Melacca and the Riverview Guesthouse

We spent a day on the bus. We were picked up at 7.30am from Old Penang Guesthouse. The van took us to the bus station where we got on a super luxury bus to KL. At KL we fought our way around the crazy ticket stalls, with each company hawking it’s routes in a most confusing way. Without a lunch break we got on a bus to Melacca and ended up reaching Melacca faster than if we had gone from Penang to Melacca directly (however that bus was already booked out). From the bus terminal we found the local buses and took it about 5 stops to the red square, walked across the river and to the Riverview Guesthouse. The staff were so amazing – a complementary iced lychee juice awaited us while we checked in, the free library entertained us while we relaxed on the deck watching the river flow past, and free cake and fruit were provided along with use of the kitchen.

Melacca was our favourite city – there was lots to look at and all within walking distance. We checked out the Jonker Street night markets, the historical buildings, the river cruise, the river at night, the Chinese and Indian food, the vegan food at the supermarket (v drumsticks and more steam buns anyone?), the sales at the department store, the old dutch buildings, churches, cemetery, cannons, museums on architecture and enduring beauty across cultures, the “harmony street” with Indian, Chinese and Muslim temples/mosques, listened to the call to prayer, read about the port and trading and the mingle of cultures that resulted, ate malaysia coconut desserts (kueh lapis etc) and could have done more if we didn’t have to fly home.

We spent another mammoth day of travel returning home. We took a bus from Melacca to KL (2 hours). From the bus station we took a train to KL Sentral, then another bus from KL Sentral to LCCT. From LCCT we took a 1am plane with non-reclining seats to Melbourne where mum and dad met us at the airport and drove us home along the Great Ocean Road.

1939, Chop Yat Fatt, Chinese merchant building in Melacca.

Jonker Street (Chinatown) night markets. We found malaysian kueh (cake) here.

It’s a cannon by the ruins of the old port fortress built by the dutch. Up the hill to the left is the remains of an old dutch church, taken over by the English and used to store guns. Some tombstones remain.

The river by night. Our guesthouse backed onto the river.

Buildings along the Melacca river.

An amazing orange sunset, looking down the street to the RiverView Guesthouse.

Detail on a Chinese temple roof.

Lights reflected on the Melacca river at night, with waves created by the many riverboats that run all day until midnight.

Tofu Street, Melacca. There was actually a soymilk stall along this street.

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