Malaysia – let’s add it to the list while we’re at it
After getting some R&R and not leaving Becky’s apartment for a few days (except for when we were forced out to find food after finishing off what was left in Becky’s kitchen AND to go to the pool), we decided that it was time for us to get back into our travel groove so we decide to head up to the state of Melaka, Malaysia to check out they well-known capital Colonial city of Malacca.
The guidebook made Melaka sound like a very charming city with beautiful Dutch colonial architecture and lots of character. Frankly, the book did it a little more justice than we found it deserved. I expected to find a quaint, little, old city with lots of character due to fact that it is heavily rooted in the country’s history. Needless to say, I was shocked to find that multiple major freeways ran thru the city and to be caught in the horrible local street traffic. In short, nothing close to “quaint”. Now to be fair, the population of the city is over 600,000 people, therefore, to expect Melaka to be quaint isn’t a very realistic. Additionally, we arrived in the middle of the Chinese New Year holiday, so there were a good deal of tourists around, which made the city a more crowded and hectic that it would usually be.
What we did find, was that Melaka has a really neat and interesting Chinatown area. Though there wasn’t as much Dutch colonial architecture spread around the city as we expected (the majority was concentrated in a small town square that had a few restored buildings and a fountain), the architectural influences of Dutch and Chinese were apparent. The small streets and alleyways throughout Chinatown made it a intriguing little maze to navigate and get lost in (well in reality that was Shan getting lost in and Anthony full-well knowing where we were the whole time :)). We also found that the Malays love their history as each of the historical sites had the country’s history documented and displayed in detail, which made you appreciate the city and its people even more. Our most memorable walk thru Malaka’s history was our crazy night out at the infamous “Sound and Light Show”. We sat in little open air ampitheater overlooking the square where most of the histrical landmarks are situated and listened to a loud tape-recorded narrated recount of the country’s history, during which the different historical landmarks where lit up in sync with their relevance to the narrated story….conceptually, it was a great idea and the story of how the nation achieved its independence is told very well. however, one can only be entertained by the same 4 buildings being lit up over and over and over for so long with a cheesy set of announcers. Think “Ïron Chef meets Close Encounters of the Third Kind”.
All in all, we’re glad we made the trip as it was good for us to get out of Becky’s apartment – not because we wanted to, but because we would have REALLY felt like a bunch of bums if we hadn’t. At least we felt justified in going back to Singapore to welcome Becky home from her long weekend in Amsterdam and to return the comforts of Casa Becky.
Now I can cross Malaysia off of the list of countries that I’ve been to (catching up slowly but SURELY to Anthony’s list of 45 countries and counting).
Over and out,
Shan
Best Eats: Capital Satay– Reccomended by the guidebook, which claimed that it was loved by locals and they weren’t kidding. We arrived to find a line out the front door (well, not really since there was no door – the restaurant is open-air) and the inside noisy, packed, and bustling full of locals. Essentially, it is satay hot pot! You pick skewers of meat, seafood, tofu, vegetables and other fun but somewhat mysterious things from the huge buffet of dipping items and cook them in the big vat of boiling spicy peanutty satay sauce is in the middle of your table. Add that to a big appetite, throw in some beer and you got a GOOD dinner!
Tags: Malaysia, SE Asia, South East Asia, Travel
Shan
February 12th, 2006 at 1:16 pm
Anthony and Shan – Congrats to both of you! I was delighted to hear that you’ve married and are off on your world travels. Anthony has a propensity for travel – totally amazing. Your blog is lots of fun and offers great tips. The ones about toilets on buses and elsewhere are some of the best. I was also intrigued by the reptile/alcohol jars with medicinal benefits. I have a little trouble believing that one – do people really drink that stuff?
I had the first of my world travels during the end of ’05. My destinations were all in central Europe so I have not been nearly as adventurous as the two of you. I did have a wonderful time and I’m afraid I now have the travel bug – if I could just figure out how to stop my career in order to do it. The advantage for me is that I may not have that many more years that I’ll have to work. If I can still walk by then, I hope to see some of the wonderful places you’ve been.
Continued safe travels!
Denny Roberts