Bruce's blog 6

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Bruce's Blog 6

Shenzhen and Typhoon Usagi

A postscript : after our Hakka Village debacle I described in the last blog, Liz and I went for a walk around the corner from our hotel, and guess what we came across? Of course, the very same Hakka Village we'd been looking at earlier in the day, the same one that the taxi driver organised by our hotel staff, charged us heaps to drive around the city then back again, wanting to take us 90km to see another Hakka Village!!! The hazards of travel.



We arrive back in Shenzhen with Typhoon Usagi battering the whole area from Hong Kong to Guangzhou. We dont know much about it. When we leave the bus we find the Metro Station and travel to our hotel undercover, even including a walkway from the station.

However in our 35th floor hotel room a window is blowing wildly and we call maintenance to lock it securely. The tall skyline is darkly clouded and rain slams down. The English TV news tells us that most flights have been cancelled and transport disrupted. The schools close for two days. LiPing delivers the bag she has been keeping for us, and we say our warm farewells. It has been a privilege for us to spend time within a local family seeing the way they live, rather than just going away with a tourist viewpoint.

Li Ping assures us that she will visit Australia soon.

An email from Air Asia tells us that tomorrow's flight will be delayed by 6 hours. This gives us a chance to sleep in and explore a bit more of Shenzhen's shopping. I leave China without fulfilling my shopping aims. I did plan to buy an electric bike and perhaps a road bike. In both cases there was red tape in the way. It is difficult to take bikes out of China and to bring bikes into Australia. Giant and Merida are both common brands here. However, because they are made under license, exporting is not allowed. One bloke was able to take out a bike to Switzerland, but that because he had been riding it in China for a couple of months and was able to claim it was a personal item. My other wish was to buy Liz an iPad but it turn out that they are cheaper in Oz even through they were made in China.

We arrive at the airport and finally find International Departures which seems to be tucked away like Tiger at Tulla. The plane takes off at 18.30 hrs landing us in Kuala Lumpur at 22.30hrs and the buses to Malacca have finished. We have a hotel booked at Malacca so decide to take a taxi the 150 km which cost AUD$73. Arriving at our hotel after midnight we crash into bed sleeping until 9.30. The next day we find our hotel to be a converted traditional Baba home, which is why it is called "Baba House". It has spacious court yards and rooms without windows. But it has our two requirements of Aircon and wifi.

The Baba are descendants from a group of Chinese who arrived with a Chinese princess who was to marry a Malay sultan. This occurred in the 1500's and those people have intermarried. While still maintaining many aspects of Chinese culture, they no longer speak Chinese and have integrated aspects of Malay, Portuguese, Dutch and British cultures within their own. The whole area of the old town is a world heritage listed area, so it still has its own distinct streetscape, unlike Penang, which has become overrun by condominiums and slick tourist resorts thus loosing its former charm. The area has been conquered and ruled by the three European powers mentioned, and each have left their architectural and cultural mark.

The heat and humidity of Malacca zaps our energy quickly but we manage to visit old Churches and forts as well as a replica of the Sultans palace before we cool off by the river with ais kuchang, a bowl of shaved ice, agar jelly, red beans, sweet corn and condensed milk. Liz has hers with durian which continues to haunt our hotel room.

Malacca is a portent of Malaysia of the future. The various races and religions seem to mix happily here with many of the people displaying hybrid vigour. Going into any restaurant sees waiters of all features and colours - it becomes difficult to categorise whether a person is Chinese, Malay, Indian, Portuguese. They all mix easily and naturally, and English is widely spoken.

Nyonya food is the customary fare in Malacca. This is a hybrid of all those influences. Take Chinese food, add spices and chilly, grill the meat and there you basically have it.

Malacca has more museums than anywhere else. There are museums for just about every obscure topic - Chinese Jewelry, Nyonya clothing, etc. There is a museum for Islam as well as the historical buildings, forts, churches, mosques and temples. There is a maritime museum built into a replica of an old Portuguese ship. Most displays are rather crass dioramas with a heavy propaganda element. The Malays are always the heroes, the Chinese are wiped out of these histories, and Dr. Mahathir always seems to be prominent somewhere. They must have looked to the Canberra War Memorial for hints.

Malaysia lacks self confidence and is always trying to boost its patriotism. Malaysian flags flutter in row after row. I watched a TV show telling people not to be critical but make positive suggestions on how to improve the nation. How does one make positive suggestions when virtually every government minister is corrupt and simply lining their own pockets? Malaysia is in recession at present. The government wins elections by playing Malays off against all other groups. Malays are given access to university, public service jobs, housing, business loans etc while Indians and Chinese are denied. The Malays who make up 60% of the population vote in the government which is corrupt. However in the last election the government needed to rig the ballot to ensure a win. They transported large numbers of formally illegal Philipino immigrants and gave them citizenship papers so they could vote. There is also a gerimander worthy of Joh Bjelke Petersen. The deciding point is that they are Muslim. As always, religion is used to ensure power.



So here we are coming to the end of our journey. Liz has found five cousins (including Rose from Western Australia), an uncle and two aunts. She has also seen her ancestral home in China. in that sense it has been a very satisfying journey.

We have booked the taxi to the bus station and the bus ticket to the airport costing AUD$27 for the both of us. The whole journey will take 4 hours. We take off at 2200hrs tomorrow (Thursday) and will touch down in Melbourne at 8.30 Friday 27th. Then it is the 10am Gull bus to Geelong where hopefully Ben will be waiting for us , but that is making the mighty assumption that all goes to plan, which is really testing fate. I am dreaming of good coffee, lots of cheese, a good bike ride and cooler weather.

I hope you have enjoyed our blogs as much as I've enjoyed writing and presenting them.

I will see you all soon back in Australia.

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Photos

Hakka village Meizhou
Our second visit by chance

Cheng Ho in Malacca
A model of Cheng Ho's Ship which sailed the oceans and often visited Malacca

Formosa Malacca
Portuguese fort built in 1500's

Malacca River
Note the Malacca Eye