Wolferstan Road, Malacca.

Driving down a road is very much different from walking on it especially if the road is familiar to you for a very very long time. I just recently found out how much had changed when I took a walk down Wolferstan Road recently, lots of memories too. I have had very many a time driven through it to get to my destination without noticing the changes except for the obvious ....... guess it is just to get from point A to B.

I started from Bayview Hotel and remembered that Wearnes Bros was located just opposite. Wearnes Bros were dealers for British cars and the memory of brand new Mini cars, chain saws are still very fresh in my mind not forgetting the then very popular Minor 1000. My father was in the automotive industry and sometimes he bring us there to do his business while we waited. Beside Bayview was Malacca Motor Supply selling Opel and GM cars in the past and is now a 24hrs convenience store.

Further down the road opposite where the Renaissance now stand was a shop selling branded shirts like Arrow, Lifting and Van Heusen. Opposite this place where the Orchid Hotel now stand was a florist ........ my mum used to do some of her gardening shopping here. The big mansion now CIMB bank is still standing with full of glory but can't say the same for the ruined Capitol cinema. Hey! the aquarium shop in the lane just beside the CIMB bank is still there and it looks exactly the same as I remembered it about 40 years ago ......... could it be frozen in time??

Wisma Bendahara, the very first shopping complex in Malacca is now very much an eye sore, from day one when it opened, to me it looks sleazy! Just behind this so called shopping complex was at one time a very famous place called Malacca Coconut Island or MCI in short. Most Malaccans in my generation knows about what this place is famous for and I shall not disclose its secret.... hehe!!!

The Savoy cinema now is no longer there, beside it stands the 9 storey flats which was the first high rise and tallest building in Malacca. Being the first tallest building in Malacca it was really a popular place for people to end their sorrows the quick way. Before the flats were build it was the Malacca fire station.

Ahh!! yes!! Bee Loon, the brand that was on every school going kid waist and collar, not on the outside but on the inside ....... during my time no free advertising. I got some of my school uniforms and a scout uniform from this place too. When they first started they were located in the street behind and at that time it was just a home industry.

Wolferstan Road is now Bendahara Road ........ some people in Malacca have this strange urge to rename roads as and when they like it. Why?? Your guess is as good as mine.