Valentines in Malaysia

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It was an easy 4 hour bus ride from Singapore to Malaysia. Singapore is so small. You can drive from one side of the country to the other in less than an hour. It's amazingly well planned and deverloped. Heading over the border I didn't know what to expect. I was wondering if Malaysia is closer to Singapore or Thailand when it comes to infrastructure and economy. I think it's somewhere in the middle. Being only 200 km or so from the equator, it's a very fertile place. It's so green and beautiful. In some ways it reminds me of Costa Rica.

Our first stop in Malaysia is the historic town of Melaka. It's an old Portuguese colony and has the buildings to prove it. it's overall just a pleasant place to be. It's quiet with nice scenery. Not a hell of a lot to do here. Especially because everything seems to be closed. We just can't understand why. In the middle of the day we can't find anything that is open. Even in Singapore. We suspect it's because of the upcoming Chinese New Year, but the locals say that isn't affecting it yet. Appeantly then, the whole city shuts down!

Well, that's not entirely true. It's just the Chinese that shut down their shops. However they own most of the businesses around these parts. Malaysia has an interesting mix of Chinese & Indians that were brought over to work 100's of years ago by the British. And of course Malaysians who are muslim. The ladies here are so cute with their little headscarves, colourful outfits and button noses. They all look the same!

It's really hot and humid here and you can't escape the heat. At times it gets really uncomfortable. You really start to apreciate airconditioning. Of course Jasmine and I are glutons for punishment and usually end up on a walking tour of the city as soon as we get there, only to get exhausted by the end of the day. We took a walk through historic China town, Old Portugueses settlements and Little India. A fascinating mix of cultures. To escape the heat we though it was a great idea to see some mueseums. They sucked, big mistake. Luckily everything in Malaysia is very cheap. Same prices as Thailand. A welcome relief, coming from expensive Singapore.

We've sampled some amazing food at the street stalls here. For us street stalls are risky business. In Thailand they seem safe enough to eat at, but of course I wouldn't go near all of them. Laos, Cambodia, & Vietnam looked scarey and we didn't try any of their food. India's looked delicious but since they set up their stoves over sewage we decided to pass. Singapore was spotless, which wasn't surprising. Best of all Malaysia's street stalls are clean and delicious. Unfortunatly none of their menus are in English, we just point to what we want. Prices here are about a 1/3 of the restaraunts. So 2 meals including drinks for $2.00!

Being a mainly Islamic country, beer is still somewhat expensive. We just had to drink though. We feel we haven't drank enough since India. it's small town so we got kind of bored easily. We made the best of it though. I must mention again that it's such a pleasant place to be. The scenery is great and the people are wonderful! Always smiling and so welcoming.

We spent Valentines Day walking around, enjoying the tropical scenery and trying to escape the heat. My head got sunburned, but I think it's just red for Valentines. We picked a really fancy hotel to have Valentines Donner at. It was a Japanese buffet. We haven't had our favorite food, sushi in months. And this sushi I'd actually eat! Most of these countries have no refridgeration so something like Sushi would be sketchy. So much Japense dishes we haven't tried before. We ate like 7 plates of food and then a desert of icecream with corn. I have no idea why asians like corn and beans in their deserts. The other day I found my slushie full of kidney beans. It actually wasn't that bad haha! The restaraunt gave Jasmine a rose, I tried to tell her it was from me. Melaka was a great place to spend Valentines. Quite the romatic city. We're now on to the capital city of Kuala Lumpur!

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Photos

Old Portuguese Church
The city has an interesting combination of Malay, Chinese, Indian and even Portguese culture

Typical Street Scene
In China Town

Muslim Malay Women
All the muslim Malay women wear headcovers.

Trishaw
Every country, and even every city has different forms of transportaion. From the tuk tuks of Thailand to the rickshaws of India. Here we have the award for the city with the best decorated mode of transportaion!

Another Church
At night time

hmmm
I forget what this building is

ChinaTown
The streets were mostly empty, we think because of upcoming Chinese New Year

hmmm
I also forget what this building was, but it was picture worthy. It's not a mosque, although it looks really similar

Comments

[Jenn~]

It's cold here! :S
Hey Hey!!!! Glad your havin a good time, Im so impressed that you have been away for almost five months....and by the way, no complaining about the heat!!! IT'S FREEZING HERE!!!!!! Im super jealous, you got to skip winter this year!!!!