Being part of Melaka people

Melaka will be always in our heart for different reasons.

First, because there we met extremely lovely and kind local people who made our stay in this World Heritage city a great adventure.

And second, and more important, because Melaka is, Melaka WAS, our last stop, our last city / village / monument / exotic place we visited. The last station from where each one of us took a different line. Albertico would go back home to Zaragoza, Spain; Polo would go back home to Paris, France; and Miguelito would go on travelling, next stop Burma (Myanmar).

And there is another special comment to add: Melaka was the first place we didn’t visit all together and knowing we wouldn’t meet again (at least during this trip). Polo stayed back in Singapore few days more to enjoy his visit in his friend’s place.

So, there the two Spaniards went looking forward to meet their new Couchsurfer.
Our Melaka Couchsurfer wasn’t another one, but they, because it’s not possible to say we were with just one Couchsurfer, but with the Melaka clan instead, made us feel as part of their friends for those 3 days we spent in this ex Portuguese-Dutch-British colony.

Melaka (aka Malacca) is, as GeorgeTown (Malaysia), Luang Prabang (Laos), Hué or Hoi An (Vietnam), one of those ex European colonies that remains lots of beautiful buildings, palaces and temples, making each walk a peaceful and chill-out moment.

Jalan Tokong and Jonker Walk are two parallels streets you must walk along if you come here. You will probably be tempted to buy some souvenirs. If you really want to buy something beautiful, you can go for any Malaysian painting or for Batik, a cloth that traditionally uses a manual wax-resist dyeing technique (that’s what the wikipedia says 😛 ).

The city has plenty of museums and we don’t really know if all of them worth the visit, we doubt it. Anyway, we just visited the Proclamation of Independence Memorial, located down hill from St. Paul’s Church, right in front of Porta do Santiago.
A nice spot not close to city centre are the Malaysian Typical Houses, located up the river. Just follow the riverwalk and you will arrive to them, easy to find. If you go there by night is more impressive as the riverside is beautifully illuminated.

 

Melaka has some stuff to improve.
As the city was UNESCO since 2008, many things were quickly built and not well, such as the monorail. Now, you can see just the rail without the train, almost one year stopped, just one month working. It reminds a The Simpsons chapter (obviously, the Monorail one).
The city needs to manage daily life with tourism. There are, and there will be, more and more tourists, but there are, and probably there will be too, more and more cars. There is a lot of traffic in most of the streets, even in city centre.
And one thing will make the village more beautiful and interesting is the seaside. Right now is almost forgotten. It’s a pity that a city faced to the sea is forgetting it. It’s difficult to arrive to the nearest sea point, and it’s not well cared. We have the hope it will change, it will be better not just for the tourists, but for Melaka people as well, for sure.

 

While walking we saw the Malaysian Polis (police in Malaysian) training for a parade that took place the day after. Albertico woke up to see it (it was at 7.45am) and it was funny. He was there alone, only not just tourist, but not policemen there, seeing the monthly parade, when suddenly the big boss arrived and start talking with Albertico. In the meantime everybody was standing up waiting for him actually!

You will see a tower in the low Melaka skyline, Menara Taming Sari, where you can see the city from its top tourning 360º. Maybe nice, but we consider the city must be walked and seen from down, because you will probably see from there just rooftops without much interest.

We were lucky as in the office where one of our Malay friends works, there was during one morning (Albertico’s last one actually) a Chinese New Year special celebration with Chinese Lions. It was very interesting to see, although there was some moments we were waiting them as they visited the whole building and while they were in the upper floors we couldn’t see anything.

And last and as usual not least, rickshaws, like tuk-tuks but as a tricicle. They are nicely decorated and it’s funny because most have disco music and louder than any cars!

