South East Asia: Melaka

[post by Ana]

We took an early morning bus from Singapore heading north, towards peninsular Malaysia, to Melaka. It is now the 16^th January.

On leaving the bus, first thing we noticed – hard not to – was just how hot it was. From humid Singapore to dry heat Melaka, you start to get the picture. We choose to continue via this small but popular quiet town as a gentle introduction to this new culture. We booked for two nights at the Jonker Boutique hotel, very centrally in the heart of historic old town. And it proved enough to have a good look around, gather strength and move on.

Main street

View from the Fort A Famosa

Melaka is best known for its UNESCO World Heritage status. In this small town, the Portuguese, Dutch, English and Japanese managed to leave an imprint. One after the other, they came, they ruled and changed all that the others had done before, so you get these interesting architectural structures that were either modified and abandoned or modified and modified again to suit the rulers taste.

Christ Church, Dutch heritage

Fort A Famosa, Portuguese heritage

 Traditional houses

When it comes to the people, religion and food, you also benefit from the variety and diversity. Only in this way I can explain, that in one of the restaurants where we ate we found that the owner was a proud member of the Boy's Brigade in Malaysia. I don't know how we stumbled upon this information, but I do recall Col mentioning that his dad, Malcolm was once a member. This triggered a very emotional response from the owner who then led us to the back of the restaurant where he emotionally shared with us the mementos of the team and the dream that unites them of one day visiting Scotland.

I will add, that this was one of our favourite venues for eating, the Calanthe Art Cafe. I was really happy when I noticed in their menu one of my favourites Portuguese deserts Pudim serradura. He did a variation of it, and I'm proud to say a really good one. We conversed with excitement and exchanged recipe tips.

Calanthe Art Cafe

Melaka is good to explore by walking. We were accosted by Tuktuk drivers trying to sell us a tour around town, which they said it would take one hour, but we couldn't see how they would manage to make it last that long. 

Tuktuk

The historic heart of town is quite magical and we spent a day walking around the narrow one-way lanes and visiting the “colonial-style shophouses built by the Dutch and British. My favourite promenade was the Jonker Walk, where you're spoilt for choice on shopping. We loved the creativity that the Asians bring to the experience, the T-shirts, the bags, the shoes, all tailored for you. Had it not been for Col's 'Scottish' restraint I would've probably splurged on our first stop. 

An artist's gallery

River walk

 Archways

 How many temples can you fit in one street? So many, so beautiful, so big, each contributing to a color-full experience of life. I suppose you only have to consider the myriad of cultures here, Malay Muslims, Chinese Taoists and Buddhists, Indian Hindus, a large number of indigenous people, plus an assortment of Peranakans, Eurasians and other races and religions. All calling themselves Malaysian. 

Temple door

Mosque

The streets were covered in red. It's a theme you will see on our travels in South East Asia, the Dragon, Chinese lanterns, the burning of fake money, incense, red fabric. We feel that this mystical allure added a very special tone to this part of the journey. In Western culture, we don't feel this energy, this build-up in the coming of the New Year and the first 15 days that succeed it. Here it's as involving as it puzzling. I would be curious to find out how it would feel to be here at different times of the year. 

 

 

Col checked and there was a mention of this house that does the best curry ever, Pak Putra Tandoori & Nan Restaurant - nr. 1 in Trip Advisor - and also there's the Zhen He Tea House that is a must do. It's beyond reason, Col made me walk to the ends of the earth under the oppressing heat until we could find this place (the curry house). It turns out it wasn't that far and I've learned not to come between my man and his curry.

Pak Putra Tandoori & Nan Restaurant

Do you know Mister Potato Boleh? Well you do now in Melaka, occupying a big billboard in the centre of the square we had the pleasure to become acquainted with Mr. Potato Boleh potato chips, courtesy of Manchester United.

 
We liked Melaka, it was a good in-between stop and helped us get acquainted with the currency and Malay language. It is a tourist destination but it holds its charm, probably more of a pleasant shopping destination.
I will leave you with some of the best moments, courtesy of Col's exploratory/ Indiana Jones streak. And I'm thankful, because of his adventurous spirit we've been rewarded with interesting experiences. Ones that we would not have, had we taken my approach to avoid the blazing sun at all hours of the day.

at the Fort A Famosa

Dragon made out of coins, Melaka Shopping Centre

 An alley covered in graffiti

Pigeons taking over, somewhere

Bike graveyard

A shared Dutch and English graveyard

South East Asia: Singapore

[post by Ana]
 

We recharged our batteries on love, friendship, food and fun with our friends in New Zealand and Australia. Fair to say that at this point we were more than pleased with our adventures and would have happily returned to London. We pondered on this for a bit.... and agreed to carry on.

The next stop was Singapore, our entry point to South East Asia.

We flew with Qantas from Sydney, where either luck or Col's charms with the check-in lady got us upgraded to Business Class. It was a nice surprise and we started this leg of the journey toasting on board with a glass of champagne... This bit of the journey was very exciting because for one I could not speak any of the local languages and on the other side, how can I put it, it's South East Asia.

We arrived on 12th January and stayed in Singapore for 4 days, a very short stay by our standards and barely enough to catch-up on family and friends. We had the opportunity to stay with our friend's and former Dulwich neighbours, Paul and Emma, who emigrated 2 years ago to Singapore fulfilling work opportunities. 

