From Singapore we caught a bus to Malacca. Malacca was for a time the most important port on the Malay Peninsula. It has a varied history with colonization and along with Georgetown on Penang island has some of the best instances of architecture and cultural remnants from the Dutch and British periods. There are lovely churches and forts in varying states of repair as well as a bustling tourist area and malls.
Why yes, that is a 300+ year old engraving he is using to get a picture of the brick wall.
We went without much of a plan aside from eating, which is what we did. We walked around the city quite a bit to take in the sights. We stopped at a Starbucks and met a barista who wanted to point out all of the cool local Starbucks stuff and also some of her local favorites for food. She was really excited when we told her we lived in Seattle and Starbucks corporate offices were about a block from where we got married.
So much good food in Malacca. Pak Putra was our favorite, and we were there enough that they remembered us.
We became quick regulars at the tandoori place a couple blocks from our hotel that Liz wanted to try. It was sad when they welcomed us back on our last night in Malacca knowing we probably won’t be back there again anytime soon. Its not you Pak Putra, you’re amazing, we just can’t make the long distance thing work.
Water Monitor hanging out by the river
Malacca also was great for the urban wildlife spotting. We saw a bunch of water monitors along the river through the city, there were stands of mangrove trees still growing in the river in sections, which was very cool to see. We saw a small family of monkeys in addition to lots of birds. We also saw one large water monitor that appeared to have been strangled by some rope, not sure if it was intentional or not but it was certainly sad to see a 2 meter long lizard dead on the shore of the river.
Shrine/Cat House
Our guesthouse in Malacca turned out to be really nice. Vivien, who ran the place, was a little unsure of her English, so communicated largely in sound-effects. It was pretty amazing really. She was really sweet and the place was great. Good mattress in the room, free drinking water and a great location. We’re hoping to find more gems like that on our travels.
Malacca wasn’t really a destination I had on my mental roadmap for Malaysia, but had a great time there and great food. I doubt we’ll be heading through there again on this trip, but if we do I’ll be stoked to stay at Casa Blanca and have dinner at Pak Putra again.
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| Malacca |