Blogs from Melaka City, Melaka, Malaysia, Asia - page 2

Sarah: Penultimate destination: Melaka (or Malacca, one is English one is Malay...potayto/potarto and all that, but also not quite penultimate if you count Princes Street as the final destination but I'm getting pedantic with myself and will continue with the blog). We arrived here on Tuesday afternoon and were soon installed in our latest guest house. Our host spent a good deal of time talking us through all of the local restaurants and cuisines that we should try, the focus being on the local Indian grub. He was keen to know if the curry here is tastier than the curry in the UK. Apparently a lot of our fellow countrymen prefer Malacca Indian curry to the curry in England. Being blessed with several good curry houses in Reading and making decent versions of the stuff ourselves, ... read more

Let me preface this entry by reiterating how much we love living in Kuala Lumpur. Truly, we do. Jeremy and I both dreamed of one day living (if only temporarily) in some beautiful high-rise in an exotic foreign city. And, well...here we are. Twenty-three floors above a big bustling metropolis, with a view of the world's tallest twin structures right outside our wall-of-glass bedroom window. Seriously, it's awesome. And yet... There's been a little something missing, too. Malaysia is pushing forward so hard these days, striving to attain official status as a developed first-world nation by the year 2020. And nowhere stronger do you feel that push than here in the capital city. There's so much new development! New train stations, new mega-malls, new cars on new highways. They're not quite there yet, but they're definitely ... read more

Very few cities in Southeast Asia boast such rich history and have managed to preserve its architectural heritage as Malacca city. Initially a sultanate, it was later dominated by the Portuguese, Dutch and the British. Although several large scale projects are in progress, the city still possesses a distinct traditional charm. Several different cultures live there together in harmony, surrounded by fantastic examples of Buddhist and Hindu temples, churches and mosques located next to each other. Urbanism Malacca is a coastal city, located directly where the Malacca River enters the sea. While the city center has a rather medieval urban grid, with densely built houses and narrow streets, the periphery is organized as semi-independent neighborhoods similar to those of a garden city. The center itself is a place of complex cultural influences and apart from Chinatown ... read more

First full day in Melaka was gonna be a chilled one - as spending most of yesterday getting the lay of the land and realising theres not a lot to do. Melaka was - in the 15th century the hub of Malaysia trading spices to other countries and becoming quite wealthy through it. It was then taken over in 1511 by the British, Portuguese and Dutch all leaving different architectural styles - apparently - to prove. So, the day started with a walk around china town visiting some temples along the way, then off to find the pier - found it hidden behind 5 large shopping malls and a huge Holiday inn complex! Who ever accepted planning permission for Melaka should be shot! The pier was boarded and all shut up for business, which was a ... read more

Hello my fellow travellers! This day went off quite well I'd say even though it got a bit chaotic when I reached Kuala Lumpur but I'll get to that later. I started early today, going up together with Bruce and Cindy as she went to work. I went with them to where she meets her co-workers for a car-pool across the causeway to Singapore, it's incidentally also the spot where the buses collect their passengers. Bruce went with me to the different vendors and we found a good ticket to Malacca. There aren't joined vendors here but every company have their own small office but the prices don't differ much between them. The bus was right on time and two hours later I stepped off in a very sunny and warm Malacca. The bus terminal here ... read more