Malacca - home of the pirates

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Geo: 2.20568, 102.256

After a more leisurely start, it was off to the bus station for the two hour trip to Malacca. The car/taxi trip would have been RM400, the bus 40RM - about NZD8, for two people. It was pretty easily sorted although we were asked for passports while buying the tickets. Adolf produced a photo of his and apparently that was good enough. But thanks to Linda and Romi for responding to the txts and I hope they don't create too much angst!

There is motorway all 140 odd km to Melacca and lots of jungle and new apartment blocks to be seen. Downtown Melacca is a pretty spot with a nice mix of tourist and local shops. A guy in an antique shop directed us to the best local place for satay. It was great, a real local restaurant and we got free appetisers of smoked fish as well. Melacca has a mix of local, Portuguese, Dutch and English influence and of course a strong shipping (and pirate) history. There is also. A strong Chinese and Islamic influence now. There are more temples, mosques and churches in this town than anywhere I have seen!

We returned to the same area as yesterday for dinner and discovered, without the hindrance of umbrellas and rain, that the 30 minute walk around the block was really about 5 minutes if you walked the other way.... So after a couple of margaritas and some great BBQ fish and shrimps it was time to pack my bags for the trip home tomorrow.

It has been a great holiday. Cambodia has such a compelling history and is a beautiful place with really friendly people. I feel lucky to have visited while it is still relatively untouched. KL is quite the opposite end of the scale, a large sophisticated city with amazing buildings, cars everywhere - full on!

Time to start planning the next adventure...

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Comments

[Daisy]

Safe travels home Gaynor and Adolf!

[Margaret]

Hi. I brought a painting at this temple 40 odd years ago. Loved Malaca soooooo much.

[Steve]

Great to have followed your travels. Safe trip home.