Melaka, Malaysia

After an hectic few days in Kuala Lampur we headed to the bus station to catch a ride down south to Melaka. Our Muslim taxi driver was hilarious, wouldn't take a tip, told us he could have four wives. When I asked him if he did, he said NO WAY, maybe one wife and a girlfriend because he has to work hard, his saying was " Much money, happy honey."

The bus station was huge, modern and very efficient, bought our tickets for a total of 6 dollars for both and then caught the bus which left right on time.

The ride went fast and we were there in a little over two hours, the scenery was very green along the way...

Melaka is a smaller place with about half million people. It is a UNESCO heritage city due to its long history of being a key trading port between the East and the West as well as a very diverse culture based on all the generations of peoples from across the world who have settled here.  It also has an historically preserved Center.

The city is built up on two sides of the Melaka river which runs from the sea into the Center of the city. There is a 9 km. promenade on both sides which is a beautiful place to walk both day and evening as it is quite safe here.

As we walked along we saw many houses painted all colours some with bright murals...

We also saw a lot of reconstruction work going on besides the river as many of the houses are still in disrepair...

Speaking of houses, we scored again on our guest house, it is clean, spacious with wonderfully kind owners and it costs 33 dollars a night for a private room and ensuite!

We stayed here four days to chill out a bit and do some planning on where we are going next, hoping the place is as nice as this one...

Also time to do laundry...

Since Melaka is positioned as a strategic trading port it has a long history of being conquered, first in 1511 by the Portuguese armada using ships like these which is now a Maritime Museum...

Then in 1641 by the Dutch signified by a windmill on the river..

Then in 1824 by the British as seen by the main square with the centrepiece being a Queen Victoria fountain...

We went to visit the Independence Museum which is housed in a former British club and it told the story of Malaysia's struggle for independence over 500 years. 

There was this picture of the day the leaders returned from London after signing the papers.

It must have been a momentous day!

Malaysian flags...

There is also a long history of Chinese here as they came as traders in the early centuries and remained.There is a big Chinatown and as it is soon Chinese New Year there are lanterns everywhere...

And at night they look beautiful as well...

In fact when the Chinese came to trade some of them married the local women and created a new group of people who being half Chinese and half Maly became known as the Baba Nyonyas. They created a fusion of religions, foods, language and have been existence for 7 generations. We visited one of the homes of a very prosperous family who have donated their home as a museum. It was interesting to see over the generations how this very rich family decorated their home with treasures from around the world. This is a picture of the Grand Hall as I wasn't allowed to take other photos...

To keep this culture strong they were only allowed to marry each other but the last generation did not obey this rule and have married foreigners so the culture is now being diluted and may soon disappear.

Since there are so many religions here we did our rounds to the places of worship as they are integral to the way of life here...

Catholic Church which was full...

Mosques that were calling for prayers...

Simple temples...

And fancy ones, this temple is the oldest in Malaysia built in 1693 and still operating today...

 

The people light incense and then pray at each entrance...

They also bring offerings of foods...

There is a famous trading street in Malacca called Jonker Street which is full of boutiques and restaurants and on the weekend they hold a night market there. It is crazy with people!

There is lots of different foods to eat, what about a skewer of quails eggs?

We found a corner cafe to watch the action go by...

As we were there on the weekend there were many families out enjoying what the city has to offer, in fact there were bus loads of people as this seems to be a popular tourist destinations for other Asians.

One thing unique to here are tricycles which the drivers have brightly decorated with themes, they will drive you around an hour for 3 dollars. This family was waving as they went by...

At night they all light up so it all looks quite weird...

And then there is the food....

This place had you pick the skewers of food, most of what we didn't recognize and no one spoke English so we went ahead. The skewers are dipped in a peanut broth and boiled for about 5 minutes while you continue to stir. It was tasty but not as tasty as the grilled skewers in KL.

Our most tasty meals were at an Indian restaurant we passed every day, the meals cost 2-3 dollars and were tasty. This was lunch...

They gave you a banana leaf and then went around with big buckets and gave you rice, dahl, curry and veggies. The mango curry was delicious! Not to fussy about eating with my fingers though!

This is one of the servers, a very nice young man who spoke some English. The Indians came here as labourers for the rubber plantations and are now a large part of the population.

Another popular thing to do here is take a boat ride along the river...

 

We did it at night and the river was lit along the way....

At the end of the river were many larger hotels and office buildings...

Also we passed a small village of traditional Malay homes that were built by the British and are still occupied today. They have pointed tin roofs and were also lit up as went along...

Overall we liked Melaka as it was small enough to walk around, very clean and safe and lots to see...

A streetscape...

Beautiful colours...

