Melacca

Last weekend after flying, I had the opportunity to take a quick overnight to the city of Melaka.  Known as the "cradle of modern Malaysia."  Melaka (or Melacca) is where everything from international trade to the country's political systems started.  Its avoided becoming a huge metropolis and still a relatively mellow place with a population of about 800,000 people, but it is a huge tourist destination where people come to explore the soul and history of the country.  It was one of the greatest trading ports in SE Asia in its hayday and is designated as a Unesco Heritage Site.  There are many remains of colonial architecture here as it was influenced by the Portugese, Dutch, and British for various periods of time. 

Trishaws tricked out by night.

Mouse deer statue in the center of town.

Melaka got is name from a tree.  A Hindu prince from Sumatra named Parameswara, was resting under a tree near a river while hunting when one of his dogs was kicked into the river by a mouse deer.  Impressed by the this action, and taking it as an omen of the weak overcoming the powerful, Parameswara decided to found an empire on that very spot, and called it Melaka after the tree under which he was sitting. 

Melaka riverfront by night.

Maritime Museum and Naval Museum housed in a huge recreation of a Portuguese ship that sank off the coast.

Diorama inside the Maritime Museum.

Coastline north of Melaka.