We arrived at the hotel (a Marriot) in downtown Kuala Lumpur at about 1:15 in the morning. Since we had been up at 5 am, we were really pooped. A great night's sleep made all the difference. At 9 am, after breakfast, our tour guide (Chris) drove us to Malacca. It was the first settlement on the Malaysian peninsula. It was first settled by a prince from Sumatra who immediately called himself Raja (king). Malacca is a city state on a river leading into the ocean. A great place for trading with other places, which he then did. He converted to Islam to better improve his trading prospects with his neighbors.
About 10 years or so after he got started, the area was conquered by the Portuguese, who set up Catholic churches all about, and continued the trading. About 100 years later, the Dutch conquered the Portuguese, and changed all the Catholic churches to Protestant churches. Eventually the Dutch made a treaty with the English, so the English took over Malacca, and changed all the Dutch protestant churches to Church of England. During World War II, the British took off, and the area reverted to about 60% Muslim. About 10% of the Malaysian population is Indian - mostly from southern India, and there are several other groups as well, including, of course, the indigenous people.
We went into a museum to get an overview of the history, and a few artifacts left over from the various occupations. Below is a clock tower built by the British.
Below is the main square. The red color was for convenience.
A nifty bird boat we saw at the museum
The church above began as a Catholic church. The man in front was a kind Jesuit priest - now sainted. The odd tower in front was created by an Englishman (Farquar) who turned the bell tower of the church into a lighthouse.
The British colonial house above
The walls of the Church were three feet thick. Charlie is standing in a hallway above.
The building above was all that was left of the original walls that surrounded Malacca. Farquar - the same British guy who built the lighthouse, was commanded to knock all the walls down. By a fluke - his bombs stopped before they all got knocked down.
A copy of the original Sumatran Raja's royal residence. It is built in Sumatran style.
We wandered around the square a bit
Notice the Dutch shaped roof of the church behind us. It is now a Church of England church, but the roof line remains.
We went into the China town portion of Malacca for lunch. The gate had a great dragon.
A Chinese Buddhist temple above.
A man making coconut sugar.
The fruit above is called dorian. It reeks, but is supposed to be delicious. No one had dared try to give us any as of yet.
Angry birds are everywhere
A typical street in the old part of Malacca.
When we got back from our excursion, we wandered a bit around the hotel. The area is called the "golden triangle". There are enormous malls up and down the streets here with almost every name brand you can come up with. We went into the ground floor of one, and found a food court. We had a great Malaysian chicken rice dish. Back to the hotel.
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