I've always had a love affair with nonya kebayas. Ever since I found out that my paternal grandmother used to wear sarong kebayas, I fell in love with them even more! One of the best places to buy one and enjoy the wonderful nonya/peranakan cuisine is Malacca - a birth place of the Peranakans.
My wonderful mom managed to gather a group of 10 of us and engaged a minivan to ferry us from our home to Malacca and back. And so began our little Malacca adventure ...
Here's a snapshot along the way ... looks like something out of "Far Pavilions" doesn't it?
As it's been a looong time since my last visit to Malacca, I was pleasantly surprised at how the Malaccan authorities had beautified the roads leading to Malacca. The roads were all lined with beautiful colourful flowers, and apparently lots of money had been spent building a man-made waterfall to welcome visitors to Malacca.
Our first stop: Christ Church Melaka ...
This church was originally built by the Dutch in 1741 (completed in 1753) to commemorate the capture of Malacca by the Dutch from the Portuguese. Under the Dutch rule, it was a roman catholic church. In 1824, when the British East India took over Malacca, the church was reconsecrated as a Church of England. Today, it stands as the oldest functioning Protestant church in Malaysia.
It was originally painted white, but 1911, it was painted red and this distinctive colour scheme has remained the hallmark of Malacca's Dutch-era buildings since.
A colourfully decorated trishaw!
Check out the Malaccan police on horses! Apparently they are Arabian horses ... which are one of the finest breeds of horses in the world! The police are really friendly ... more like ambassadors for Malacca I think! :)
An old fire engine truck ...
I had never climbed up to see the old fort ruins/ruins of St Paul's Church, but was told the view there was pretty nice, so I decided to take that short easy trek up ...
A statue of St. Francis Xavier, a Jesuit who spread Christianity in this part of the world ...
The beautiful view from St Paul's Church ...
Going back down to street level, here's a snapshot of Jonker Walk/Street ...
And I happened across this along the way ... what is that, you ask?
Why it's a puddy tat of course! Don't you just love the way cats manage to find the most comfortable spots?
Then we stumbled upon this small little old shop ... even the blue car parked out in front seemed to come from a different era!
Can you guess what the shop sells?
The famous Peranakan beaded slippers!
Apparently, the smaller the beads, the more labour intensive and hence the pricier the slippers. According to the owner (who is the 3rd generation shoemaker), they make their slippers with leather. Prices are from RM580 upwards.
They also made bound shoes! A member of our little group bought a pair (the one on the extreme left, top shelf). That was an interesting little story behind this purchase ... she's a Belgian lady who had lived in Shanghai for 7 years. During that time, she became fascinated with the history of bound feet/shoes, so she purchased a pair of bound shoes in Shanghai and a book about them. However, one side of the shoes got lost when she was relocating. So, she was keen on getting another pair when she saw this shop. Coincidentally, as she was about to purchase this pair, the Malaccan shoemaker took out a book on bound shoes ... and it was the exact same book she had! Then the shoemaker opened the book to this page where his father was featured in the book! At that moment, she knew she HAD to get these shoes! Isn't it amazing how small the world is? And how things come around in full circle? I think the shoes were really meant for her!
Unfortunately, I didn't manage to snap a pic of the shoes she did buy. However, I did manage to take a pic of a pair the shoemaker took out for her to see. These are the laced up kind. The other type was more of a slip-on kind. Personally, looking back at these pics, I was pretty fascinated by the second pair fm the left (above pic) - they had interesting embroideries of a little Chinese pavilion ... haven't seen that on a shoe before!
Finally, on to the highlight of my trip ... or so I thought ...
This was a beautiful shop selling really gorgeous kebayas ...
Sadly, the prices were also equally "gorgeous". Much as I wanted to get a beautiful kebaya, I simply couldn't bring myself to part with RM680 upwards for one. I could only look longingly at all the lovely things in the shop ... maybe one day ...
Just as I was consoling myself about not being able to go home with a kebaya, and lamenting the fact that we hadn't enough time at the charming Jonker Street/Walk area, some beautiful kebayas caught my eye at the Pahlawan Melaka Mall, and I eventually got this lovely kebaya! :)
ok ... I know die-hard Peranakans would consider this somewhat a sacrilege, but I intend to wear this kebaya top with jeans or something similar to modernise the look. And to top off the look, my mom's friend, Aunty J, ever so kindly gave me this set of kerosong to pin the front of the kebaya together ...
Apparently, the really proper nonyas have certain ways of pinning the kebaya front together. The way it's done shows how traditional they are, and even from which region they are from! Interesting ...
