Mesmerized by immense KL and captivated by tiny Melaka – we simply love Malay Peninsula

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KL & Melaka

Do we like big cities? It is a very hard question to answer. There are things that only great metropolis can provide us with and also things that we just hate about them. We loved Singapore when visited last year and we liked Bangkok a lot but we just prefer small scale places with more local, rather than western, feel. We were really curious about KL and our experience with it. It was a short ride from Cameron H. and as requested we got dropped in Chinatown by the Original Backpackers Guesthouse. We got one of the last rooms (38RMB) and after dropping our bags we went directly to some food stalls in the street. I cannot say I miss Chinese food but what they gave us there was really yummy (some kind of ribbon noodles and meatballs). We decided to walk around a little bit and see what this particular Chinatown was about. Originally we were supposed to stay on CS with a local guy but he cancelled at the last minute, which was fine but we found ourselves with some spare and unplanned time.

Chinatown was just full of restaurants and ‘fake designer’ stuff so we just walked pass it very quickly and decided to head to the historical area with all the colonial architecture and museums. We visited one gallery which was very interesting as they showed some old photos of KL and I always love this kind of stuff – my imagination worked pretty fast and I was able to imagine how this place must have looked like 100 or more years ago. It was early afternoon and it was boiling hot but we still could not stop thinking – ‘Where are all the people in this city?’ It just hit us that this place does not look like a big metropolis but some medium size place with average amount of people. Are we really in KL … in Asia???? Well, this was only to be cherished as walking the street was a piece of cake hahha

We treated ourselves to some McDonalds shakes and ice-cream (very needed from time to time when you are traveling) and did some shopping and that was it for the day. We wanted to see the modern part of KL but we did not have to rush. There is always tomorrow, as we like to say;-) And indeed we were really amazed by this part of town. Perfectly designed, everything seemed to have had its space exactly where it should have been. This is not something you often see in Asia where buildings of different sizes, architecture and colors are just stack against each other. Over there, everything seemed in harmony – we loved it. Nice shopping streets, parks and business areas, all looking very good together. Again, no crowds and no hectic life – delightful ;-) Even around The Petronas Towers it was moderate number of people and that included tourists. We thought that this must be a wonderful city to live in… We had some nice food (finally something Italian for me, thank you very much) and were really tempted by some authentically looking bars and clubs (shisha bar) but had to pass… Malaysia proved to be more expensive than we thought, still manageable on the budget though;-)

Unfortunately we could not stay long as our flight deadline was always in our mind and instead of spending one more day in KL we decided to check Melaka, which was supposed to be really pretty port town. It is only 2h away from KL and could be a nice journey break between KL and Singapore. Build by Dutch and then controlled by British, the town has a lot of charm. We really liked the red color of buildings in the centre and Chinatown, even though small, it was cute and offered nice food selection. Melaka, similarly to Georgetown is well known for its food so we just headed straight to the recommended restaurant and tried everything famous they had in offer (Laksa – coconut soup with sea food; Popiah – spring roll with veg, prawns, chili, palm sugar etc ; Rojak – veg and fruit salad with sweet and spicy gravy and one more dish that I cannot recall). Luckily portions were not that big and we managed to eat it all –fabulous fusions of tastes. There is not that much to see in Melaka except for the centre, old mansions that mostly hold museums now and St. Pauls Church build at the top of the hill, offering nice views over the harbor. We also used their post office to send some souvenirs we bought in KL which made our luggage much lighter before flying. Generally fabulous days in the south and we really regret we could not have stayed longer – we will be back for sure;-)

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Photos

Euro 2012 Add
since then everybody in Asia seemed to know where Poland is

'I have been traveling for a long time' combination hahha
McDonalds for T and Italian for myself;-)

Gate to the Fake Designer Stuff Market;-)
Chinatown I mean

Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

A great metropolis
It is always good to enjoy civilization from time to time.