10 Jan 2010

A tourist in her own hometown

Muara Sungai Duyong - where the grilled fish is simply marvellous


We're in Malacca today but not to stay at home. Repin had work at the OUM campus here - a preview and Tan Sri and Puan Sri are also down for the weekend. I took some time to spend with her and we went shopping at the Fabric shop, Gulatti's at Dataran Pahlawan. I was pleasantly surprised by the numerous shops here, and a fair variety too. Then in the evening Repin and I took them as well as some OUM people for dinner at the seafood place in Muara Duyong where we had delicious grilled fish - freshly caught - and prawns as well as calamari dipped in batter and fried. Truly delicious! To top off the night we had a river cruise on the Malacca river - at 10pm.


Kampong Morten looking very bright
And was I surprised by this - I was expecting a short trip down the dark river looking at old buildings. And what did I find but a fantastic cruise down the river with a very knowledgeable guide who regaled us with stories of each historic building we saw. And the buildings themselves were highlighted by colour  neon lights. Everything looked wonderfully romantic and beautiful. There were pictures on the walls of the buildings depicting different stages of Malacca's colourful history - right from the time the young Javanese prince called Parameswara landed in a small fishing village as he escaped from persecution from his own country, the growth of Malacca as a seaport,to the coming of the  Chinese armada under Admiral Cheng Ze , Portuguese, the Dutch and finally the British as they each colonised the state.


The Malcca river cruise

This river cruise is really a wonderful one. They even had a singer on board singing the dondang sayang, a traditional Malacca song. Repin joined in with great gusto. It was great being a tourist in your hometown! There's so much we didn't know about Malacca before.

No comments: