THE CONQUERORS

Wow! Look at the billowing sails and majestic boat! I happened to be at the Melaka Independence Memorial Museum one afternoon, when I noticed this wonderful replica of the Portuguese ship in the window. The caption said that it is a replica of a Portuguese trading ship which used to sail into Malacca harbour in the 1500s. Every inch was intricately designed, with the ropes, knots etc so detailed.

FORT SANTIAGO

Hi Folks!

It's been almost a year that I've been hibernating and lost interest in writing this post. The truth is when I was informed of the sudden demise of a dear cyber friend who frequented this post, I didn't have the mood to continue because that person would not be around to read and comment me. and to continously motivate me to write. Thus I stopped. However, I did open a new post, this time in Malay. Now I'm myself again. So here I am!

I'll start with a famous landmark in good, old Malacca town. The Fort Santiago. Sounds familiar? One would think it's in Chile or Portugal for that matter. Malacca town is full of history going back to the 1400.

Fort Santiago

The Fort was built by the Portugese who captured Malacca in 1541. Actually it was one of the entrance gates to Malacca, part of a long wall surrounding the city. Can you imagine right at the entrance was the sea (now all reclaimed land). "It was renovated and extended by the Dutch after capturing it from the Portugese in 1641. After British took over the adminstration of Malacca from the Dutch through an agreement of 1807, the Fort was destroyed under the direction of one William Farquhar. As a result of protests from Sir Stamford Raffles and Lord Minto, the destruction was halted. Of the original 4 gates one stands to this day, known by the name of "FORT SANTIAGO" a.k.a "The Famosa".

There you are. I hope you are enlightened. See you soon!

A scene of the Fort when I was growing up, sans tourists.