Malacca 2026 – Peranakan Photography Trip
Text by Editor AL Lee

27th April 2026, Singapore-Malaysia – Recently we took a short trip to Malacca between 10th April and 13th April 2026. It was organized as our 620th event. Our last visit to Malacca as a group was in May 2023. This round, we repeated some of the places from the previous trip like walking along the Malacca River shooting murals, visiting various museums, took the MTS ride & river cruise, visited the White Dragon Palace Temple & Encore!@Melaka but the highlight of this trip is none other than the Peranakan cosplay – if that is the correct way to call it.

Instead of engaging a “professional photographer”, we decided that since all of us are photographers, we will document the whole event ourselves as models + photographers. Following our research, we picked Colour Nyonya House 彩娘惹 for our costumes & make-up and we did the shoot at The Baba Nyonya Heritage Museum – one of the best to visit in Malacca.

Color Nonya House provides an excellent inventory of Kebaya for the ladies including an extensive range of accessories like costume jewelleries, fans, umbrellas etc while the Baju for the men are decent too. Make-up & hairdo service are available (prior booking required) on request and our team love it.

The process was fast and professional while the make-up artistes who serviced us that day was professional and very engaging, it was a great experience.

After we “transformed” into Baba & Nonya, we took a short stroll to The Baba Nyonya Heritage Museum for our photoshoot. We picked this museum over the others for a few reasons.

The Baba & Nyonya Heritage Museum is located in the heart of Jonker Street precinct. The house itself is a combination of three terrace lots that were acquired by the Chan family in 1861. Four generations lived in the house before it was opened as a museum in March 1985. The name of the museum is derived from the term Baba, an honorific manner of addressing a Straits-born gentleman and Nyonya which addresses a Straits-born lady.

Within the house, there are countless authentic furniture & displays dating back to early 19th century. If you are intending to visit this museum, please note that flash is not allowed and further to the entrance fees, if you are dressed in Peranakan style clothing and intend to do a photoshoot there, there is a separate charge for entering the museum – a reasonable fee considering that there is no time limit on how long you can stay inside.

All of us took this opportunity to shoot, learn and try out shooting portraitures even though all of us are not exactly Portrait Photographers. The experience was fun and very enjoyable. There were lots of laughter and a very conducive learning experience.

Amidst the colors, the smiles, everyone got into the “roles” and made every minute count!

Some people said we were mad to be traveling to Malacca in April as it is also rumored to be the hottest month of the year, well they were not wrong, it was pushing 38 degrees most of the time we were there and and the passing showers were not helping – we walked through historical places (Malacca is a UNESCO site), ate lots of good food, enjoyed everyone’s company and most importantly, the memorable experience and everyone got to know everyone better from this trip.

Till next time, Malacca! Stay Colorful, Stay Vibrant!

Colour Nyonya House 彩娘惹 (Costume Rental) is located at
No.5, Jalan Tukang Besi, Malacca City, Malaysia, 75200

The Baba & Nonya Heritage Museum is located at
48 & 50, Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock, 75200 Melaka, Malaysia.


Below: Parting shot by Richard Chia

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About Chief Editor AL Lee

Chief Editor & Founder of Ourshutterjourney.com Worldwide and Principal Trainer at Ourshutterjourney Photography Academy. AL is a commercial photographer as well as an educator who believes in the art of digital memories. An ambassador of several photography brands, AL is well versed in many camera systems. Someone once told us AL’s man cave looks more like a camera store than a bedroom.

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