Melaka Photos

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I should have really called this blog,
'LANTERNS I HAVE KNOWN' - the photo diary of someone with too much spare time on his hands.
{Lynn told me off for taking endless photos of hanging lanterns and I had it coming. Of the ones shown here I think I must have photographed and deleted another twenty thousand}
We stayed in Melaka for 10 days in total and it turned into a holiday from a holiday. For a change it was just good to be able to stay in the one place for few days. Good to get everything washed, good to find some of the prerequisites of civilization here like wood fired pizza, nice pasta and cold draught lager.
We weren't being very good backpackers, staying in the Hotel Puri with its crisp white sheets. One day I saw another couple with backpacks on standing on the steps of our hotel obviously deliberating on whether to enter the building. The concierge was holding the door open and waiting patiently for them, but I knew what they were thinking. They were thinking a place where a concierge holds the door open for you into a beautiful marble foyer is going to be too expensive. Walking past them I thought "go on, go in, you're not going to get a better place than this in Melaka" but they didn't. Its 26 pounds a night for a double room with breakfast, there are cheaper places but staying here we were staying in a building that is effectively a museum itself. The sense of history and ambient atmosphere of the building made it worth spending the money to stay there, especially when I know what some of the alternatives would be for only a few quid less.
I never saw the same faces more than twice in Melaka. People who we'd spoken to that had already been to Melaka before we went all said they came here for just two days. I think two days is what most people pencil in to visit the place but I don't think that's enough. There's cool bars and good places to eat most of which are usually half empty or really empty. Where are all the people? Probably sat on beaches in Thailand and in bars by the Mekong river in Laos, why more people don't come here to chill for a few days I don't know.
We found a great bar that became our local, run by Mohan who is the double of Omar Sharif (see photo). There were a few ex-pat regulars but other than that we rarely saw any other Europeans there. The local characters were all friendly and we had a few late nights there.
We became very comfortable, and after a week in Melaka I began to think "shouldn't I be somewhere else in South East Asia on a quest for culture taking photos of pagodas, temples and giant golden statues of the buddah?" But then I thought "well, sat in Mohan's bar playing pool and talking half the night with local Malakans is another type of culture itself."
Melaka is a good place to relax in for a few days but we've started getting itchy feet so on Tuesday we are going on a Holiday in Cambodia ('Holiday in Cambodia' is the title of a song by punk band The Dead Kennedy's about Pol Pot who oversaw the killing of 100,000's of his own people in Cambodia in the 1970's) I can't believe I've been listening to this song for over 25 years and I'm finally going on a 'Holiday in Cambodia'
I saw a documentary about Pol Pot a few years ago and at least at that point he was still alive and well and holding out in the Jungle with the remnants of his guerrilla army. Maybe if he's still alive we'll bump into him at some point. He probably makes a nice cup of Earl Grey.

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Photos

The Geographer Bar
Great bar, but also an interesting sign. I never made anything this original in Manchester.

Melaka
Crumbling but still full of character

Lanterns
Everyone loves lanterns, don't they?

The Geographer Cafe Bar
Lovely staff, you ask for a drink and they give you a big smile and bow politely

Built by the Dutch - 17th century
Like in Amsterdam the buildings look condensed, but they all go back some. We were in one that went back room after room for 200 feet.

Melaka
Less opulent looking buildings in the old town still have a charm of their own.

trishaws
Some have speakers attached and blast music out at you as they pass, its normally techo blah blah noise, but one day I got a start when one went past blasting out Metallica. Well done that trishaw guy

Omar Sharif
Omar Sharif was great at acting, but he's even better at running his own bar in Melaka.

Mr Lee
Don't be fooled by his skinny legs, I beat all comers in the bar at pool until he kicked my ass four times in a row.

Fish, plants and flowing water
Melakan's love all this. Even outside their houses they have tiny fish swimming around the base of orchids in planters.

Melaka
You know that you've probably got too much spare time on your hands when to start taking photo's like this. But I like it anyway.

Comments

[another outspoken female]

thanks for the heads up on Hotel Puri
I read your blog before heading off to Malaysia. We'd only intended to spend two nights in Melaka and after reading your blog we decided to splurge and stay at Hotel Puri. Loved it. Especially the breakfast buffet! Like you our few days expanded to a holiday within a holiday, so charmed by the town we ended up there for a week - staying the whole time at Hotel Puri. Sadly the doctor fish bar was shut the whole time we were there but even better we went to the Zen massage place around the corner for excellent Thai style massages. The Geographer Cafe also became a familiar haunt, just far too handy! If you want to read any more of our travels they are on http://confessionsofafoodnazi.blogspot.com (search for "melaka" if you can't find them). As the title suggests - we did a heck of a lot of eating in Melaka and boy, was it great!

[workshyandshameless]

hi
Hi, I'll take a look at your blog in a couple of weeks after we get off the Botswana Vic falls tour we are on just now, glad you liked the hotel puri, it's lovely isn't it. I wanna go back!