On to the tomb of Tun Teja...

After we're done at the city of Melaka, we next head southwards towards Muar and decided to visit the tomb of Tun Teja.

Who is Tun Teja? She was said to be an astounding beauty from a noble family in Pahang...



There is a long story regarding how the admiral Hang Tuah came to Pahang and managed to lure her to come to Melaka and marry the Sultan...

It is said that she died while retreating with the royal entourage following the conquest of the city of Melaka by the Portuguese in 1511 and that is why she was buried here, in the middle of a paddy field.

There is reason to believe that there was a settlement here once, even for a short while. This well in the compounds of the Tun Teja tomb complex should attest to that...

Visiting the Tengkera Mosque...

After the tomb of Hang Tuah, we next went to Masjid Tengkera, the mosque of Tengkera...

Built in the 1720s or so, it is one of the oldest still-existing mosque in Malaysia...


It used to be the state mosque of Melaka...

For information the word Tengkera came from Portuguese word tranquerah which means rampart or a low-built fortification. The surrounding area used to be a busy suburb lying just outside the main fort of A Famosa, the Portuguese military stronghold after they conquered the city of Melaka in 1511 AD. Thus it was protected by such a rampart. However this mosque was built only after the Dutch took over rule starting in 1641. The Portuguese were very much against Islam and used to destroy every mosque they could get their hands on while the Dutch adopted a more egalitarian policy to get the Muslims to work alongside...

At the grounds of the mosque lies the tomb of Sultan Hussin Shah. For the record he was the ruler of the remnants of the Johor-Riau-Lingga empire which used to inherit the colonies of the Melaka Sultanate. Too bad the empire was broken apart by the Dutch-Anglo Treaty of 1824, during his rule...

A family visit to the tomb of Hang Tuah...

OK. Let's continue the process of releasing stories based on my December 2009 picture file. Consider this the continuation from the article Kampung Morten at night ...

After spending the night at my brother-in-law's place at Tanjung Puteri, we visited the tomb of Hang Tuah in Tanjung Keling...

For information, Hang Tuah was a well-reknowned Malay warrior who used to be the admiral leading the Melaka Sultanate army in the 15th century AD...

To the right one could see a monument engraved with the words "tidak Melayu hilang di dunia (the Malays won't ever disappear from the world)" said to be uttered by the very famous olden admiral.

Hang Tuah's prowess in the Malay martial arts called Silat is legendary. Some even said he was a wali, a person who has attained saintly status in the eyes of God.

That is why his tomb is is some 20 metres-long they said! Then again, make no mistake. Just because someone's tomb is 20 metres long, it doesn't mean he is 20 metres tall. If that is the case, shouldn't logic dictates that the tomb should also be 5 metres wide to accomodate the commensurating width and physical size? Otherwise, there is no way anyone could be 20 metres tall but yet has a body of the normal 0.5 to at most 1 metres-wide as attested by the width of the tomb. There is no way someone with such a figure would be able to walk properly what more perform feats of martial arts.

No sir. Such long tombs actually exist to signify a person's saintly status, at least in the eyes of men. Anyway this tomb of Hang Tuah in Tanjung Keling is not his original tomb. No one actually knows where Hang Tuah died or where he was buried at. The tomb in Tanjung Keling is said to be just a reminder and tribute to the great warrior. It is said that after Hang Tuah disappeared from Melaka, the Sultan tends to stare out into the window right towards Tanjung Keling and thus a tomb was erected in his remembrance...

p/s: This is the 454th article in this blogspot.

Kampung Morten at night

We also took the time to visit the famous traditional village called Kampung Morten...

Now, this village in the middle of the Melaka city is already something to behold to during daytime. At night the strategically-placed lightings made it a virtual wonderland!

That's our daughter Erin and son Haziq posing in front of one of the lighted houses...

Then we saw this bridge...

It might not be completed but it was enough to give a wider and more interesting vista...

The watergate sytem of the river Melaka

Later at night we went to the jetty of the river Melaka right in the middle of its city...

