Wangfujing Cathedral in Beijing

I made it back to Beijing city center before dark and boy does it get dark here very fast. For lack of better a better idea, I decided to make my way to one of Beijing city’s most well known places – Wangfujing 王府井. Wangfujing is most known as Beijing’s premier shopping streets and most Chinese cities have their own shopping street. I figured that if it is in the capital then this must be the shopping streets of all shopping streets. I was expecting a long line of shopping malls here but what surprised me was anything but a mall.

Front Gate of the Wangfujing Cathedral

At one end of Wangfujing shopping street is the Wangfujing Cathedral 王府井天主堂. The church is also called St. Joseph’s Cathedral. It started its life as a small church in the 1600s until it was destroyed by a powerful earthquake. In the early 1900s it was rebuilt in its current form and I must say it is quite elegant. At night it is even more spectacular with all the lights on. The plaza in front is a popular spot for photographers and skateboarders. In fact, I was asked to help to take someone’s photo while I was visiting. Unfortunately for me, I didn’t know that there was a Catholic Church here in Beijing, I would have wanted to attend Holy Mass here and at the same time observe how Catholicism is practiced here in China.

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Quiet Melaka Town Square

I finally made it back to the Melaka town center where I started my exploration of Melaka. I hurried along the Sungei Melaka to go to the Church of Saint Francis Xavier where I wanted to attend the sunset Mass. I got there a little early and I took the time to rest a bit before the Holy Mass starts. The church was surprisingly packed for a Saturday evening Mass, I guess it was not a huge surprise since the Portuguese influence in the area still lingers in the form of Catholicism. The Mass was celebrated in English which is just as well since Melaka’s population is multi-racial.

Fountain at Melaka Town Square

By the time the Mass finished, it was already sundown and I remembered that this was a great time to be taking shots since the sky will have a nice color. I hurried back to the town center hoping to get some photos there. I was pleasantly surprised to see very little people around the fountain area. Very much unlike the huge crowds I saw when I got there during lunch time. By now, even the tricycles were long gone, although there were still some drivers trying to make a last ditch stand in the hopes of bagging a customer.

Sungei Melaka at Sundown

The town center was decidedly more pleasant than the daytime, here only a handful of people are hanging out. Most of them were photographers trying to catch the last rays of sunlight here at Melaka. Since I never planned on staying over, I didn’t bring a tripod with me so I had to try to get as clear as shot as possilbe under the circumstances.

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Walking Down Bukit Saint Paul

There wasn’t really much to see at the top of Bukit St. Paul other than the Church of Saint Paul itself. In fact, at one of the exits of the church is a stairway down the hill. This stairway is by far the more popular way to go up the hill. I guess I took a “wrong” turn by going up a less frequented path which is good since I don’t want to be climbing up the hill with so many people.

Tombs Near the Church of Saint Paul

Walking down the stairs down Bukit St. Paul wasn’t really that interesting. There were some tombs along the way though. From the flight of stairs, I begin to remember how I first explored this place. I really went through it the other direction. I realized that the hotel I stayed in was on the other side of town. Anyway, this is nevertheless a good change of perspective.

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Inside the Walls of the Church of Saint Paul

The Church of Saint Paul is situated on top of Bukit St. Paul which commands impressive views the surrounding area. The Church of Saint Paul has deteriorated over the years with the abandonment of the church by the Dutch in favor of a more accessible Christ Church just below the hill. What remains of the church is the bell tower where the statue of St. Francis Xavier is and the main church building. Upon entry, the main church building is actually hollow. There are no structures inside, just the walls. There is no roof either.

Buskers Amid the Tombstones at the Church of Saint Paul

Amusingly, there is a group of buskers inside the main church grounds playing guitar and singing songs. They were speaking in Malay, although some words are quite prominent like “makan” which means “eat”. Along the walls of the church are large tomb stones which were put here by the Dutch. I don’t understand why they needed to bring the tomb stones here when their official church is down the hill. The tombstones were quite impressive with elaborate design and carvings.

Inside further down is a structure I wasn’t really sure. I was like pit which opens to the ground below, but it is covered by a steel cage. The locals turned to throwing coins in the cage, turning it to a wishing well. I don’t really know what it was before all this but now, it is a wishing well. There were a lot of people visiting at the time, little surprise since this place is one of the more significant locations in the Melaka historical site. It is also noteworthy that supports have been placed on the archways to make sure that the rest of the church doesn’t come tumbling down.

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Statue of St. Francis Xavier in Front of the Church of St. Paul

Bukit St. Paul is one of the highest points of Melaka, it commands a great view of the Melaka Straits and of the town of Melaka itself. Naturally, these high vantage points are coveted by those in power, either symbolically or realistically. The high elevation allow defenders to see incoming aggressors and at the same time be able to alert the townsfolk. Symbolically, if you are at a high elevation, usually so is your status. In this case, the top of the hill are the ruins of a church for whom the hill was named after.

Close Up of One of the Tomb Stones at the Church of Saint Paul

The Church of Saint Paul was known as the Nosa Senhora during the time of the Portuguese, then as Our Lady of the Hill, and finally was the Church of Saint Paul during the Dutch occupation. The church is quite old as it was constructed in 1521, however it fell into disrepair with the construction of Christ Church below by the Dutch. The great Catholic missionary St. Francis Xavier’s remains were temporarily interred here. Additionally, there is white statue of St. Francis Xavier in front of the church. Unfortunately, the right hand of the statue is missing.

