Blogs from Melaka, Malaysia, Asia - page 33

Melaka is Malaysia's most enigmatic city with a rich history of royal rule, Chinese influence and colonial domination that affected many of the vital ports on the Asian trade route. It is also known as the "gateway of Islam" into Malaysia - Indian muslim spice traders brought the religion, which is now adopted by the vast majority of Malays. The city's history is reflected in its architecture - a colourful array of Chinese, Indian and European colonial influence. We spent a day of culture and education in Melaka's colonial centre and scenic Chinatown on Tommy's "Walking Tour of Melaka". The colonial Melaka reflects the styles and ideas of the Dutch, Portuguese and the British, although each succeeding coloniser generally ransacked the preceding occupier's work. The Portuguese arrived first and thir presence is virtually all gone with ... read more

Back to the beach this week, our first and only beach visit in Malaysia, on the island of Pangkor, off the country's Western coastline. We arrived as everyone else was leaving, a spot of genius really, as the population of KL descends like a plague of karaoke-singing locusts every weekend - so we arrived Sunday night! After a bit of bargaining we managed to get a beach bungalow with air-con and cable TV for a knock-down rate and proceeded to do... not a lot really! The beach was probably the best one we've seen so far, quieter and cleaner than the ones in Thailand and the sea was crystal clear and unbelievably warm. Despite a few showers on the first few days (we spent our time watching HBO in the room!) we spent our time swimming ... read more

Place holder for trip to Melaka to visit an old friend.... read more

I met Marcus in Melaka. He peered through the dormroom doorway and, seeing he had company, came forward to offer a friendly handshake and cheesy grin. From that point on, the usual onslought of traveler queries ensued: - Where are you from? - When did you arrive here? - How long are you staying? - Where will you go next? - What would you recommend around here? - How much does that cost? - How long are you traveling for? - What did you think of the last place? - What will you do in the next place? - How will you get there? - How much does that cost? And so on, and so forth. As our well tailored and familar conversation progressed, we discovered - rather unsurprisingly - that we were both headed to ... read more

Donning our walking boots again, today we ventured out for a bit of a mammoth trek about town. We started off by picking up an excellent streetmap for 2 Ringgit from the Tourist Information Office and then took a closer look at the gaudy pinkness of the town square. In the centre of the little square is an obelisk mounted in a water fountain and it's by this fountain that you can find a couple of locals hanging around an old handsome cab. Not the most obvious place to keep a couple of massive boa constrictors and a fully grown iguana you might think but that's exactly what the pair of rather shady looking blokes were touting - a chance to have a photo with one of these great beasts. Pay 5 RM and you get ... read more