Malacca: Jonker Street and its Very Own Library

As I was saying, I have fond memories of Malacca. My dad brought little us to visit Malacca to makan angin (to travel for leisure), mostly during school holiday. Vaguely, I saw the red shophouses a lot, and the Christ Church, and the Fort A Famosa. And Trishaw! We didn't have it in the big city of KL nor small hometown of my dad's, you see. Malacca provided us a glimpse of the past and slower pace of living (few days though) from the Kuala Lumpur city. Over the years, I learnt a lot more about its history of Sultanate, Laksamana and Temenggung, as well as the unique Baba and Nyonya culture from our textbooks. It was one of the proud eras prior to Colonialism of Malaya. 

Profoundly, Malacca set the modern nation of Malaysia. If I may conclude so. 

Like many other cities in Malaysia, Malacca grows and develops rapidly too, vertically and horizontally while I was reading it from the textbooks. Some parts of the city stay physically intact as much as it could, some parts try to integrate the past and redevelop. Conservation and Preservation are not easy when socia-economic consideration is the primary aspect for a city. In 2008, together with George Town of Penang, Malacca became one of UNESCO World Heritage Site. More effort of redevelopment ever since, but I think that listing gives some of us some sort of relief that many of the past get to stay permanently.

Speaking of which, we love visiting Jonker Street, being the core of the Malacca UNESCO World Heritage Site. During our last visit to Malacca, we had great fun. 

It was an ordinary Wednesday. No much car emission polluted the air heavily, no sweaty shoulders or arms rubbed mine. Even the shop owners or workers were friendlier and effortlessly, my pictures were taken beautifully, at least I think so. We forgotten about time and immersed ourselves into the oldies, looked up at the architecture details and looked down at little merchandise. There were way too many little, pretty and cheap things for grab. Often, kids would fall into the trap and wanting to buy this and that.

But there again, they also liked to tell stories from the merchandises...

"This is me, that is jiejie; mama is here and baba is the tallest!"

So here I was, carrying an umbrella and a camera and a bag, wondering wandered the renowned Street at the tail of the girls and hub. It was a glooming day in Melacca.

Udara means air in Malay. 

Udara Art Studio is an uber-cool shop that sells limited edition of art pieces. I didn't see any replicated earrings or framed paintings at all.

Not too far from Udara, the contrast of the green and the red versus the antique door and windows here caught my eyes. Not sure if it is remained as residential or turned into commercial, the prosperous outlook surely attracted many curiosity... if you are not in hurry.

Such a happy prosperous shop to pass by. 

Chinese Red Handicrafts (剪纸人家) in the picture left below. Oh, according to wikipedia, Chinese Paper Cutting or JianZhi (剪纸) is the first type of papercutting design, since paper was invented by Cai Lun in the Eastern Han Dynasty in China. Too bad, the girls were not interested and stayed long.

Red Handicrafts | Random shot

Sometime I wonder, if the upper unit of the shops are still being occupied and used... 

Facade elements | Courtyard in Hokkien Huay Kuan

And according to Malacca Guide, Jonker Street was where the different Chinese clans had their clan Associations. Among them, the Hokkiens established theirs in 1837. Look at the floor tiles!

Hokkiens Clan Associations.

Back in my childhood, flooring were homogeneously in blue-grey-white square tiles. If I remember correctly, mostly were in toilet/bathroom. This one here along the corridor.

The blue-grey-white flooring.

Geographer Cafe, a significant landmark of Jonker Street-

View from the Library.

We passed by many souvenirs shops, many food places too. But, have you notice a library?

The entrance of the library.

This is the highlight of my post here- The Memorial Library of Jin Xing 金星上人图书馆, also known as Jonker Street Library. It is an extraordinary place amid commercialised street. My kids love the peaceful library a lot. Books are old, but they don't mind at all. By second time we visited Jonker Street, they recognised the place and demanded to come again. It is diagonally opposite Geographer's Cafe, look for the sign of "金星上人". 

The library is in the midst of re-organisation. 

The library is owned by the temple behind it- Cheng Hoon Teng Temple, so most books here are donation. Best is, it is not just religious books, there are tons of children books too, in Chinese and English. Not many people would come in here though, probably due to its religious frontage, or maybe of its old collection.

A pick by my daughter | an opening into another section of the library.

It is a whole different ambience inside here compare to outside. Quiet, spacious, open (breezing) and cosy, so cosy that we usually stayed here very long and ended our visit in Jonker Street.

The reading corner | the courtyard | The Library (in Chinese)

Being (half) a day of wondering wanderers, we didn't cover the entire Jonker Street. The navy dashed line in the map was what we were able to achieve.

A: The Daily Fix | B: The Memorial Library of Jin Xing 金星上人图书馆

More about The Daily Fix, next.