TIPS AND ADVISES:
– Do you want to eat well? Go to “Alex”, located right in front of the Hinduist temple in Jalan Tokong street, or ask any local around. Delicious Laksa (spicy fish and coconut milk soup) and Cendol (dessert).
– It will be very difficult not to eat Pinneaple cake, sold everywhere in the city. Try it, it’s good.
– There are guesthouses anywhere, there is no an specific place or street, although we highly recommended Tang’s House as guesthouse. Great service and great breakfast!
– Talk with the people, in the shops, in the rickshaws, in the bars… local people in Melaka are wonderful.
– You can go to the seaside even if there is not too much to do there, but go by bicycle, easy to rent around the city centre.
– If you go from Melaka to KL airport, you have direct bus, just 1hour and a half without traffic. Ask in the bus station for the timetables. Company is Transnational (the national one).

Tourism in Singapore

A touristic visit to Singapore doesn’t usually exceed of 2 or 3 days.
Actually, backpackers don’t stay longer than that as it’s an expensive city as well. Because of that, when we crossed the border from Malaysia, as we were with our backpacks and we put in the Arrival Immigration Form that we were staying around 10 days, Polo was asked several questions before letting him get into the country. He must prove he was really just staying those days as he had a flight from Kuala Lumpur in the next weeks.

Our original itinerary included Melaka (in Malaysia) before than Singapore, but as Chinese New Year was coming, it was really hard to find any accommodation in the Malay city, other than it was more expensive during those days. So there were two main reasons we changed the plans: the accommodation, indeed free in Singapore; Polo’s friend was flying on the 1st of February, it meant if we wanted to see him before he left (and getting the keys, important!), we must go first to Singapore.

The main thing we must visit and do in Singapore was Chinatown and the Chinese New Year, coming the midnight of the 2nd of February. So there we went Polo and Albertico (Miguelito was arriving that night).
Chinatown is a nice district, colonial houses, a mosque, an hinduist temple, and a big Chinese Temple: Buddha Tooth Relic Temple (free admission). Beautiful by night. This temple has several floors you can visit and the nicest, at least for us, were the rooftop with a small garden included, and the first level from where you can see the hall.

Beside the temple, you will find just lots of Chinese and souvenir shops.
We were a bit disappointed with the Chinese New Year. No attractions, no parades, just street shops, an stage with Chinese singing (we didn’t really like), and fireworks at midnight, typical fireworks.
The Chinese celebration includes more rituals and religious stuff we didn’t see. There was as well a fun fair in Marina Bay with an area dedicated to the luck, I mean, many things to pray for having luck along the new next Rabbit year.

Two other important districts: Little India and Arab Street.

Little India is not really nice. It does smell a curry and spices. Streets are not as nice as the other old districts and we consider restaurants there are worse than Indian restaurants in Malaysia. We just ate our lunch and left.
Close to Little India you have a big mall specialized on electronics: Sim Lim square. If you are flying from Singapore remember to ask your “Tax Refund” ticket, you will safe few Singapore Dollars after refund.

The third district, the Arabic one, is very beautiful and nice to walk in. Around 6-7 pm you can see lots of people smoking shisha (around 8-9 euros). After having dinner in a Moroccan restaurant, where the food was delicious, in a pedestrian street face to the Sultan Mosque, we took one of those tasty shishas. It looks like they are expensive, but they are putting new coal from time to time, it’s a never ending shisha, which at the end is even cheap as you spend there hours if you want.
By the way, mint tea is great over there.

In Singapore there is nature as well, maybe not as wild as someone likes. But the National Botanic Gardens are one of the sights you should see in this small country.
It’s really clean, well cared, and big. There are inside plenty of different areas you can enjoy, as the “ginger garden”, “national orchids garden” (5 SGD entrance), and many other. By far one of the best places we saw in Singapore.

Yes, Singapore has more things, as an aquarium, a Warner Park, Zoo, Night Safari… but these kind of things can be done in our home countries as well.

