Jonker Street (Jalan Hang Jebat)

January 29th, 2006

Pictures of Jonker Street at Flickr

If you’re asking a local resident or tour guide to suggest a must-visit destination in Melaka, except the historical places of warship, chances are extremely high that he/she will definitely answer with firmed tone, speaking out one of these names – Jonker Street, Jonker Walk or Jalan Hang Jebat. While having variation, these names are actually referring to the same narrow street located in Melaka Chinatown.

Jonker Street, houses some of the Melaka’s oldest dwellings or houses dating back to the 17th century, is also informally known as the antique street. The antique shops here are featuring artifacts from different periods of colonial rule – Portuguese, Dutch, and British. If you have sufficient time to stroll through the street with eagle eyes, you can easily hunt and bargain for the unique and valuable antique furniture, Chinese porcelain, brassware, cast iron beds, lamps, coins and money notes, as well as the priceless Buddha statues.

If you are looking for antiques from a trusted distributor in Jonker Street, you may feel free to visit Beyond Treasures. Beyond Treasures is armed with huge range of antiques originated from various Asia countries, and has received plenty of testimonials from foreign customers. If you are looking for shipping services to transport the large item bought, Beyond Treasures will also be more than willing to assist you with satisfying services.

Jonker Walk – The Live Cultural Museum

On 19 June 2000, the Melaka State Government had launched the concept of Jonker Walk, utilizing the richness of heritage values in this narrow antique street to realize a live touristy culture street.

Through this plan, the Jonker Street is changing its cloth to play the role of Jonker Walk, on every Friday evenings, Saturday evenings and Sunday evenings from 6.00pm to 12.00 midnight. During these specially located hours, traders are lining along the pedestrian street and setting up stalls to sell and display products associated with or reflect the cultural colours, such as antique copper coins, local and ethnic traditional food, unique arts and crafts, souvenirs, ornamental jewelry, and wooden clogs. For your information, Purple Flowers Handicrafts is one the pioneers of wooden clogs crafting in Melaka. Some of the local residents who own a house in Jonker Street, are also participating in this activity by converting the house into a premise, such as food stall, which allows visitors to enjoy the delicacies while gaining a chance to have a first hand experience on the unique architectural design.

A stall selling collectibles at Jonker Walk.

Besides, some of the Chinese clan and dialect associations are also organizing activities in their respective buildings during weekends for visitors. These activities include dancing classes, Chinese classical instrumental shows, and karaoke sessions. In order to encourage touristy activities being held at Jonker Street, a permanent stage is also built at the end of the street for performances.

Jonker Walk is a good place for street shopping. As opposing to Chinatown in other places or countries, the traders here are generally friendly and communicative; there is hardly a scene of traders forcing visitors to buy their products. As a rule of thumb, bargaining for items which interest you would definitely be a prudent practice.

If it was approaching or during Chinese New Year celebration, the Jonker Street will also be nicely decorated with cultural colors, and if you’re in the right time, an amazing scene of lion dance performance by tens to hundred of troops might also be caught in sight.

To date, the Jonker Walk is still very much nominated by Chinese traders. Excluding the foreigners, most of the local visitors are Chinese. The objective of reflecting multi-racial cultural attributes is yet to be significantly actualized.

A Place for Food Lovers

The Jonker Street is not only known for its cultural attractions and unique building architectures, but delicious foods and local delicacies as well. Being day or night, Jonker Street or Jonker Walk, the street is full of a number of shops and cafes selling a wide variety of foods and beverages. The Geographer Cafe located at the middle of the street is especially known among the foreign visitors, for its happening live bands on Friday and weekend nights. Besides, there’s also a shop called Jonker Dessert located diagonally opposite the Geographer Cafe, which is known for its Baba Nyonya delicacies.

A hawker selling radish cake at Jonker Walk.

The savory food hunting journey at Jonker Street is definitely more than the little description above. For a comprehensive Jonker Street food hunting guide, please hop to Jason Lioh’s post.

Visit at the Right Time

Just a note, that the Jonker Street is usually full of crowds during the evening activities held on Fridays and weekends. Thus, if you’re seriously looking for antiques, you might consider avoiding the crowd by visiting the street during day time. Day time without the crowded environment could give a better mood to quietly enjoying in the bargains. Besides, if you are arming yourself with sophisticated photography equipments to capture some astonishing pictures, the crowd at Jonker Walk activities might also discourage you from positioning your tripod at the best place.

Map

Looking for map of Chinatown? Check out the post titled Map@Melaka - Chinatown.

GPS Coordinate: N2.19815 E102.24472

Related Previous Posts

• 17th Chinese New Year Decoration Carnival in Melaka
• Jalan Hang Lekir – Street of Collectibles during Weekend
• Wall Anchor - A Unique Feature on Old Dutch Building
• Chinese New Year Decoration 2008 at Jonker Walk
• Jonker Walk Music Festival 2006

Entry Filed under: Cultural, Historical Site

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