Melaka isn't like anything you'll see in Malaysia
Probably unique, actually, in the entire Southeast Asia
because it has a very unique past.
It was colonized by the Portuguese and the Dutch
before the British arrived here.
Melaka and I, we have something in common.
[music]
Welcome to Melaka.
Almost hit by one of them.
They're called trishaw.
There's nowhere else in the world
that I felt like this is more part of the culture.
Oh, my God, look at the amount of bikes here.
I don't even see this amount of motorcycles on the streets.
Malacca is a historical city in Malaysia.
Just two hours by bus from Kuala Lumpur, the capital.
It has some of the oldest European architecture
in the entire Southeast Asia.
The City Centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
And it is so cute, so charming.
I'm going to walk all this here to show you.
If you're new here in this channel, welcome.
I'm Renata and I'm Brazilian.
Brazil was also colonized by the Portuguese.
The Portuguese arrived in Brazil in 1500
and they arrived here in 1511.
Yeah, Portuguese and Spanish ruled the world back then.
They were masters in navigation.
Today, most people here don't speak Portuguese anymore,
but you still see a few words here and there,
some Portuguese names
There's still a little bit of Portuguese presence in Malacca.
Ta-da!
When the Portuguese arrived here, they built a fort.
Today, this is all that's left, the entrance.
It's called Porta de Santiago.
Really, Portuguese name, just like that.
"Porta" means door, so this was the gateway to the fort.
Look at that, all written English,
but the name still in Portuguese.
Porta de Santiago is just the gateway to the fort here
called "A Famosa".
Another Portuguese word that means the famous.
And why was it important for the Portuguese to be here
and to have a fort here?
Because in the 15th and 16th centuries,
this was a very important trade route.
And it would link Portugal to the spice route in Asia.
They obviously wanted to protect it.
Wow, this has been here since 1512.
All rusted now
because it's very close to the ocean.
It's really just the entrance. There's nothing else here.
From here, you can go uphill to see the ruins of a church.
Full of souvenirs stalls, and hats.
[laughs]
Now I know why you're here. There's an amazing breeze here.
Yeah, Yeah.
When you come uphill, you arrive at the ruins of a church.
"Nossa Senhora do Monte", the original name,
or Our Lady of the Hill, translating.
Then it became the Annunciation Church.
And when the Dutch took Malacca from the Portuguese,
they renamed it again,
and it became Saint Paul's Church.
This is how it's known today.
[music]
This is so picturesque, huh?
-Yeah. -So nice.
It looks like they also do events here.
-You see?! The way it's set up... -Yeah.
Wow.
Today there's no church here anymore, these are just the ruins.
But you can still see the tombstones for Portuguese
and Dutch dignitaries.
They're all buried here.
Look at how thick these walls are.
Walls of a fort, actually.
This is the oldest Catholic Church in Southeast Asia.
-Miss Brazil
-Oh, there you are. -What's your name?
-Renata. "Renata" in Portuguese.
-Renada? -Renata.
-Renata. -That's in Portuguese. Yeah.
In English, it would be "Renata"
Renata. [laughs]
-I'm Ivan. -Nice to meet you, Ivan.
As you like to speak Portuguese all over,
why don't you take your chances here?
You were speaking Portuguese even in Russia,
try Malacca.
-No. -[laughs]
I don't speak Portuguese here
-No. -No.
-You forgot?
-No. -You forgot how it is?
I don't understand
This is Saint Francis Xavier, a Portuguese missionary.
We also have this saint in Brazil.
He was very active here in Malaysia and also in Southeast Asia.
Rumor has it that he even performed a lot of miracles here inside this church.
Also very worth it coming here for the view.
You see Malacca there.
This tower here is an observation tower here in Malacca.
Our plans are to go there tomorrow.
Going downhill on the other side
and we don't arrive in the Portuguese part anymore.
This will be the Dutch side.
[music]
This is the famous Dutch Square.
Lots of buildings here since the Dutch times.
This area is so picturesque, so beautiful.
Look at all of these red buildings here.
Lots of museums.
But these buildings were not all red like this since the beginning,
they were white, originally.
They were painted red sometime in the 1800s.