TIPS AND ADVISES:
– Beer and alcohol drinks are very expensive. A can of beer in the supermarket can easily cost 2 euros, and a pint in a pub more than 8.
– MRT (subway) works very well. If you are staying long time you should buy a card you can top up called “Ezay card”: costs 5 SGD not refundable.
– Rice chicken is the famous food in Singapore. It’s… same same, but different.
– Further from city center you can go to “Holland Village”, a nice place to eat and drink. You can find the best Laksa in Singapore.
– Guesthouses area is in Little India. Expensive comparing with the rest of Southeast Asian countries.
– There is no MRT stop nearby the Botanic Gardens, the closest one is Orchards, still one km away. But you can take the bus (we don’t know which one).
– Sentosa island, where main park attractions are, has entrance fee: 3 SGD. It’s not an amazing place, but nice anyway.
– If you go out, beware of the girls who approach to you, they might be…

Singaporean jet set

Is Singapore a real Southeast Asian country? After having been in countries such as Laos, Cambodia or even Thailand, Singapore is a shock. A different shock.
Money runs in Singapore. And you can see it. Hotels and Shopping Malls anywhere, and not regular malls you see in Europe, but Gucci, Cartier, MontBlanc… A Ferrari or a Porsche can be seen from time to time.

It’s clean, organized, modern, new, and expensive. Kuala Lumpur or Honk Kong are the only cities kind of similar to Singapore. All the rest are completely different.
When you are here it looks like you are in the future of Asia.

Polo and Albertico arrived one day before than Miguelito, who stayed in KL to arrange a passport stuff. It was the second separation, a short one.
We were really lucky as we had free accommodation. Polo’s friend, who is living in Singapore since 3 years already, was our host. He lives in, well, a fashion district. Just to let you imagine, one of the main person in the Singaporean government and the Sultan of Brunei have a house in the same street.
The neighbourhood has a gym and a 30 meters swimming pool.

And honestly, it’s so easy to get used to that life…

We had a high standard day. It started in the swimming pool 🙂 , next stop was Orchard’s Road, a long and expensive street with lots of shopping centers with the most known and fashion brands.
MRT direction City Hall station. There, we went to Swissotel which has a Sky Bar in the 70th floor. There is an amazing view of the city. Obviously by night is way better.
Next and last stop, the casino, located on the other side of Marina Bay. It’s free for foreigners, take your passport or they won’t let you in. Very big, two floors, and the view of the ground floor from the upper one is just impressive.
Ok, yes, we bet 1 euro, and we lost it.

If you come to Singapore you may hear about pubs around Orchards Road.
First is a short and very nice street called Orchards Emerald. Fancy and expensive. It was the most expensive pint we ever paid, but that’s Singapore price, if you want to drink, you must know you are going to expend lot of money.

The other place is Orchards Tower. It’s…it’s… interesting. Plenty of prostitutes. They actually pay the entrance, it’s like an investment for them. It sounds weird, but it’s funny to be there. Like a human market, lots of girls, most of them are gorgeous, sitted and looking around to see who is going to be her victim. You can go there to see around, honestly, it’s funny and interesting.
Maybe if you are a girl not 😛
And for those who want to know, it costs around 150 SGD. Ey, we didn’t ask, didn’t pay, we checked it in internet. We were curious.

Singapore is very expensive. Except MRT (subway) and food halls, the rest is Euro price. Or even more.

Kuala Lumpur II, KL breaks

… it continues.

Kuala Lumpur (KL), as every single big city in the world, has many nice places where you can relax and avoid the urban stress.

Inside the city there are two main things.

The first and close to city center is the Golden Triangle. It’s famous because KL Tower (picture) is in the middle, a tall tower from where you can have a 360′ view of the city.
The park is very well built, nice paths and walks. Although it has a couple of handicaps: as it is in the center it’s a bit noisy; beware of mosquitoes, last ones that drank our blood so far and the first ones after the bloody sandflies.