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Church of Saint Francis Xavier in Melaka

I continued on walking along the Sungei Melaka, I ran into a place I visited on a previous trip. Actually visit is too strong a word. Since we were in a hurry to get from one place to another, we only passed by the Church of Saint Francis Xavier. This time since I was traveling on my own, I have time to explore the church. It is a little tricky to get to the church from the Sungei Melaka, the church is along the far side of the very busy Jalan Laksamana. I needed to use my road crossing skills here to get to the church. Whatever happens, I would get to the church anyway.

Inside the Church of Saint Francis Xavier

The Church of Saint Francis Xavier was constructed in 1859 using a Neo-Gothic architectural design. The structure isn’t really that remarkable since I have seen a lot of similar churches in the Philippines. The church is dedicated to saint Francis Xavier, who was known for his work in Asia, most notably, India and Japan. He did stop by Melaka for a while en route to Japan where he met Anjiro or Yajiro in some accounts. He spent most of his life in foreign lands, upon his beatification and eventual canonization, he is now regarded as the patron saint of missionaries in foreign lands.

Statue of Saint Francis Xavier

The inside of the church is rather unispiring. Although the church is already more than a hundred years old, it doesn’t really look its age. The entire church is very well maintained with modern conveniences like fans and projectors for the congregation. Regular Catholic church services are still being held here. Since it was a Saturday, I decided to attend Holy Mass here, since I won’t be getting back to Singapore that soon. The service was in English, though I’m sure there are services in other languages.

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Melaka Town Center at Dusk

Christ Church Melaka

What is probably the singular most memorable landmark in Melaka is the Christ Church. This church is colored brick red just like the buildings in the area. It stands in on of the corners of the town square of Melaka. It does look a bit strange why the church was built so near the Sungei Melaka (Melaka River). If a lot of people are expected since it is a town square, won’t it have made more sense to put this place in a more open area?

Close Up View of Christ Church Melaka

The facade of the Christ Church it not really noteworthy considering that it was built in an age where fancy buildings were built. Old Catholic church tend to be a bit more grand in their construction with ornate facades and interior. The Christ Church on the other hands tends to a more simple design with the very prominent name of the church emblazoned in front.

One would need a little history lesson before appreciating the relics in Melaka. The first western colonizers of Melaka were the Portuguese, they were then followed by the Dutch in the mid 1600s. The British took over the Dutch in administering Melaka, until Malaysia itself became an independent nation. If would be immediately obvious that the numerous transitions had some effect on Melaka. The church was one of them.

Behind Christ Church Melaka

Christ Church was built by the Dutch in 1753, using bricks imported from the home country. I wonder how special those bricks were having to import them from so far away. When the British took over the Dutch, the church was converted into an Anglican Church, to which it remains to this day. The interiors of the church were not really awe-inspiring. Not only that, photographs were forbidden inside the church. At the time of my visit there was a group of school kids on an excursion. There was a small store selling religious items inside the church itself.

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Saint Andrew's Church in Kowloon

After that long meal at Chuen Cheong Kui Restaurant, we walked our way from Mongkok to Tsim Sha Tsui. We didn’t really plan on going anywhere as we were just people watching and just wasting time. It was my friend’s first time to walk that stretch and I thought it was quite refreshing despite all the people along Nathan Road. We then got to a portion of Nathan Road which I have ignored all this time. Apparently there is a row of colonial era buildings along Nathan Road and I didn’t know about it.

View of the Saint Andrew's Church

Saint Andrew’s Church is one of those colonial era buildings and it still stands to this day. St. Andrew’s Church is an Anglican church built in 1906 and it has served a place of worship ever since. The church is built on a small elevated piece of land but there isn’t much of a view to speak of. At the time of my visit there was wedding going on and there are a lot of people posing for photographs. Based on old photos, it seemed that the red brick building once had a steeple, it is long gone now, although much of the church is quite well maintained. Interestingly, the church main doors were off to the sides of the building.

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Dropping by San Agustin Church

Preparing for the Wedding Reception at San Agustin Church Courtyard

As I previously mentioned, the layout of the San Agustin Museum is retangluar with a rather spacious courtyard in the middle. The counrtyard itself doesn’t have anything special with it, but it has since become popular for wedding receptions. At the time of my visit, there was a catering company frantically preparing tables at the courtyard. I imagine it would be a little difficult to set up something like this since the place is not really conducive for such events, although the place is certainly very atmospheric.

This is a Popular Place for Weddings and Receptions

This is no hotel so they would have to bring their own sound systems and possibly a stage for the couple. Then there is always the issue of rain and the heat. Usually in wedding receptions like these, the dress code calls for formal wear and it would not be very comfortable to be wearing formal wear for several hours in the heat, even it if it was held in the evening. I’m not too sure either of holding wedding receptions inside the grounds of a UNESCO World Heritage site, but then again, the San Agustin Church is no mere relic of the past, it is still much alive and in use. We are just continuing what has been done for hundreds of years.

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Fountain at Fr. Blanco's Garden

Outside the San Agustin Museum is a little garden called Fr. Blanco’s Garden. This garden was named after Fr. Manuel Blanco who is considered the father of Philippine botany. He was the first to compile a list of Philippine flora. There is a statue off to the side of the garden dedicated to him, of course with his potted plant in hand. The ruins by the garden seemed to have been turned into the parish hall. Although the new building is much more usable, the old ruins are now forever lost.

Statue of Fr. Manuel Blanco

The garden itself isn’t really special either, I remember the garden to be much more spacious but it seems to be much smaller now. Apparently, they have removed the ruins to make way for a better structure. It doesn’t look that bad since it is designed with Spanish era aesthetics, but you can’t really compare it to a centuries old ruin. The plants are still thriving at the garden but seems that there isn’t really much care being put into the garden as it used to. Nevertheless, the garden is still a favorite place for wedding receptions. There is no shelter though so better mark sure there won’t be rain.

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