Introduction of Melacca

Melaka's attraction is in its cultural heritage, around which a substantial tourism industry has grown. In 2008, Melaka was awarded UNESCO World Heritage status.If you're visiting, a little knowledge of history will help you appreciate all there is to see.Melaka was founded around 1400 by Parameswara, also known as Iskandar Shah in the Malay Annals, the earliest recorded history of Malaysia. He was a prince from Palembang in southern Sumatra who was chased out of his hometown by invading Majapahit conquerors from Java. After establishing a new base in Singapore (Temasek), he was found by the Majapahit, who chased him farther still up the Malay Peninsula. He settled in Melaka and established what would eventually become the region's richest port city. As the site was in a favorable location to take advantage of the two monsoons that dominated shipping routes, Melaka attracted Arab and Chinese traders, both of whom maintained very close relations for trade and political advantage. It was the early Arab merchants who introduced Islam to Malaysia; after Iskandar Shah's death in 1414, his son, Mahkota Iskandar Shah, converted to Islam and popularized the faith throughout the area.

Read more: http://www.frommers.com/destinations/malacca/2432010001.html#ixzz2aMASMaKy

Malacca International River Festival

International Rivers Seminar will be participated by countries such as Germany, Korea and the United States (U.S.). The seminar aims to raise awareness level of the public on the species and habitat found especially atMelaka river.Furthermore, the international river seminar will also provide knowledge on how to keep the river clean and about the river infrastructures along the Melaka river

Nyonya Food

Nyonya food, as the name suggested, is the food of the Baba-Nyonya in Malaysia and Singapore. Known also as the Peranakan or the Straits Chinese (Straits-born Chinese), these groups of people are descendants of the very early Chinese immigrants to the Nanyang which literally means the “south sea” region.

Nyonya kuih—or Nyonya sweet cakes—is a big part of Nyonya cuisine. In fact, Nyonya kuih isiconic, so much so that it outshines savory dishes. Ask anyone around and it’s likely that they have had some sort of Nyonya kuih, but may not have sampled other Nyonya dishes. Many Nyonya kuih are simply adaptations of Malay kuih-muih, or Malay version of sweet cakes and desserts

Dragon Boat Festival

The dragon boat participants struggle to win the competition

To the local Chinese community, the annualDuanwu Festival which falls in the month of Jun is strongly connected to both its cultural and sports aspects.This time of the year is also slotted for the famous Chinese glutinous rice known as kuih Chang.The festival, also known to Malaccans as the Dragon Boat Festival is a traditional and statutory holiday originating in China that has eventually spread to the shores of Southeast Asia.The festival occurs on the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar on which the Chinese calendar is based

The focus of the celebrations includes eating rice dumplingszongzi, drinking Chinese tea and racing dragon boats.

Baba and Nyonya

Peranakan Chinese and Baba-Nyonya are terms used for the descendants of late 15th and 16th-century Chinese immigrants to the Indonesian archipelago and British Malaya (now Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore).

Members of this community in Melaka, Malaysia address themselves as "Nyonya Baba". Nyonya is the term for the women and Baba for the men. It applies especially to the ethnic Chinese populations of the British Straits Settlements of Malaya and the Dutch-controlled island of Java and other locations, who have adopted to Nusantara customs — partially or in full — to be somewhat assimilated into the local communities. Many were the elites of Singapore, more loyal to the British than to China. Most have lived for generations along the straits of Malacca and most have a lineage where intermarriage with the local Indonesians and Malays have taken place. They were usually traders, the middleman of the British and the Chinese, or the Chinese and Malays, or vice versa because they were mostly English educated. Because of this, they almost always had the ability to speak two or more languages. In later generations, some lost the ability to speak Chinese as they became assimilated to the Malay Peninsula's culture and started to speak Malay fluently as a first or second language.

Baba and Nyonya

Satay Celup

Sate Celup or Satay Celup (Steamboat Satay) is a dish where an assortment of raw and semi-cooked seafood, meat (including raw meat) and vegetables on skewers are dunked into a hot boiling pot of satay gravy.