Actually we came here to take the famous Melaka river cruise. However we arrived a bit too late and missed the last ride which if I'm not mistaken was at 11 pm...

So I decided to do something else. I went to check how the river cruise works, particular how they managed to keep the water at optimal level making it navigable at all times impervious to the usual workings of high and low tide...

First, a quick education about the Melaka river. Let it be known that the half a kilometre stretch or so leading out to the sea you see nowadays are all part of reclaimed land. That means the estuary used to lie half a kilometre or so inland compared to the estuary you can see in this picture with a bridge cum highway crossing.

OK. I consciously took a picture from this angle to show something. You see, following the land-reclamation and creation of the Melaka river cruise, the flow of the river is broken into two. The one on the left lead to a dead end close to the original estuary, the one to the right lead to the gateway system where the water level is controlled...

This is the watergate system which controls the water level. I understand it is made based on the system employed in London especially the canals passing through Camden...




And here's a look back towards the jetty where I took the first picture. The jetty should lie near the original estuary as could be seen 20 years ago.

Bukit (Hill of) Supai at dusk...

Continued from The floating restaurant at Kuala Linggi .

From the floating restaurant one could easily see the small hill called Bukit Supai...

So while waiting for our meal to be served I decided to pay a visit...

Here's a look to the left as I was about to climb up the steps...

A look towards the floating restaurant from the top of the staircase...

On to the top of Bukit Supai. Note the pair of cannons waiting...

At one side of the hill facing the Linggi river mouth is an old tomb, I don't know belonging to who...

On top lies a fort which used to be operated by the Dutch more than 200 years ago...

I understand it was once opened and operated by the Bugis Malays before the Dutch took over...

The floating restaurant at Kuala Linggi

Time to release a number of pictures with accompanying stories for my December 2009 picture files starting with these...

One fine afternoon in December, after spending some time in Port Dickson and Tanjung Tuan in Negeri Sembilan we arrived at the small village of Kuala Linggi in Melaka.

There is this floating restaurant we want to go to...

It is situated at the mouth of the river Linggi, an important waterway into Negeri Sembilan which is also a natural border between that state and Melaka.

We first went to this restaurant sometime in September if I'm not mistaken...

Then, we arrived at night. So this new visit in December was our first in daytime...

Here's a pix of Al-Rasyid who was then just over 2 months old...

Here's our elder children Haziq and Erin walking around the restaurant's main building.

From here one could get a superb view of the surroundings. By the way it was almost dusk when we arrived. But still there was enough daylight...

Tranquil Teluk Pelanduk near Linggi

Also from the February 2010 picture file...

Mid February, me and wife made a little trip to a bay called Teluk Pelanduk in Negeri Sembilan...

Situated some distance south-east of the resort beach of Port Dickson and its quite maddening holiday crowd, it offers a tranquil escape from the hustle bustle of city life and everything else.

Teluk Pelanduk is actually closer to the mouth of the Linggi river. For the record, the river, at least for half its length, is a natural border between the states of Negeri Sembilan and Melaka...

A zoom to the south from the spot I was standing at to take the previous picture shows the floating restaurant which lies off the village of Kuala Linggi in Melaka. Kuala is the Malay word for estuary and thus Kuala Linggi means the estuary of the Linggi river...

We drover further south-east to savour more tranquil views...

That's when we came across an interesting looking food-stall and decided to have tea. By the way it was way past 6 pm then...

Ah. That's my dear wife and baby...

This food-stall has its own calming aura being situated at such a nice spot besides the open waters that is the Straits of Melaka.

We went further south-east and saw this little island. If not for the fact that it was almost dusk, I would certainly take the time to cross the small wooden bridge to get on it...

From here we could get a closer view of the hills at Kuala Linggi...

Oh. Anyway this trip to Teluk Pelanduk, our first ever was made so that we could join the wife's secondary school reunion at a nearby resort. This is the only picture I took from the meet. That's all! :]