Melaka Day Trip – St Paul’s Church

Short Note: I have an extra bus ticket here worth RM17 from Melaka Sentral to Singapore departing on the 9th of Feb (third day of CNY) at 9am, drop me an email at nicootan@gmail.com if you're interested to buy.


With a class at night on a Friday evening, my cute born and bred South Africana professor from Australia wanted to explore the city in the day time and since she’s been around KL city before and wanted something cultural, I volunteered to show her around my hometown, Melaka.

St
Holy man at St Paul’s Church


Yes, that means driving two hours down to Melaka, tour the city, have some food, and two hours drive back to attend the class at 6pm.

Why do I do this? I don’t really know actually. But I’m glad I did, because it was a superb trip and my professor and her friend were wonderful guests to host.

ursula and gene in melaka
Fort A Famosa: built by the Portuguese in 1511, severely damaged during the Dutch invasion.


Ursula and Gene (the one on the left) are two great examples as to life starts at 30, 40, or even 50 and above. Life doesn’t end at 30, it doesn’t end when you’re married, it doesn’t end when you have a stable career with a PHD and are at 38 years of age and two aged parents you want to take care of.

ursula donating moneyn
Ursula donating money to the poor


No, in fact, she did the exact opposite most people would do. At the age of 38, she moved out from South Africa and to America to pursue her academic career and later moved to Australia to be with her husband and is now traveling around SEA teaching master students of all races.

ursula


She is now 44. (I know, she looks nothing like 44!)


Anyway, Friday morning I picked Ursula and Gene up at Kelana LRT station and head straight to Melaka.

On the way, we exchanged our background and culture and it was fascinating to learn that South Africa is pretty much like Malaysia, corruptions, corrosive government laws, low currency, even the food they eat is a fusion of many cultures with strong Malay influence due to a large Malayan population residing there.

We later moved the topic to Baba Nyonya culture in Melaka. A Baba Nyonya is a descendent of mix parentage Malay and Chinese back in the 1500s and IS NOT a muslim, therefore a dying culture and race. Nyonya may originates from the word ‘dona’ in Portugese which means “lady”, hence Nyonya is referred to as the female descendent and Baba the male.

I brought my guests to have lunch in a Baba Nyonya restaurant in Melaka Raya. (no photos here)


After that we visited the famous St Paul’s Church situated on top of the St Paul’s hill which is just behind the ruins of A Famosa Fort.

st paul's church


The A Famosa was originally a chapel, “known to the early Portuguese in Malacca as the Chapel of the Mother of God (Madre de Deus) or Our Lady of the Hill (Nossa Senhora do Oiteiro). It was built by Duarte Coelho, in 1521, as a result of a miraculous escape from an attack on his ship by a fleet in the South China Sea.

Read about the full story here.

st paul building


The building is so old and worn out due to years of rain and storm torments, numerous restorations were carried out till it looks like the pathetic structure it is today.

wall of st paul's church


Yet it is so immaculately beautiful.

touritsts taking photo at st paul hill
Some tourists taking photos at the church ruins


Turns out my professor is a great photographer. But she likes to take slanted photos for some peculiar reasons.

me and gene at st paul church
Me attempting the same pose.


I’m a very vertical and horizontal photographer

gene and ursula


This is a ruin stone written in old Dutch. How do I know? Because Ursula and Gene can read them?!! OMG!!

me and a dutch engraved stone


Apparently South Africana learns to converse and write in Dutch in school at very young age. You learn something new everyday.

Ursula later asked me to go by the window to sit there and pose.

me sitting by the window


I love this photo! She brought my camera skill to shame.

We finished our journey with a photo under the famous Melaka Tree.

under melaka tree


The tree that started it all, marks the beginning of the history of Melaka (which was the name of this country when Prince Parameswara founded the land).

You can still see his footprint here if you visit this place, though I doubt that is his actual footprint.


At 4pm, we got into car and drove furiously back to KL just in time for our class (okay, we were half an hour late, blame the speed limit).

in ursula class


I know, I should be paying attention in class.

*whistle*

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23 kissed Nicole

  1. Nicole, you should have taken the time to eat malacca delicious food! You should know the places right fellow malaccan? hehe..

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  2. but dun bring them to eat the chicken rice ball opposite some foreign bank n next to the river. the corner shop

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  3. is that the font from neverwinter nights on ur pics?

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  4. Sometimes,i didn't pay attention too in class as i was toooooo sleepy and talkative !

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  5. Oh man.. the last time i went to Melaka was in 1995. I think its time for another visit.

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  6. i went there on friday morning..... haha

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  7. omg..the photo of you sitting on the window frame is fantastic..i love that oneeeeeeeeee~!!!..of a good quality..^___^..hahaha...eh..nicole..can consider posting it somewhere..is as good as hm..photo shooting session of a model? =X

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  8. heyya, which peranakan restaurant u brought them? my personal fav is nyonya makko in mlk raya too...

    bout the peranakan, how wonderful it still applies here... meaning no need to b muslim lar :P

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  9. If it is from KL Sentral to Singapore, I'll be interested to buy. Unless, I drive down to Melaka, park my car there and take the bus to Singapore.

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  10. NIC! buy hamsters for cny, give 'em a good home. it's sth like charity ;)nonono don't steal me hammies LOL

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  11. I like the photo you posed by the window. It's amazing.

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  12. That picture by the window is just so pretty. I had one picture like this too and it looks brilliant .

    Well, I should say that sunlight works to make our complexion look fairer in pictures. =D

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  13. ure a master student?? btw ure ms. malaysia too right?

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  14. U look like a professional model when u pose sitting by the window...hahaha...

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  15. hey nic, happy chinese new yearzz!!

    don't forget to go bak for your final eye check ;)

    js did mine, everything was fine :P

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  16. the pic of you posing by the window, i think it was taken with extreme overexposure right? its such a great pic!

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  17. Nicole... lovely photos u have here... cant remember when was the last time i visit a famosa.. :)
    and Ursula does look younger than her age ;)

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  18. just leaving a comment.

    "comment"

    you actually followed the speed limit? :p

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  19. I think she meant the speed her car limits her... Luckily she's not driving Ferrari... :p

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  20. Guess what? Ursula is your lecturer, and Gene is mine! Haha not this semester la. Previous 2 sems :)

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  21. hey just wanted to say.. Happy Chinese New Year!!

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  22. You know what, the pix with you that "brought your camera skill to shame", i used to sit there having my breakfast while listening to the street musician every sunday morning. Many many decade ago. haha

    I like that pix too. excellent.

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  23. It looks like you have a tail in the picture by the window.

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