Malaysia

Due to time restrictions, my passing through this country was far too short. Although looking back I managed to see quite alot. It was a whistle-stop tour down the west coast, having bought a boat-bus combi ticket from Ko Tao I found I had been ripped off by the travel agent. Thats another story.

Anyway the first port of call was Penang (or Georgetown to be more specific). The accom here wins the accolade of being the grimiest and roughest night stay so far. Despite this, I had a day and a half to become immersed in the colonial history of the place. As I discovered elsewhere in Malaysia, this town was truly an eclectic mix of ethnicities, religions and cultural traditions. Therefore the food was fantastic and about as cheap as it gets. The museum was very good and learnt plenty about British occupation and what it meant for the Malay people. I visited a mosque later that day and was called away from standing on the prayer mats (bit of a faux pas) and had to put on a full length black robe.

After that I endured a scary bus ride with a bus driver who had the manners of Father Jack and probably the same driving abilities. Our destination was Kuala Lumpur and what a fine little city it is. I met up with four girls from New York who had survived the bus ride before. We went for drinks in the city centre after spending ages trying to find somewhere to stay. The full day there was spent mainly in and around the Petronas towers. It took about 3 hours for us to queue to get our free passes to go up to the skybridge later that day. It was worth it though. The towers have a majestic beauty about them and apparently were designed to incorporate Islamic elements in the design. Really enjoyed it. We stayed in Chinatown that night which was non-stop hawker central.

The following day I took the bus to get to Malacca which I had heard was well worth a visit. And it certainly was. When I got there I met up with a guy from Switzerland and we decided to check out the town. Like Penang there is an abundance of colonial history in Malacca. Portugese, then Dutch, then British and Japanese during WW2. The Stadhuys museum was the place to go for all the info on the past. We went to see the remains of a Portugese fort on the harbour from the mid 1500s, and St Pauls church up on the hill which was another ancient relic. The straits of Melacca were key in the mega wealthy spice trade of the past and that is why the port of the town itself was so highly valued. I wish I had a few more days there to really take in a bit more of the place but time was pressing on...