Red buildings along a slow river

Malacca, or Melaka, is where Malaysia looks most arranged for the eye. Dutch red on the Stadthuys and Christ Church, white trim, a river that now has bars and murals, trishaws covered in plastic flowers. The Portuguese and Dutch and British and Chinese and Malay layers are real history. The evening walk is also a tourist street, and it knows it.

Still, the buildings earn the trip. Sit on the square in the late afternoon, before the loudest speakers, and the scale is human. A church, a clock, a hill with the remains of a fort. You can understand the city in an hour of walking, which is a pleasure Kuala Lumpur does not offer.

As a place to live rather than to visit, the heritage core is noisy and priced for weekends. The attractive life is more often a neighborhood a short ride away, with the red square kept for guests and for your own idle Thursdays. Eat Nyonya food while you are there. The architecture and the table came from the same mixed centuries.