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 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!

We'd really seen all we needed to see of Malacca and decided it was time to visit the beach again. 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