Satay celup is popular in Malacca. Many tourists and locals consider satay celup a favourite because there are more than 80 types of seafood and vegetables to choose from and the sauces are thick and aromatic. Moreover, the food is always kept fresh in huge refrigerators or on shelves of cold storages in food courts.

Satay celup is sold at prices that start as low as 60 cents in Malacca where delicious food is easily obtainable at cheap prices. Barley drinks often accompany the meal due to its hot and spicy flavour, coconut water or Chinese herbs tea will be a good combination.

Satay celup is sold in a self-service mode, and as soon as seats are picked by customers, food can be immediately taken using trays provided.

For people who are unable to stand the hot flavour, one can easily request for a plain water so it can be dipped into it to wash away the sauce.

Fresh Cendol

Cendol, also known as es cendol or es dawet in Indonesia, can be considered a dessert or a kind of sweet drink with “stuff”, for lack of a better term. They can be enjoyed as a drink on a hot and humid day, with a meal, or at the end of the meal. Some of the best desserts besides cendol are of the latter category, for instance, air cincau (grass jelly water), air longan (longan water), bubur cha cha, air barli etc. Yes, there’s stuff in it and it’s the stuff that makes the drink better because it lends lots of flavour. But sometimes, foreigners don’t get it because most drinks that they are used to do not have chunks floating around or at the bottom of the glass/bowl. Not only that, but it is almost unheard of to put jelly or grains like barley into a sweet drink in North America.

Chicken Rice Ball

In Malacca, the chicken rice is served as rice balls rather than a bowl of rice, commonly known as Chicken rice balls. Steamed Rice is shaped into golf ball-sized orbs and served alongside the chopped chicken. This dish is eaten the same way as the regular version, making sure to get a portion of chicken, some rice and the soy and chili condiment into each mouthful. Older chefs argue that the rice was originally shaped into balls because it needed to be kept warm from the time it was cooked (often earlier in the day) until mealtime. 

The rice balls, when stored in wooden containers, apparently stayed warm for a longer time. The other theory is that the rice balls were more portable and were easier for labourers working on plantations to transport from home. Today, rice balls are appreciated more as a novelty than anything else.

Maritime Museum

The Maritime Museum was constructed after the 'Flor De La Mar', the Portuguese ship which sank off the coast of Melaka on its way back to Portugal. The ship was believed to be carrying priceless treasures seized from Melaka.

Visitors to the museum can see artifacts from 14th century Melaka Sultanate to the Portuguese, Dutch and British periods.There are also exhibits of foreign ships which called on this strategic port. This is a place to visit in Melaka to see the the ancient trading ships.

The Maritime Museum is located just ahead of the Stadhuys. The best way to get there from the Stadhuys is by walking to better appreciate the galleries, museums and other historical buildings. Admission is RM 3 for adults and RM 1 for children

Christ Church

Christ Church, which is located at Dutch Square, is the oldest Protestant church in Malaysia. A legacy of the Dutch era, Christ Church was built in the 18th century with bricks which were specially brought in from Zeeland in Holland. The porch and vestry were added a hundred years after the initial church hall was completed.

Like most of the buildings in Dutch Square, Christ Church was painted maroon. This color scheme does not date from the Dutch, however, but was only applied in the early 20th century, around the 1920s. Originally, Christ Church were faced with exposed bricks. Later, a layer of plaster was applied to the bricks when the authorities discovered the wall was leaking. The plaster was then painted white. When the British changed the color in the 1920's, it was bright salmon red. The maroon red that we see today was the job of the local authorities much later. It has however created a distinctive character to the buildings at Dutch Square.

Jonker Street

Jonker Street, a narrow street located in Chinatown is one of the top ten places to visit in Melaka. It has some of the oldest houses dating to the 17th century. This street is famous for its antique goods with its past associations with Portuguese, Dutch, Chinese and British. You can find Chinese porcelain pieces, old coins, unusual lamps and various Buddha statues.

Another attraction of Jonker Street are the rickshaws. The are almost extinct now as modes of transport with highways, air-conditioned taxis and buses. Tourists are game to try a ride in these colorfully decorated trishaws equipped with stereo systems and loudly blaring the latest pop songs. A ride in a a trishaw is one of the things to do in Melaka that will be remembered for a long time. A family vacation would not be complete without a trishaw ride.