The serene view of fishing village, the docking and undocking of fishing boats, the life of fishermen, are usually the pictures that we’ve forgotten or ignored in our bustling city life surrounded by skyscrapers. In places like Kuala Lumpur federal territory, scenic beach, streams, and country sites are almost non-existent. Fortunately in Melaka, despite the recent rapid economic growth and development, occupation-based settlements like fishing villages are still preserved.
On last Saturday, during a fine evening, I went to a stream mouth neighboring to the town, called Muara Sungai Duyung. It is easy to locate the place. Just heading upwards from Ujung Pasir to the direction of Padang Temu, and you will see a big sign board written Muara Sungai Duyung, pointing to a small lane on your right. That’s the place where a number of fishing boats are docked and undocked everyday, and a significant community of fishermen is making their living.
Direction to Muara Sungai Duyung
At Muara Sungai Duyung, the fishing boats caught in sight are of varying sizes. The small motor boats are apparently only suitable for fishing activities at shallow stream to catch small fishes. On the other hand, the bigger and all-weather fishing boats allow the fishermen to reach deeper sea for bigger local fishes, such as groupers, Jenahak and herrings. (more…)
The next time you visit Melaka heritage area, such as the Dutch Square and Jonker Street (Jalan Hang Jebat) of Melaka old Chinatown, don’t just look at the traditional crafted arts found on the old buildings; but instead, pay an attention to one of the most frequently ignored features unique to the old buildings built during Dutch occupation – wall anchor (also known as wall-tie).
Yes, I’m pretty sure that most of you have no idea on what a wall anchor is. The focus of this article is to introduce this architecture uniqueness.
A wall anchor is usually made with metal, and was used in olden day’s vernacular architecture to fix a brick wall to a solid timber frame of a building. The outer fixing of a wall anchor is often a simple shape of ‘I’ or ‘)(’, nautical boat anchor, numeric numbers or alphabetical letters. However, some comprehensively designed wall anchor can also be shaped as merchant’s sign or even the pre-Christian symbols like world trees. The wall anchor is known to be found in many of the former colonies of Netherlands.
Malaysia will be celebrating the 49th birthday, or 49th National Day on 31 Aug 2006. 31st Aug of each year, is a significant day for Malaysians to remember the eventful journey we have gone through since the day we stepped into a free and independent nation on 31 Aug 1957.
In the history of Malaysia, Melaka is indeed one of the most historically remarkable states in Malaysia, not only that Melaka was the first state to be colonized by foreign power, Portuguese, in 1511, but also the fact that Melaka was Tunku Abdul Rahman’s (Malaysia’s first Prime Minister and Father of Independence) first stop in his nationwide tour in 1956 to gather support in his quest for the country’s independence.
Do you know where was the place Tunku made his first official public announcement on the success of securing independence for Malaya from the British Government? The answer is, Dataran Pahlawan (diagonally opposite the Porta de Santiago and Mahkota Parade) of Melaka, which is currently being transformed into a new commercial complex. (more…)
Yong Tau Foo (also known with other variations such as Yong Tau Fu and Yong Tau Hu), is a kind of delicacy mainly made with fish paste and vegetables, and commonly found in Malaysia and Singapore. While Yong Tau Foo is especially well-known in Ampang region of Kuala Lumpur, Melaka is also blessed with a few specialties offering the tasteful and authentic Yong Tau Foo.
The Yong Tau Foo stall in Malim Jaya Food Court (Medan Selera Malim Jaya) is one of my all time favorites. Believe it or not, every weekend I spent in Melaka is never complete without filling my tummy with the Yong Tau Foo here, for at least once a week. (more…)
In conjunction with the 49th celebration of Malaysia National Day (Merdeka Day), Jonker Walk Music Festival will be held in Melaka as follows: Date: 1st and 2nd September 2006 Time: 8.00PM till late Venue: Jonker Walk
Continues from the success on Spirit of KL, The Star and DiGi have collaboratively extend the search to Melaka. Spirit of Melaka, which will be held on 15 July 2006 in the historical city of Melaka, is now open for registration.
What is Spirit of Melaka?
You can view the Spirit of Melaka as a treasure hunt kind of activity, but the winning point is more than touring about the city and achieving goals.
Participants must stay alert all time to figure out the pointers and hints given along the way. Based on their findings and experience around Melaka through completing a series of routes and challenges provided, teams will need to put together a presentation based on their findings, observations and research, to be presented at the end of the Hunt. Yes, presentation is required. (more…)
Google Earth, an outstanding Google software goodie featuring bird view for the whole world, is essentially an excellent tool for you to find out further geographical understanding about Melaka, even without your physical presence.
The team at AmazingMelaka.com has compiled the first introductory release of Google Earth placemarks for common tourism attractions in Melaka, and would like to share this useful resource with you.
What’s so special about the Google Earth placemarks for Melaka? Well, just open the KMZ placemarks compilation file in Google Earth, and you will be able to:
Find out the geographical location (coordinate as in longitude and latitude) of the tourism attractions, public facilities and notable landmarks
Have a quick bird view of the places in Melaka
Plan in advance a better itinerary based on clearer picture of the relative distance between places
In the arena of edu-tourism in Melaka, a housing area known as Bukit Beruang is undeniably playing a critical role with the blessing growth of Multimedia University Melaka campus. From a humbly unknown housing estate, Bukit Beruang real estate has rapidly emerged into a popular residential area in Melaka. As the Bukit Beruang residential area is growing larger in size, it’s getting harder for first-timer to locate for a specific apartment and estate. (more…)
When you are passing through the Leboh Ayer Keroh, the Jaya Jusco shopping centre will surely be caught in sight as a main landmark. Opposite Jaya Jusco, there was also a shopping complex known as Kotamas. In the initial stage of Kotamas lifespan when occupancy rate was high, it was quite a popular shopping destination. However, good day doesn’t stay long, and Kotamas eventually ended up as a popular stop for express buses coming into Melaka, instead of achieving its intended objective to attract shoppers and merchants.
Due to tough financial difficulties facing by the managing corporation, Kotamas has finally ended its operation in late 2005. Recently, Melaka Sentral Sdn Bhd, the State Government-owned company, has acquired ownership of the shopping complex. The State Government is currently renovating the building, and it will be re-born with a new life as Melaka Mall. (more…)
Any visitor passing by the Jaya Jusco Melaka shopping complex or Majlis Bandaraya Melaka Bersejarah (MBMB) city council will surely be attracted by a breath taking recreational square built by the roadside.
This recreational park, named as Dataran Bandaraya Melaka, is a new attraction built in year 2005. It’s situated in front of the MBMB building. Costing RM4.5 million, the Dataran Bandaraya Melaka is featuring rows of water fountain and an array of about 40,000 plants. Besides, a fountain similar to that seen at Bugis Junction Singapore is also playing its rhythmic dances every evening. (more…)
