Day 3. cont...

Inside the Chinese Temple

We drive through the Portuguese Settlements where Portuguese descendants still live and then proceed to the gateway “Port of Santiago” and the ruins of St Paul’s Church.

Port of Santiago

Fort near St Paul's Church

We have a nice lunch at a local restaurant then go on to further explore the place, next comes a visit to Cheng Hoon Teng Temple – the only place where you can find 3 major doctrines of local Chinese belief under the same roof, ie Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism. We then take a stroll along Malacca’s Jonker Sreet, which ends by the banks of the Malacca River near the Christchurch plaza. Being a Saturday the Plaza is a hive of activities and plenty of tourists are taking advantage of the tri-shaw to get around. Our final stop before our return trip, is at the full size replica of a Portuguese Galleon which exhibits the varied maritime history of Malacca during its seven eras; Malay Sultanese era, the Portuguese era, the Dutch era, the British era, the Japanese era, the British again and finally the Malaysian Independence in 1957.

Jonker Street

Malacca River

Decorated Tri-shaw

A quick stop, at the request of one of our fellow passenger, at a market stall, to give all of us the opportunity to try a Malaysian fruit known as durian, not that pleasant to smell or taste. All in all, a very pleasant day spent in very good company visiting a lovely, busy and at time loud place.

We are moving on to Singapore tomorrow, so after our dinner at our little cafe down the road, we return to the hotel for a well earned rest.