The Coven Goes Global: Malacca

Years ago, Sair and I talked about going to Malaysia together, to visit Malacca. With ever diminishing time left before she finally moves to India we decided to get on and do it.

Armed with our cameras (and Sair with the benefit of a few camera classes), we wondered around the streets, snapping everything in sight.

The streets were still decorated for Chinese new year, so everything looked very festive.

The bicycle rickshaws in Malacca have now reached new heights in gaudiness. I was amazed that there was room for anyone to sit!

St. Francis Xavier was buried for about 8 months in the graveyard of St Paul's church in Malacca, before his body was taken to Goa in India, for final burial.

This man took time to clean out his toes, whilst contemplating the wonders of St. Paul's church. Nice!

Some more amazing Chinese new year decorations.

Close up, the dragons are made from bits of plastic.

In 2008, Malacca became a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This has somewhat changed the face of Malacca. Some of the old buildings that were falling down have now been beautifully renovated.

I loved this dragon head on the roof of a shop.

We found a great shop that sold traditional beaded shoes.

We spent ages talking to this man and his wife. He used to be in construction, but his mother taught him how to bead. He later took up beading as his profession.

His wife works on the main part of the design, such as a flower or bird. Then she passes the design to her husband who fills in the background. They make up the designs themselves. They told us that beading shoes is a dying trade and that sadly, their children had no interest in learning this skill. Those of you who know me, can guess what I was thinking!

The beads are glass and mostly from Europe. It takes about 3 weeks to complete the beading.

We also found this man sitting on the pavement doing batik paintings. We were amazed at how quickly he worked.

The Cheng Hoon Teng temple.

Just look at the amazing detail in the roof.

We had a good laugh over the temple's electrics. Imagine being asked to turn the light on over the alter!

This small shrine is dedicated to a tiger god. People left noodles and lumps of pork to feed the tigers. I bet that smells at the end of the day!

I rather liked this small statue in the garden. The kitsch element in temples can be amazingly high.

Detail from a door panel.

Offerings for the dead for burning

The offerings are often luxury gifts or objects of desire and are for use in the afterlife.

We saw these in another shop. I'm unsure whether these too are for offerings for the dead.

These figures were hanging down (I've turned the photo) from a wire above the maker's desk. They looked really cute.

We got caught in a heavy downpour.

But the flowers looked lovely after.

We came across a shophouse selling tea. There was a whole wall of tea in these cans. The family had been selling tea for generations.

Christ Church, was built by the Dutch in 1753 and is the oldest protestant church in Malacca.

The river has changed dramatically since I travelled along it on my first trip to Asia. In those days, the buildings were run down, had outside toilets that emptied directly into the river, and had monitor lizards sitting underneath them. Gradually the river has changed, and in my opinion, not completely for the better.

And this is why I now dislike it. On a section of the river, some of the beautiful buildings, that used to be painted in one colour, are now decorated with heavy graffiti style paintings. To say I think this is vile, would be an understatement and it is hard for me to see how this and a monorail which rarely works, adds to the historical beauty or integrety of the riverside.