Melaka: Slow, steady and coffee

Melaka. There were lots of tourists in the Jonker Street area. It was a Saturday afternoon and I was walking along the road looking for the famous cafe which has coffee from all the 13 states in Malaysia. This is my 4th trip to Melaka within 2014. Any more frequent than this meant that I must buy a place instead of staying in hotels. Just kidding.  Not a lot of new things happen in the Jonker Street area and yet I can’t say nothing ever happens. Perhaps the right word would be slow. Yeah, time slows down when I am in Melaka, again. I work in KL city centre and the pace is much faster. A small piece of land or even older buildings are always in danger of being bought over by a development company and another high rise development would rise from it. Yes, Melaka is slow by comparison.
Steady. Are there new cafes sprouting in the Jonker area? Yes. Are there new shops opening with all these ‘heritage’ homes converted into commercial ones? Is Melaka becoming more popular? Yes, definitely. Car park slots are harder to find and jams are much more frequent. Every now and then some friends would post their Melaka trip photos.  Every now and then, I would change the hotel that I stay because I would find new ones in Agoda and they give special opening rates. It’s much harder to find a car park nowadays when we visit the malls in Melaka and the usual favourite food places are having ever longer lines. Steady and continuous growth is very important. Too fast meant the attractiveness may suddenly turn into nightmare. Too slow simply meant nothing happens. I think for Melaka, it’s slow and steady.
Coming back to my coffee trip. The cafe I went into really do have 14 different types of coffee from all the states in Malaysia and differences between them can be tasted easily! We ordered nothing coffee from 5 states and each one of them are special. Never mind if they are really from the states stated as long as they are really using 14 types of different coffee powders. Quality can be  maintained because the quantity of patrons are also maintained or increasing. In other words, sufficient business to ensure they have money to keep up their quality. Coffee, its availability and pricing would tell us if the market is good or not. Just look at smaller towns, would you want to open a cafe which charges RM7.90 per cup of coffee there? That’s why every time I travel, I almost always try out the cafes to look at its quality of coffee and service and quantity.
I think it is very safe to say that I like Melaka a lot. As for buying a property in Melaka or not, it really depends on a host of reasons that only you would be able to answer. It’s not top for potential capital appreciation. It’s not as small as the island of Penang. It’s not as near to Singapore as Iskandar. However, the awesome thing about Melaka is that, it is nearby so many hotspots and everyone knows there are lots of Singaporean registered cars in Melakaevery weekend. As for size, unfortunately the current concentration is just within the city centre and you just can’t grow too much new land within the city. There’s one huge reclamation project but that is for a longer term. Happy deciding.
written on 17 Jan 2015
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