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September 18, 2004

Malaysian Sensation

I hate to admit it but before I started travelling I had no idea where Malaysia could be found on a map. Well now you know too. We're on the eastern side of Malaysia called "Peninsular Malaysia" [in a Dr. Evil (Austin Powers)voice] because its connected to the rest of Southeast Asia. We took a bus from Singapore over the border to Melacca on the East coast. Melacca is a historic town that was seeing action long before Singapore was even a gleam in some trader's eye. The English and Dutch have both left their mark. Stadthuys is the oldest example of Dutch architecture in SE Asia dating to around the early 1600's. Its size was impressive but I think the Dutch could have used a little more creativity. Next door is Christ Church, also lacking a great deal of imagination. The evangelists who decorated the inside have given it a more colorful life than it probably ever had! A walk around this historic district will also take you up the hill to St.Paul's or whats left of it. I'm not so good with remembering its dates but this church has seen its day. And its dead. Several Dutch and English colonists are enterred under its courtyard. It seems like it must have been a fun place to die. Here's the skull upclose. Is he smiling? After enjoying the view of Melacca's rampant tourism boom from atop the hill you can walk down to the remains of the Portuguese fort, A'Famosa. All that's left is that gateway from the 1500's. From the gateway you can turn to your left and see a life size replica of a colonial Sultanate's Palace. Too much cheeeeese inside for us to handle so we walked across town for a different taste. This time our tourist cheese came in the shape of a life size replica trading vessel. This actually turned out to be pretty impressive and the A/C inside was a welcome relief from the Malaysian humidity! Once we'd cooled off a bit we caught a tri-shaw ride over to the religious side of town. We showed up just in time to experience the loud Islamic call to prayers blasted from atop the mosque's minaret. And no that is not an American flag. Malaysia's flag shares our stripes! Just down the road was an amazing Chinese Temple. All its materials were imported from China. Even the statues
on the roof came by boat!

Afer our little tour we'd really seen all we needed to see of Malacca and decided it was time to get away from the other annoying tourists. Something about the Malacca vibe just didn't resonate well with our adjustment to Malaysia. The next day we caught the last bus to the east coast and the last ferry to Pulau Tioman. Tioman was listed in our guidebook as the island to see for a mix of jungle and nice beach. They weren't kidding. We decided to take a stroll through the tall palms that look like fireworks frozen in mid-air and through the jungle across the waist of the island to the isolated village of Juara. We really got to see how out of shape we have gotten. The return trek was at least 18 kilometers and I could swear it was uphill both ways. At least we got to see some cool trees and a few huge lizards. Some of those trees had to be at least 300 years old. We spotted a few monkeys but they weren't used to humans in their ghetto so they shrieked at us and climbed away. We were too tired to care. I drank almost 3 liters of water and still felt thirsty when we finally got back. It was pouring out of me faster than I could pour it in!! After that hike we decided it migt be best just to sit back on the beach and relax. Nice but boring so we tried another hike to a different village a few days later and it was even worse. The path dissapeared several times and we ALMOST got lost. I wouldn't want people thinking I wasn't able to use my killer woodsman skills. Ok ok, so eventually we had to pay some guy to take us back in his boat but thats only because - uhhhh we were too tired to keep picking through the jungle!! And I didn't have a machete!!! The little boat ride turned out to be a cool experience because we got to see these fish. Yes, that huge black mass that blocks out the sand are hundreds of thousands of small fish!! Cool huh? So after the jungle, the beach and cool fish we'd decided it was time to hit the road. Kuala Lumpur awaited our arrival.

Our 2 hour ferry ride on a real speedboat [Uhhhg-flashback to Bali] and a 5 hour bus ride through the countryside put us in the capital of Malyasia. The bus station happens to be in the seedy district of town and I wasn't really feelin' it when a one armed guy who only had 3 fingers said he'd drive us to a hotel. "Nah, that's ok. We'll walk. Thanks." Our roach room hot-box didn't seem too out of place after seeing the area but hey, we're on a budget and that means sacrifice. Right? Anyways, it inspired us to get up fairly early the next day and jump on the train to the Petronas Towers!! Unfortunately you have to show up at 7am to get in line for the limited number of free tickets to the observation deck each day. The woman who "greeted" us seems tired of having to tell people there are no more tickets. Her attitude pissed me off and I went upstairs to pout. While were sitting there a guy came up and said he could make "arrangements" for us to go up. To make a long story short it was a scam. He got several of us to pay him 5RM each (only$1.50 US) and then handed us off as a group to a "friend of his" who didn't seem to know what was going on. She got busted for trying to charge us a fee and I felt bad. We did however, get to go up to the observation deck. The only problem is that its only halfway up to the top!! Why would you construct the tallest buildings in the world and NOT let people experience the thrill of going to the top? I just don't get it! Still, the view from up there was impressive. You really got to see the surrounding area well. I'd liked to have seen the skyline more but again, being between the buildings blocked out the view. We got our best view of the day when we went to the top of the Menara KL, their space needle telecom tower. We even got to see a storm roll in at dusk and strike lightning all over the city!! Now that was a view!

Kuala Lumpur, affectionately known as KL, is a city on the move or rather, was a city on the move in the 90's until the market crashed. Several uninished skyscrapers sit around waiting for a cash infusion. I should've gotten some pics from the Menara but our camera ran out of batteries. perhaps its better that way. They call those types of things eyesores for a reason. Still, KL have its perks. Besides Singaporian like malls that put any in the US to shame its got a great mass transit line including a monorail and lots of historical sites we didn't take the timeto see- uhh saved for next trip I mean. I wouldn't have minded another day in KL but I DID mind another night in our hostel so we decided to hit the Cameron highlands!

When I get some more decent pics of the Highlands I'll post again. Until then, I'll be toasting a cuppa tea to you!!

Posted by Josh on September 18, 2004 07:46 AM
Category: Where are we?
Comments

Hi Josh. Thanks for the great tour! Educational as well! Love, Dad

Posted by: Steven Saul on September 18, 2004 06:30 PM

Hi,

I dig these pictures. I am showing to my class tomorrow. Sure miss you. Just knowing you are safe is good. Have fun and thanks for taking us along.

Posted by: Grandma on September 21, 2004 03:46 AM

Well the kind of smoking depends on weather or not it actually accumulates tar.........now doesn't it? I am thinking of a vertical representation _ _ _ _ vaulting? Fill in the blank and that type of smoking isn't harmful for your lungs now is it?

Posted by: Roman on September 24, 2004 09:08 PM
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