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This was my day to explore Malacca, fabled home of the Malacca Sultanate in the days before the Portuguese, Dutch, and then English (and for a few years, Japanese) took over.  The heyday of the city predates the British.  When you look at the size of the tidal creek here you wonder how this could ever have been the Singapore of its day; then you look at all the silt offshore and are even more certain that the British preference for Singapore was well founded.  Malacca’s only comparative advantage seems to have been its relative location at the narrowest point on the Strait of Malacca.   

The Fort and Nouriah:  Archaeological investigations turned up the remains of the Portuguese-cum-Dutch fort on the Malacca River.  One corner has been rebuilt to add another attraction to the tourist precinct.  Does it look puny!  I kept wondering if it was a scale model rather than a recreation.   Still, it is one of the anchors of a landscape that has brought Malacca international recognition as a World Heritage City, a prestigious UNESCO designation.  (Why does the US have so few World Heritage sites?)  So, here it is right in the middle of tourist central, along with a new site:  a nouriah, or waterwheel, of the type you see in Syria.  This one I couldn’t figure out:  didn’t understand whether there had been nouriahs along the creek in the past, didn’t understand why they built this one, didn’t understand what purpose it was to serve.  It looked nice, but again puny in comparison with the Syrian wheels and the one I saw in Toledo, Spain.  I would hate to think that they built a waterwheel just to look nice even though it seems to be completely out of place and out of time.  Didn’t like it.  Didn’t seem authentic.  I am pleased to report that it doesn’t even work; they can’t seem to get it to turn.  More research needed. 

Café Geographér:  From the clock tower in the historic intramural center of Malacca, I crossed the bridge into the historic residential sector, the area where the Chinese were quartered.  Thirsty though I was, I could not take more than a sip or two of the lime juice with licorice that I bought on the other side of the bridge.  In fact, I had a bad taste in my mouth until I made the discovery of the day (and maybe the trip):  a corner restaurant called Café Geographér.  So famous has it become, that it has been featured in Blue Hyppo commercials.  Don’t worry, I don’t know what that means either!  Of course, I had to have lunch there, so I sat down to a bowl of soup:  noodles, bean sprouts, eggplant, green beans, bean curd puffs, lots of great spices, and no MSG (very proud of that).  I ate it with chop sticks and one of those deep-dish spoons.  Of course, I told them I was a geographer.  They smiled, but didn’t seem to be impressed.  Still, I took lots of pictures and purchased a Café Geographér shirt.  I wonder if I could open a franchise in Virginia Beach.  They seem to be doing very well along Jonker Street in the heart of Malacca’s Chinatown.

Geographically yours,

D.J.Z.