[music]
Christ Church.
This church here was built by the Dutch. 1753, it says right there.
And when they built this one downhill,
the other one uphill went into decline.
[music]
Oh, look at these floors.
A lot of important people might be buried here.
[music]
This is the hardest spot to get a photo here in Melaka.
It's what everyone is waiting for.
We do our picture right here.
Love Melaka?
I love Melaka.
It's a video, baby.
[laughter]
You speak a little Portuguese, right?
-Sim, um pouco (yes, a little) - Ela fala português (she speaks Portuguese)
-Sim (yes)
-A little bit.
You're from Malaysia?
No, actually from the UK.
-Oh, okay.
-You're all British? -Yeah.
Excellent. Thank you. Thank you very much.
-Thank you. -Nice meeting you.
Oh, my God, it's like a parade.
[music]
We're gonna visit the Stadthuys.
This is a word that means municipal town hall.
And it was used as an administrative center
even after the Dutch, for centuries.
This is believed to be the oldest surviving Dutch building
in the entire East.
Look at that, free guided tours here
on Saturdays and Sundays only,
10:30 in the morning and 2:30 in the afternoon, in English.
-You buy the ticket here. -Uh-huh.
-You wait at the lobby there. -The lobby right here?
-Yes. -Okay, excellent.
-How many tickets? -Yeah, I'll get two tickets.
-Do you accept credit cards? -No.
-Only cash? Okay.
The four stages of foreign occupation here in Malacca
First, the Portuguese from 1511 until 1641,
then came the Dutch from 1641 until 1824.
The British immediately after them
from 1824 until 1957.
And finally, one that I hadn't even mentioned before,
Japanese.
They occupied Malacca during World War II
between 1942 and '45.
And before the Portuguese arrived, Melaka was a sultanate
since 1262.
The building's original drainage system.
Here in this first floor of the museum,
you see a lot of the history of the building itself.
And there's a lot about Malay culture as well.
This was most likely the governor's office here
because of the ceiling, all detailed,
unlike anywhere else in the building.
And here they had like a natural fan,
they'd lower the curtains,
and people would manually, you know, shake it like this
to create some wind.
Guide: -Here is the office. -Uh-hmm.
-Why do I say so? Because of this.
Okay, this one here is foldable.
-Ah. Uh-huh.
All made from wood.
So, it is believed that this one here is the office
because people would basically come to the administrative center
to pay taxes.
-How interesting. -So this would act as a protection
in order to avoid robbery or theft.
Cannons here from three different eras.
This was Portuguese.
This one is most likely British.
And over there, the Dutch.
And you can tell for sure because of the emblem here.
Now, let me show you our traditional weapon.
-Sure. -Okay, kris has two types of blade.
First, a straight line like this.
And second, the curved one.
The straight blade is for cutting vegetables.
-Also, acts as an axe or something. -Right.
-But the wavy one is especially for fighting.
-Uh-huh. -OKay?
They brought everything from Holland to make bread and make it here.
-Okay.
So, during that time, this is the only place in Malaya
that sells bread...
-Wow. -...during that time.
In the second floor, you can learn about the history
of Malacca and Malaysia itself.
-That one is Queen Victoria Fountain
erected in 1904
to commemorate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee.
[music]
-Very detailed furniture in traditional houses here.
This is the most expensive furniture here.
Guide: We have five oldest places of worship in Malaysia:
the Hindu Temple,
Chinese Temple,
Mosque, Tamil
And also the oldest functioning Roman Catholic Church
All these five are the oldest in Malaysia.
Harmony Street
Three different religions in the same street lived harmoniously
-Yeah. -We don't have any fights until today.
-Gordon: Today there was a fight?
-No. [laughs]
The real ship has sunk in international waters in Indonesia...
-Okay. -...with the treasures from the...
-... Melaka sultanate -So they lost everything?
-Yes -Oh, my!
Three countries will get at war
Portugal, Indonesia and also Malaysia.
-Yeah. -Gordon: I'll find it.
-You'll find it... Yeah! [laughs]
That was the Governor's residence here, that third level.
Wow, this tour in itself, I'm sure will be the highlight
of the entire visit here in Malacca.
