We landed in the small but historically very significant town of Melaka after a short but quite enjoyable flight from Penang Island. Driving out of the tiny airport and to our hotel, we almost immediately noticed the rustic charm of the place. Speckless wide roads with charming old houses on both sides of the roads. Melaka seemed a far cry from the lively Penang island.

A sleepy little town with beautiful houses dotting it and chapters from its colonial past scattered all around. It was a little warm compared to Penang but less humid, much to my relief as we hopped onto a bus heading towards the Christ Church around which, most of the things to see in Melaka are located.

With the Christ Church, one of the main attractions of Melaka (also called Malacca) literally on the road as you get down from the bus and the ever-increasing number of tourists. It feels like the place has too much in too small a place. It almost made me feel overwhelming. But once we were adjusted to the activity there our jaws literally dropped at the sights of the fantastically maintained church. It was painted to perfection and even with so many people around, the place had a strange calm around it.

We spent a good hour or so around the church itself, appreciating the beauty around. No doubt the place was crowded with selfie-obsessed tourists all around but the place was so impressing that ignoring them was not at all hard. When we fist started exploring George Town, we were convinced that this is the best Malaysia will offer us in our trip. That however changed as soon as we started to explore this quite little town. But wait, in case I am confusing you now, let me clear the air and tell you that, George Town is still my most favorite place in Malaysia as of now.

Leaving behind the Christ Church and the Stadthuys as we moved ahead, towards the St. Paul’s Church atop the hill nearby, out of nowhere came a train of colorful trishaws. With happy tourists on board, they zoomed past us playing what seemed like happy music. Joyride quite literally 🙂 .

We spent some time around the People’s Museum, people watching. Kids, adults, and elders taking happy rides on colorful trishaws. Even the trishaw drivers seemed happy, with a smile on each one of their face.

It seemed we just could not have enough of the place with its every single building colored in age-old red. We wanted to sit there and not go anywhere, just enjoy the breeze, sip in the coke we had in our hands and let the hours go by. But, we had so much more to see and just this one day here. So, we finally tore ourselves from our seats and headed towards the ruins of St. Pauls (more on that soon).

Do you too like places with a lot of history behind them? Places whose every layer has something to tell about the times it has seen.