.

An iPhone or iPod may not be the best device – format-wise – to plan your trip on, but as a tool to take with you on the road, they have a lot of advantages. The Travelfish Angkor guide shows just how useful it can be. Check out the Travelfish web site or the Apple iTunes store for details.