Our guide was so passionate about the history and the culture itself
that it made everything worth it.
Honestly, if you're not from Malaysia
or if you don't understand a lot of the Southeast Asian history,
it makes a huge difference to have someone who was born here
telling you all these stories.
She told us a lot of things that if we were only here on our own reading,
we wouldn't have understood properly.
What's amazing, this tour is totally free,
and we were there by ourselves.
There are lots of tourists here inside the museum,
but they all chose to go on their own.
We had a private tour and it was an excellent tour.
An hour and a half turned into two hours,
and we're really happy it did.
So, what did you learn on the tour?
-The Portuguese are bad.
The Portuguese were bad here.
Well, they did kind of the same thing they did in Brazil.
The Portuguese are greedy.
The Portuguese did not do a lot of good things
for the people here.
-Coke? -No.
-No. [laughs]
-Water? -No.
-No? What do you want?
-Watch.
-Gordon: How much? -Renata: How much is it?
-Vendor: Small, RM10. Big one, RM12.
-How does it taste?
-Fantastic. -Oh, yeah?
It is so thick. It's like a smoothie.
But without yogurt, of course, just the fruit and ice.
So refreshing, so good.
And it is totally full, the entire watermelon is full here.
Have you ever thought that you and I together
would eat an entire watermelon in a few minutes?
I knew you could eat it.
Yeah, I could eat.
[music]
This is one of the remaining bastions here.
In the 15th century, the port of Melaka was the busiest in the world,
and that was mainly because it was safe in various senses.
It was safe to come here physically.
Also, it was safe for the deals
because the rulers wanted the trade to be fair.
And this was not common in other ports.
What's interesting is that here they didn't really have natural resources,
so Malacca was more like a meeting place for traders
from various parts of the world to come here and do their deals.
When the Portuguese and the Dutch took over,
they abolished free trading and imposed high taxes.
This drove people away.
And for the British, Malacca was not a priority.
They wanted to invest in Penang and Singapore.
So this is how the port went into decline.
Oh, wow.
It's huge.
I dare you get near him.
-No. You never know the outcome -Yeah.
Oh, look at the riverfront.
How nice.
[music]
It's such a lovely area.
Right here or here?
I just found a great table for us.
Water and shade, everything I need right now.
And also, we got a really nice view.
[music]
Oh, this is perfect.
Put your Portuguese to use in Malacca
-Não falo português aqui (I don't speak Portuguese here)
-Por que não? (why not?)
-As pessoas falam malaio (People speak Malay)
-Yeah, but maybe you'll find one.
-No. -No?
[music]
Now, I feel like a new person.
Here in Malaysia, you got to take a break
in the middle of the day, relax, sit down.
It is really hot. And it makes a difference.
This canal here is so lovely.
And did you see the amount of bars that we just passed?
The funny thing is they're not expensive.
You think that it's a tourist area, everything would be twice the price?
No, we've been paying more, actually, close to our Airbnb.
It is so great to come for a stroll here
and there's a breeze to make it even better.
[music]
After walking and sweating the entire day.
this pool is a paradise.
Well, yeah, we had to leave our Airbnb.
Our reservation was for three or four days.
We spent the first days just walking around,
enjoying the city, getting to know the city better before filming,
and then we wanted to extend the reservation,
but it was not possible.
So, we figured, let's go somewhere else
where we can explore a different area.
We got a hotel here downtown within walking distance
to all the famous tourist attractions.
And it comes with this view.
[music]
Come on, join in.
In this heat, what can be better than this?
Whoo!
Do you think we should do the boat tour during the day or a night?
Hey, I'm trying to plan here.
Guide: Basically, "Kopitiam" serves breakfast.
But what is very, very unique is the chair.
Basically, the men sit here for hours
Digestion happens
and usually we need to pass gas
So that’s why you have these air holes here.
-Uh-huh.
But they didn't care about the smell or the sounds
Everyone does it.
This is easy. How do you say taxi in Malay?
Teksi. [laughs]
-I'm waiting for the flash.
-What flash? It's video. It's video.
[laughs]
Say something, baby.
-Something.
No. I love Melaka.
I love Melaka.
I love Melaka, too.