Lots of places to stop to enjoy something cold when the heat and humidity got to us. This cool cafe made their own liquid concoctions...

In the evening there were lots of cafes and bars to enjoy the warm night air....

So we would definitely recommend this as a rest stop! Off early in the morning to someplace cooler!

Made it to Malaysia...Kuala Lumpur!

We flew from Bali to our next country, Malaysia. The flight took 3 hours on Air Asia as we flew into Kuala Lumpur airport...

The airport is located 50kms from the city so we had a pickup arranged to bring us to our guesthouse. It is the first time we have arranged a private driver where it was a family picking us up in their car. I guess it was some extra money for them. This is one of their two boys who was very curious about the strangers in the back seat!

We are staying in a guest house owned by a couple from KL and it is located in an row of 100 year old houses very close to the city centre. The rooms are comfortable and bathrooms clean so it meets our criteria...

Our room is the second set of Windows from the right.

Kuala Lumpur is the capital city of Malaysia with a population of about 1.6 million and is the business and economic center of the country. The city is quite chaotic with lots of construction everywhere...

The first day according to my FitBit we walked almost 15 Kms around the central part of the city as well as taking the free purple public buses which are quite crowded. The city also has a monorail system which we didn't use...

One of the symbols of KL, which is what the locals call this place, is the Petronas Towers. When they were built in 1996 they were the highest twin towers in the world...

We took a tour to the top, got the seniors rate even though we didn't ask, so guess who the attendant thought was a senior? First we went to the sky bridge which joins the two towers and then to the very top!

View from the Sky Bridge...

Below the towers is a large park right in the middle of the city...

When we got to the top we got a great view of the city which is located in a valley surrounded by mountains in the distance...

The first tower was built by a Japenese company and the second by a South Korean company and they are home to Petronas Oil Company, a large multinational company with interests everywhere including Alberta.

We could also see that the city was changing a lot by the landscape which seemed to be building up and overtaking the traditional neighbourhoods. In the picture below you can see a neighbourhood of small wooden houses which is one of the last in the city....

The architecture of the new buildings is also quite modern...

The city is also a mecca for shopping with a street called Butrit Bintang that is filled with luxury retailers...

And fancy malls, this one is called Time Square and has over 1000 stores, a hotel and a large theme park...

A lot of the public spaces are decorated for the upcoming Chinese New Year which is the Year of the Monkey and starts on February 8 and runs for two weeks. It is a big holiday here and people tell us we may run into some difficulties travelling and finding accommodations because so many people travel at that time.

Here are some decorations we saw that were quite colorful...

Kuala Lumpur is a very diverse city with three main ethnicities, Malays, Chinese and Indian so there is great food to be had all over town. We spent one afternoon in Chinatown which is quire colorful...

We were sitting at one of the tables watching the street scene.

Petaling street which is full of stalls selling junk!

Waiting around for the Dragon Dance to begin...

Of course, I had to try the local street food which in this case was obtained by choosing a variety of meats and fish from sticks which they grilled for me and vegetables which I had to cook in boiling water in the middle of the table. 

Frogs and octupus...

Cooking my mushrooms 

They delivered the sticks of food to the table and had three types of sauce...spicy, sweet and peanut!

Don wouldn't eat here so we went to another food street where he had grilled calamari. This place was full of small restaurants and people...

This guy was selling barbecue chicken feet...

The next day we took the hop on hop off bus which was a disaster! No air conditioning, no commentary to tell us what we were seeing and a bus that broke down and we had to wait in the hot sun for an hour, can't win them all I guess!

We did see a few sites however...

The National Palace

Built in 1928 as a home for a Chinese millionaire it was later bought as the home for the Malaysian king. No entry is allowed but it is a popular spot for tourists to visit. It is a little outside the main part of the city and to get there we passed through a beautiful green belt...

One of the main religions of Malaysia is Muslim so there are lots of mosques around the city. We went to tour the National Mosque but it was closed for Friday prayers...

It has a beautiful blue roof and covers quite a large area which was very busy.

Great outfits!

Not far of a walk is Independence Square where Malaysia declared independence on August 31, 1957. The country had been ruled by the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British, who lost their control over the country when the Japenese conquered it during WW11. After the war there was a lot of civil unrest which led to the eventual forming of an independent Malaysia.

We spent two full days here so only got a glimpse of the city. We found it to be very chaotic and not easy to get around. The streets are full of construction, very few crosswalks and most streets are four lane highways so we were always dodging traffic. It seems to be a modern city with lots of traditions and a diverse culture. We are happy to have been here for a few days but are also glad to be moving on in the morning.

Oh yes, forgot to say it also rains everyday so here is Don waiting out the rain under a tree!