Jonker Street

Aiks! can't believe that Wikipedia doesn't have a record on Jonker Street. Anyway, I'll have to rely on my memory to tell you the story that i know about Jonker Street :)

Jonker Street, also known as Jalan Hang Jebat is a MUST-visit destination whenever you come to Malacca. In Mandarin it is called "He Lan Jie". "He Lan" basically means Holland and "Jie" means street.

Back then, most of the community who lived here were the Chinese and the Peranakan or best known as Baba & Nyonya. Long ago this is the place where the rich and famous live in. Now, most of them (their decandence) have moved to better houses made of bricks and whatever that is left behind (some of them) are well preserve 'old house' or 'ancestral house'.

So what can you do here? A quick tour around the place, you'll find a lot of antic shops. If you want to learn more about the history and culture of Malacca, antic shops are the best place to stop by. There are also a lot of souvenier shops where you can find interesting handicrafts, clothing etc.

There are several art galleries and one of them belongs to the famous water colour painter Mr. Jehan Chan. I won't go into detail here, will do it in another post in the near future :) But i must say, i am proud to learn under him for a few years... hehehe... He use to rent a place with my grandmother to conduct art classes at Jalan Tengkera...

Places of worship - Here you can find the OLDEST chinese temple, mosque and indian temple. Unique isn't it? Talk about 3 in 1... you have it here in Jonker Street. Among all, i must say that the chinese temple is worth a visit. It is one of the most well preserved historical architecture in Malaysia. On a normal day, you will find a few people from the nearby neighbourhood worshipping here, but during Chinese New Year (CNY), this place will be filled with people from near and far! If you want to experience the CNY mood, this is a good place to be (if you don't mind the crowd and sweat)

Cafes! This place is 'infested' with cafes and bistros! Most of them are open during the night. So if you want a place to chit-chat and chill out, do check out some of the cafes here. ALL of them are tastefully decorated and you will sure enjoy it!

Since i have started with cafes, let me just continue with what you can find here during the night. On weekdays you probably won't find anything happening apart from some old coffee shops that sell simple stuff like coffee, cendol and ABC (Air Batu Campur) a.k.a Ais Kacang. However, during the weekend (Fri-Sun) this place comes ALIVE! Every Friday to Sunday night there will be the Jonker Walk. It is actually a flee market. Here you'll find the mordern and the old (or ancient if you want to put it that way...hahaha). During festive season like Chinese New Year, Mooncake Festival, or any function that the MCA decided to have, there will be performances and interesting programmes.

Food! The most famous one here at Jonker Street is the chicken rice ball and Nyanya Food! It is a must try! Again, i won't go into detail here..else it will be a post too long to digest :) I'll put up a post specifically on MUST-try food at this place later. Do come back again from time to time :)

Okai, the picture above, is just a simple snap shot of Jonker Street.