TacoCat’s Travels #140 (Malacca): Gatecrashing Wedding and Historical Sightseeing! ⛪

December 2021 · 8 min read · Malacca City

Hey Hive!

So if you missed the last post, we're currently on a brand new journey back in early Feb 2019 when we went on a road trip to Malacca City, Malaysia, for my cousin's wedding! It had been over a decade since we last visited Malacca and it also gave us a chance to reunite with our relatives again, just in time for Chinese New Year!

And last week, we spent our first night in Malacca reliving memories and having satay celup, which is a popular Malaysian dish where an assortment of raw and semi-cooked seafood, meat and vegetables are dunked into a hot boiling pot of satay gravy! It originated from Malacca so of course we had to eat it while we're here!

After that we also went to visit my grandmother's old house and showed Sean and my sis-in-law where we spent our childhood Chinese New Year holidays!

2 February 2019. Saturday.

Today was the start of the actual wedding day! We weren't in the actual wedding party of course but since we're part of the family we were involved in the morning activity as well which as per tradition, was the "gatecrashing" and tea ceremony!

Traditional Chinese wedding ceremonies typically begin with "gatecrashing", which is not exactly the same as the actual meaning like partycrashing. It's also called wedding door games where the groom (and his groomsmen) basically goes through some trials setup by the bridesmaids to test the his resolve and determination to get his wife.

Source: raymondphang.com

First they typically give red envelopes (or ang bao) to the bridemaids as an entrance fee then there's usually some consumption of unpleasant foods like something spicy, bitter or sour. I think in this case it was wasabi? There's also some physical exercise they have to do like pushups or something.

Source: raymondphang.com

I didn't take too many pictures because I was pretty tired and tbh I didn't really care for these games. To me they seemed too much like a college fratboy thing or orientation games that are really lame and noisy. It was basically just the bridesmaids and groomsmen playing their own silly games while the rest of us cringed at them making a fool of themselves.

Eventually after about an hour they finally finished then it was time for the tea ceremony!

The bride and groom would offer tea to the elders and receive a red envelope and blessing from them, before taking a seat themselves and the younger relatives would then go up and receive red envelopes from the newlyweds.

There's also a specific order in which the elders must be served as it shows how the couple respect their seniority. The parents will be served first, then the grandparents, grand uncles and aunts, uncles and aunts, and then elder siblings.

This was also something that my brother and sis-in-law did since it's a pretty respectful tradition. So this was my mum drinking the tea:

And this was me receiving the red envelopes:

After that we just took a lot of pictures!

We had our lunch there before leaving to drive somewhere else. It was super warm out so I'm glad I chose to wear something white even though my top was still pretty thick. It was nice to be able to debut my sakura midi skirt though!

After that we went back to the hotel to rest up for a bit and dodge the heat before deciding to take a walk around the neighbourhood near the hotel! The wedding reception was to take place at our hotel and we had some time to kill before then.

Turns out our hotel was situated pretty close to the famous Jonker Street! There were quite many shops there it felt like a night market especially since it was Chinese New Year!

Jonker Street is one of the best places to see the harmonious blend of cultures as well as numerous historical sites that Malacca has to offer! This central hub of activity also serves as a haven for antique collectors, bargain hunters, and vintage fashion enthusiasts.

Walking along, we came across the Malacca River with all these shop houses along it.

And there was a doggo that was trapped in the canal!He was kinda struggling to get up and luckily his owner was able to help him back up.

Eventually we came to this very touristy place which had a windmill! It kinda reminded me of Netherlands.

But nope, it was just the Christ Church Melaka! The reason why there was a windmill is because it was actually built by the Dutch when they occupied Malacca!

Situated along Jalan Gereja (also known as Church Street) Christ Church is one of Malacca’s most defining structures; an instantly recognizable brick-red building with a huge white cross at the top. Sitting opposite the Stadhuys, Christ Church was built in 1753 to celebrate a century of Dutch occupation. The interior of the cathedral has 200 year-old handmade pews, decorative fanlights and plaques that honour Dutch soldiers and locals. (Source: malacca.ws)

And here was the Stadthuys, which is the administrative capital of the state of Malacca in a place known as the Red Square and is known for its red exterior and nearby red clocktower. It was built by the Dutch in 1650 as the office of the Dutch Governor and Deputy Governor. (Source: wiki)

Outside the buildings though was a whole alley of street peddlers selling all sorts of souvenir items, and ice creams since it's always sweltering here with no shelter and so many tourists.

Speaking of tourists, there was this iLOVE Melaka sign here that we wanted to take a picture with but it was far too crowded.

But Chinatown was definitely bustling with activity this Chinese New Year weekend!

There were also so many of these trishaw riders who would offer to bring tourists around.

We didn't really have a destination in mind; it was nice to just take a walk along Chinatown and just enjoy the scenery even though it was pretty warm still.

We came across one of the most traditional-looking Watsons outlet ever?

And we also stepped inside this usual shop which was a sort of museum but also a restaurant?

There were displays of all these old notes and money around but there were customers eating laksa there too.

Then we found our way to the famous Jonker Walk

There were all these stone sculptures here that looked really cool!

There were also these really interesting trees there!

But we found ourselves back along Jonker Street Chinatown again. We weren't sure how long the street was actually but since it was approaching night time, the night market stalls were being setup now.

We could see all the night market snack stalls being setup.

And we found a stage of some sort in the middle of the street which I guess is where they would hold the Chinese New Year performance or something?

Unfortunately since we would be at the wedding dinner during the night we won't be able to come and see the night market when everything is open so this was pretty much the only time we had.

Some stalls were already opening though like this Mr Pau Tim Sum shop which looked really impressive!

We found our way to the famous Jonker Street art wall, where Kiehl's actually commissioned a street artist to make a mural in celebration of the UNESCO heritage site.

It was really colourful though, and everyone who comes to Malacca definitely knows this touristy place.

There was also a beautiful painted house on the other side of the Malacca river!

And this very regal looking Church of St. Francis Xavier!

That was where the Kiehl's mural was and beside it you can also see the flea market building where they had some interesting vintage car hoods at the front as street art.

It was nearing evening time and eventually, time for us to head back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding dinner! But we were getting hungry so we stopped by a coffee shop on the way back and got a pre-dinner snack!

We shared a bowl of yong tau foo beehoon and got some crispy beancurd and fishballs! It was actually really yummy! And since neither of us had much at my cousins' place in the morning it was really satisfying after that long walk.