U-Turn
If Taman Negara is the green heart of Malaysia and Kuala Lumpur the commercial head, so—some say—Melaka is its soul.
Steeped in history from centuries as a trading port, under successive occupation by the Dutch, Portuguese and British, home to the Straits Chinese, point of origin of Islam in Malaysia, swept along by the economic boom of the late twentieth century, Melaka is a city of intrigue and contrast. This was not only the LP gushing but also Siva, fellow resident at the Kameleon Lodge in KL, who extolled the lures of his home town to such an extent that I had already decided to stay for a night, even if I did not have to book the ferry ticket to Dumai a day in advance.
However, when the bus deposited us in the concrete wasteland around the Pasar Bazaar, I wondered whether Melaka actually has a soul. It does, but colourful buildings and colonial charm alternate with horrendous traffic and shopping mall consumer hells.
All the while, I looked ahead to my onward travel plans with some trepidation. The ferry for the short hop to Dumai costs 90RM—for that amount of money you could almost fly—and travelling surface across Sumatra and Java would take at least a week. I’m not even that interested in Sumatra. Worse, there is no way of avoinding Jakarta on that journey. Phil and his girlfriend, who I had met yesterday and who have just made the trip in the opposite direction, confounded my worst fears about Jakarta: a thief-and bug-ridden cesspit of 20 million people which LP diplomatically suggests was not built with tourism in mind. Simply sitting it out at the bus station is not an option: not only do west- and east-bound buses leave from different terminals, making it necessary to cross the grid-locked city, but both are also miles out of town. As for the train, I shudder at memories of India. To boot, touts pounce on you before your feet even touch the ground.
I’d give a lot to avoid Jakarta.
I put these worries out of my mind when I eventually located the ‘Eastern Heritage’ guest house, recommended by Siva. Built in 1918, it oozes character. The receptionist showed me to the dorm in the attic—like something out of an adventure movie. There was a guy sitting on one of the beds who bet me a can of beer that he’s older than me; not a sign of the 20-something American backpacker crowd whose names I had spotted on the register. We swapped tales of our past travels and I felt at ease. This was going to be an adventure.
Cue back to the 21st century when I had to jump over a gutter to escape the roaring traffic on the road outside. There, on the corner opposite from me, was an AirAsia ticket agency. Two hours later I had booked a flight to Kuching, Malaysian Borneo, leaving tomorrow evening. Looks like the beer isn’t going to be cheap for a while yet 😉
Tags: SE Asia, Tag Index
Denni
December 12th, 2005 at 14:40
Hi Denni,
Fellow bootsnaller from Kuching here. I post occasionally on the boards.
It would be great to meet a fellow zoologist! If you would like to meet up, drop me a line.
cheers
cayce