Shopping, Eats, and Night Life in Modern Melaka

I only know of Melaka (or Malacca) in my history classes as one of the most important straits for commerce. Melaka is an ancient city and my reason for visiting is it because it has been named one of UNESCO's World Heritage sites. Before stepping foot into Melaka, I envisioned old buildings, Chinese-style shophouses, and wooden houses. What I didn't realize, but later learned after an hour of reading a book on the city in the guest house where we stayed, was that Melaka is one of the states of Malaysia, and its capital city is Melaka City. So, I was quite surprised to find shopping malls selling international brands. Despite the many books, websites and blogs we can access these days, nothing can really replace real-life experience of traveling. We learn a lot.

On our way to find an airconditioned place.

A tour of the historic Dutch Square can be completed in one to two hours. We did a DIY walking tour, and because of the midday heat, we decided to walk aimlessly towards anywhere we can find an airconditioned room. And, we found a mall! The mall was deserted and we thought maybe it was because it was a weekday. We were surprised at the cheap, cheap prices of clothing and accessories that I regretted bringing only P1,000. Because we pre-booked everything before our Singapore flight, I bought with me only P1,000 for food and drinks.

Inside the Dataran Pahlawan mall.

There were several retail brands at the Dataran Pahlawan mall. I loved the first clothing store we went to because there were lots of basics and very cheap, and the clothing store in the second floor selling demure clothes for Muslim women because they were very fashionable, made of good-quality materials (some of silk), and were affordable. It was in this second floor that I could not help myself and I took out my BDO debit card (which, thankfully, can be used for Mastercard transactions), and bought myself a dress. That was the only thing I bought in Melaka. And the truth is, I regretted not shopping. :P

After we have scoured the first mall -- Dataran Pahlawan -- we moved on to the next mall -- Mahkota Parade Shopping Mall. Here, we decided to have snacks and my cousin said we should try Old Town. We were really impressed with the low, low prices. I ventured further into the department store and saw many modest clothes for women that I would have loved to take home with me. Good thing I only had P1,000 (which converted to a measly 90 ringgits).

How you order at Old Town.

Iced white coffee for me.

Hot white coffee for my sister.

Garlic bread. Delicious and soft.

Red bean shake for my brother. Surprisingly good.

Spicy tuna sandwich. So-so.

Cute shop at Mahkota Parade.

After Old Town, we walked aimlessly again to another mall! The Hatten Square Suites and Shoppes. I can see that this was an upscale shopping mall based on the interiors. We were the only ones walking around. We browsed around H&M at the lower ground floor and decided to go back to Dataran Pahlawan's Toys R Us for pasalubong. Then, we were back to Hatten Square and found a nearly deserted Tim Ho Wan. We bought two boxes of the famous Tim Ho Wan meat buns. After that, we walked back to Mahkota Parade in the opposite side of the mall and looked for Nando's, where we agreed to have dinner.

Our dinner at Nando's was a good way to cap a first day in another country, and because we could not find any public transportation, we just decided to walk back to our hostel. Melaka has almost deserted streets and no traffic at all. We passed by a market and we thought we should buy our mother a daster or house dress. We were talking in Bisaya when the shop owner asked us if we were Malaysians and where we are from because he said he heard us say "duha" ("two" in Bisaya), and said, yes, we were Malaysians, but he did not give us a discount for duha ka daster (or "two house dresses").

Walking to our hostel made me realize how small the world is. We passed by "Kawasan," which in Bisaya means a place where you get off. And that is the same meaning they have in Malaysia. Melaka at night is dark but I was not frightened because the river breeze was soft, the people were not rushing, there were no noisy beeping of horns. Only the gaudily decorated trikes made so much noise. But even that noise could not mask the serenity that was the city. We rested for a while at the hostel, but decided to walk around again at about 11PM.

 At midnight, we went to Hard Rock Cafe, the only place opened at the area at that time, ordered some drinks (mine was water because I only had 10 ringgits), listened to Malaysian pop and rock songs, people watched, and went back to the sleep.