Thursday, October 31, 2013

A step into the past..

Over the years even as I promised myself not to revisit the places I've been to and to head elsewhere. Malacca has become a yearly 'pilgrimage' for me. This was not my first trip there. Neither was it my first solo trip. =) 

But what was different this time was as I was walking down the same Jonker Street there were changes seen (the last I went was in August 2012). And this caught my eye. The Royal Press. A small shopfront. But something about how it is related to writing attracted me in. 


So there was a guided tour (RM$12) and as I was 15 mins from the next tour time I took up the chance to enter. 



Some items on display. From the old school stationary items to wedding invitations and calendars. 

There were machines that were on display to explain to us how it all works. 




And shelves of medicines and bottles which they print the labels for. 

There was another room set up and displayed items from the time of the British colonization. 

Notepads. Namecards. Bus tickets. 



Items on an old office table.

There were also displays of how coloured printing was done in the old days. Layers over layers over layers. Before arriving to the final product. Makes you appreciate our current technology and machines much more. 



The guide explaining how the machine worked. 

An auntie working with the company still and doing the Peranakan calendar for 2014.

It was tour that lasted about 30 mins. But what amazed me most was the room where all the blocks were stored. The single blocks were used to form a single sentence word by word. The room had only Chinese characters (Roman letters and numerals did not require a room. =P). Even I had a hard time searching for the characters. Imagine the auntie who knows where the individual group of characters are placed! 


Sometimes it juz takes a little glance back to the past to make you appreciate the present doesn't it? 

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