I'm loving Malaysia. It's an interesting country that blends 3 cultures together in harmony ... Malays, Chinese and Indian. This is reflected in the food, the culture and the religious mix. On some streets, in some cities, you will pass by a mosque, a church, a Buddhist temple and an Indian temple ... all a few doors down from each other and all co-existing peacefully. I think lots of other countries could learn a thing or two about tribal and religious tolerance from the people here.
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| Cheng Hoon Teng Temple - The oldest Chinese temple in Malaysia |
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| Kampung Kling Mosque |
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| St. Francis Xavier |
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| Buddhist Monks at prayer - Cheng Hoon Teng |
And the food, OMG, there is so much of it. People are just eating ALL of the time lol As for all the fresh fruit juices, I'm in heaven most of the time :)
Melaka, a fascinating old city with Dutch, Portuguese and English influences. My hostel on the river-front in Chinatown was a real treat. It was in a gorgeous, old-school neighbourhood with old Chinese men shooting the breeze in doorways and street hawkers selling delicious treats at night.
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| Dutch Square (Stadhuy's Building) |
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| Friendly neighbourhood traders :) |
The river-front itself was a thing of beauty, many of the houses along the river had colourful murals all over their walls, and the whole thing was lit up at night.
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| River-side murals |
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| River view |
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| Artist at work |
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| The river at night |
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| With Laura, Gaultier, Ruth & Steve |
I found a nice little dim-sum place around the corner and went there everyday for breakfast for the whole week I stayed in Melaka. By the end I was in nodding acquaintance with the Chinese regulars and the servers would bring me my favorite dim sum dishes lol
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| Dim sum breakfast with Gaultier |
I tried the Satay
Celup (a fondue-like cuisine
using a pot of bubbling satay, rather than cheese, to cook your skewers of
food), Laksa Nonya (a popular spicy coconut-based noodle
soup of a belend of Chinese and Malay elements, which included bean curd puffs,
fish sticks, shrimp and garnished with Vietnamese coriander (or laksa leaf,
also known in Malay as daun
kesum), Popiah (Nyonya fresh spring rolls with shredded jicama,
shrimp and/or pork, plus diced bean curd wrapped with fresh popiah skin, Cendul (an interesting confection of shaved ice doused
with multi-coloured hues of palm sugar syrup, topped with a green worm-like
jelly made from rice flour, red kidney beans, creamed corn and creamy coconut
milk ... sounds totally revolting but tastes sublime) ... and so much much more, but those were the highlights :)
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| Satay Celup |
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| Popiah |
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| Laksa Nonya |
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| Layered milk tea |
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| Cendol ... yum:) !!!! |
I also go a taste for Layered Milk Tea, consisting of layers of tea, milk and thick green cane syrup :)
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| Mods Cafe |
The funkiest cafe I came across served delicious lattes out the back of a hippy camper van. The owner was a young Chinese-Malay guy who hoped cafe culture would explode in Melaka in the next few years. He made great coffee.
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| Colorful flower-bedecked trishaws. |
One way to experience the many streets of Melaka is on a trishaw. These 'vehicles' are a sight for sore eyes. They are colorful, bold, kitsch and more often than not have an in-built boom-box behind the back wheels. It seems the drivers all try to outdo each other on who can have the most tacky and OTT ride lol
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| Jonker Street night market |
A visit to Jonker Street night market is an interesting way to kick off a Friday night. I spent some time strolling down a crowded street with my travel buddies. There were stalls on either side selling all manner of colourful knick-knacks, clothes and antiques. We indulged in the offerings from the many hawker stalls (staying well clear of the durian fruit sellers lol). Then we grabbed a street-side table at a bar on one of the side roads for some drinks and a good dose of people-watching :)
