A couple of months after my last blog post, I’m now back to writing again. As I sit here and pour my thoughts onto the computer screen, pondering on the things I would be sharing and the pictures I would be uploading soon, I realized how much I missed blogging.
It feels good to be back! Though I never imagined it to be so while on home quarantine, in the midst of a pandemic crisis.
Life Amidst the Crisis
What’s happening now is scary and disheartening. It’s been a month since the government ordered a lockdown of Luzon and there’s currently no sign of the virus to be stopping. All we can do now is follow government and health protocols and pray for healing, pray for the successful discovery of a vaccine and for this crisis to be over soon.
Normalcy has yet to return in our lives but another thing we can do now is to be positive. Be positive of the future and focus on the good things happening right now. I for one am happy and grateful amidst the current adversity, for Marco and I were finally able to say our I do’s a month ago. We’re now, as the phrase goes, blissfully married! There were hurdles leading to our big day, including the one brought about by the pandemic. But we were thankful for the support of our friends and family and we’re most especially thankful to God for guiding us all throughout our wedding preparations and for blessing us on our big day. I may write a topic or two about it here. But for now, let me share with you a short, long overdue post – our tour in Melaka, Malaysia.
When my family and I visited Singapore last year, we spent Day 3 touring Melaka, Malaysia. We wanted to do a side trip in Malaysia as reaching it from Singapore only takes about 3 hours by bus. Out of all its tourist sites, we chose Melaka (or Malacca) for its rich cultural heritage. We thought it would be nice to learn a bit of history that day.
Melaka
Learning about its past, I found out that Melaka has a number of historical influences including Dutch, Portuguese and British. The city was conquered by the Portuguese in the 1500s and was fought over by the Dutch and British in the late 1700s. Melaka, a then small town, was interestingly sought after by these Western forces. And this is mainly because of a significant feature it has – it’s located beside a river that leads to the Malacca Strait.
Its location made it a convenient setting for traders. Merchants from different parts of the globe regularly made trips to the town to do trade. Among them were Indian, Arab and European merchants. Spice trade was the most lucrative then. Such was the activity Melaka provided that in 1600, it became the most important trading port in Southeast Asia.
At present, you’ll find remnants of the many influences the city went under. Because of its cultural and architectural history, Melaka was even recognized in 2008 as a UNESCO World Heritage site. We had a pleasant experience touring this historic city.
Church of St. Francis Xavier
We checked out all the attractions by foot and that includes climbing atop the St. Paul’s hill. I remember getting parched midway (I deduced the mid afternoon heat of Malaysia was no different from that of the Philippines’) but it didn’t matter by the end of our excursion because right across from St. Paul’s Church were stalls of various snacks and refreshments sold. We happily picked meals and took our place at one of the wooden tables and chairs laid out nearby. A couple of meters from where we sat was the still river.
We only spent 5 hours in Melaka and I felt it was too short a time. Nonetheless, I was pleased to have explored parts of such a historic city.
The Travel Bug Bites
Reminiscing our tour seriously made me miss travelling, especially now that it’s summer. The sea with its enticing waves and shore keeps on calling. I just have to brush the yearning aside for now and pray that everything will return to normal soon. Let’s all do our part to achieve this.
Keep safe and healthy!
2 Comments
Great article!
October 22, 2022 at 7:22 pmThank you!
November 21, 2022 at 7:51 pm