The other urban park inside KL are the “Lake and Gardens”. It’s not easy to go there by public transport but as we were 4 (Caitlin came with us), we took a taxi that at the end is the same price than paying other transport.
Those Lake and Gardens are big, very well cared, peaceful and nice. If you are staying more than 2-3 days in Kuala Lumpur, this park is a very worthy spot to visit.
Even if we went there on Saturday and  the weather was no bad, we were lucky because there were few people and it made the walk much more pleasant.
Besides the park, you can visit over there the Orchids Garden (don’t expect anything amazing), the biggest Bird Park in the world (a bit expensive, 45 MYR), the Butterflies Park, the deers and mousedeers enclose, and the National Monument nearby as well.
We saw close to the National Monument a chocolate shop and we entered in just to see if we could try some. And sure we could 😀 !

The last place we visited were the Batu Caves, an Hinduist temple built inside a huge cave whose entrance front is spectacular as there are 280 deep steps making a beautiful view of the mountain.
That day it rained a lot and we were obliged to buy a couple of umbrellas.
The visit is quick, in half an hour you have already seen everything.
We saw the person who likely has the longest hair in the world. It was a bit disgusting.
It worths to go there.

Last day, as Caitlin moved, we were Adida’s (yes, like the sports brand) guests. Actually she is an our Australian little sister’s friend. She lives in Shah Alam, where you can see the Blue Mosque, an impressive building you can visit as well if you stay long time in KL.

TIPS AND ADVISES:
– KL is a modern and urban city. Street food, food halls and transports are still very cheap, but don’t expect to find bargains in clothes, gifts or accommodation.
Beer and not soft drinks are expensive.
– Taxis are cheap if you are several people. Taking a taxi might be even cheaper than public transport if you go to Batu Caves.
– Unless you stay near the Lake and Gardens, take a taxi to go there.
– From 1pm to 2.30pm (approx) many shops close due to praying time.
– View from the SkyBar is nicer than from KL tower, although drinks are more expensive.
– Sky Bridge (Petronas Towers) is closed on Mondays and not, it’s not free for the first daily visitors.
– Guesthouse areas are nearby Bintang and around Central Market.

Come to Kuala Lumpur, you might accidentally be killed

Actually the title it is not really true, but it’s an Australian song our lovely host showed us. We were making fun of those Australian animals can kill or at least hurt you, and she decided put the video on.

The 5 days we spent in the Malaysian capital flew, I mean, days passed very quickly, and that’s all thanks to our superb Couchsurfer C. We were sleeping in an small and nice apartment close to the Petronas Towers. There was a swimming pool in the 34th floor (sorry, 33A, there aren’t X4 floors 😛 ), with a beautiful view to the tallest twin towers of the world.

Petronas Towers are the most impressive spot in Kuala Lumpur, and one of the most amazing sights we have seen during our trip. And in the evening they are even more spectacular.
We went to the Sky Bar (as we did in Bangkok in Bayan Tree Hotel), located in Traders Hotel, KLCC square, right in front of the Petronas. Although the view is not 360′, the scenery is superb. There is a pool in the Sky Bar (closes at 7pm).
If you go there you must know it’s very expensive. Anyway, go at least once.

You can visit the Towers just till the Sky Bridge, yes, the one joins both towers. We left that visit to the last day, Monday, and hop, surprise, Sky Bridge is closed on Mondays. It doesn’t matter. One thing we must do if we go back.

As it happens in Georgetown, the cultures diversity makes richer Kuala Lumpur too. Chinatown and Little India are two main districts here, although they are much more urban. Good places to buy some stuff you might need, but not very amazing sights anyway.
Independently where you are, many shops and stands close between 13.10pm to 14.10pm, praying time for Muslims. It was quite impressive for the Spaniards as it was the first time they saw Muslims praying no matter where in the street. Polo had seen it before in Paris.
It’s difficult to explain what you feel when you see these kind of religious acts, between bizarre and beautiful. It’s always good to see how other cultures live.

About shopping, if you don’t find anything interesting in the street markets either in Little India, either in Chinatown, don’t worry, probably one of the multiple shopping malls there are in the Malay capital has what you are looking for. The one we visited the most is “Sun Gei Wan”, said one of the cheapest, if not the cheapest, although don’t expect to find bargains there, we have arrived to the modern civilization already and prices are similar to Western countries.

It will continue…