Our hosts: Paul and Emma

and the new member of the family: Titania

They live very centrally just by the river, so on arrival, around 10pm, we promptly took a cab and made our way to theirs. Thanks to Paul's great instructions, a google map and whatever little understanding our driver had of English we made it. There's a story being told about taxi drivers in Singapore that most time they don't have a clue where they are going, yet they will take passengers. And there are maybe three or four streets with the same name, so instructions and a good sense of humour are required. I dare say, I could almost panic in Col's face as he realised that our driver was not getting anything we were saying, yet he kept nodding with his head and agreeing that all was well.

We'd not seen Paul and Emma for a while and it was great to catch-up again and to see that they're doing fine in Singapore. Our first day was spent getting acclimatised with the weather and wandering through the city's streets. People have mentioned Singapore to be 'too clean' and 'westernised'. We could see what they meant, but there's something here that I've not seen in any other western city. So their formula is very unique to them. There's a richness in culture that is celebrated and shared in such a dynamic and interactive way, that I don't think we've been able to enact in any western city. Not, at least, one that we know.

Esplanade

ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands

Marina Bay Sands Resort

There seems to be a 'promise' here that if you come to live here the country will look after you. I've not felt that anywhere, ever. But I did feel it here. At the very least from our friends and their accounts of other friends who feel to have attained a quality of life and well-being not experienced before in Europe.

We had our introduction to the hawker markets, an abundance of flavours, foods and textures. Interestingly enough, seeing all this food had the opposite effect and killed my appetite. It doesn't take away from the experience. We learned that the wet tissues on the table, are not for everyone to use, but rather the way that people save their seats. So rather than indicate 'sit here' – as I thought – it actually indicates 'this seat is taken'. Yes, I guess I am trying to say that we did take someone else's seat, but they returned in time so we did not use their tissues to clean our hands.

It's not possible to say that we know the city, but we were very impressed with the grandeur, architecture and diversity of environments. All our senses were engaged in experiencing this city. We were advised to take a taxi but Col and I prefer to walk. I suppose it's a recipe that has worked well for us everywhere else, except here. We managed to walk for a half-day and proclaimed defeat after lunch, drenched, thirsty and recklessly tired. The heat and humidity seem to add a ton of weight to every movement we did.

Air con units, back street

Market, Little India

Dizzying heights

We really struggled with the weather here to begin with but by the end we felt more acclimatised and I dare say even enjoying and feeling comfortable with the weather.

Our second day was packed with nice surprises. We started the day at the Singapore Zoo, a massive venue. This is an unusual thing for us to do, but we heard so many good things about this one that we had to see. The animals are still 'caged', of course, but they have so much room to roam that the experience does not feel so oppressive as I've experienced in some of the zoos in Europe. Our favourites were the Hamadryas Baboons all the way from Ethiopia, we must have spent more than one hour just watching them. I think more struck about the resemblances in our behaviours and I suppose in complete awe of their life.

 I don't like zoos and am primarily against them but, for once I have to recognise and appreciate the opportunity available to me to see and pay respect to some of our world's finest creatures.

Next, we had arranged to meet Olivia and Cyrille at 4pm, so we made haste to our next appointment. Olivia is one of Caroline's sisters and Caroline is Col's brother Peter 's wife. We were happily surprised to find out that they did not live far from where we were staying. And with good will we spent a few hours with them. We were greeted warmly by Olivia, she looked relaxed and young. The day coincided with the opening of a new 'Paul's bakery, the french patisserie' and Cyrille was out with the kids to get one 'Gallete des Rois'. Traditionally eaten on celebration of the New Year, very similar to the 'Bolo Rei' in Portugal or the 'Christmas pudding in the U.K'. For me the difference being that the French one does taste really good. Oh worth mentioning that Pauline found the lucky trinket.

Olivia and Cyrille

Victor

Pauline

Similar to Paul and Emma, Cyrille and Olivia, emigrated to Singapore following work opportunities. And they're doing well, the kids are very happy, settled and well, the parents too seemed very happy and care-free. They have an amazing view from their flat, and under Cyrille's guidance we took some great photos.

Window view

Terrace view

Time was short and slipping. And we followed from here to join Paul and Emma for dinner and a tour of China Town. It's worth mentioning that by now we're two weeks away from the Chinese New Year and the momentum is building up, more so because this is the Year of the Dragon. And the Dragon is big and bold and almost everywhere. According to mythology, it brings good luck to be born on the year of the Dragon and so does the red colour. And indeed we could see a red ribbon/band added to the facade of most houses and businesses and lots of pregnant young mums. This also seems to add many problems to parents who find it hard to get school places for their children, so many are the ones born on Dragon Year. Someone even told us of a lady that would only have children every twelve years to match the Dragon year. To add to this mystical atmosphere most streets were lined up with the popular Chinese lanterns in red colour of course.

The red Dragon, Chinatown

We followed our hosts as they led us through the enchanting and bustling streets of Chinatown, sometimes distracted by the entertainment we'd loose track of each other. It's crazy, an incredible experience.

 Hindu temple, Chinatown

We built an appetite and finished our walk at a nice restaurant, where the food, drinks and great company filled the space. It was Saturday night...

We took a taxi and ended our night enjoying a few more drinks at a bar overlooking the Singapore river. Across the river an incredible show of lights was taking place carefully choreographed to music playing, also one of the most popular clubs in sight. And an incredible moonlight shining over us. We felt very thankful to Paul and Emma for such a great experience. We landed on them during a busy working week and they were very kind and generous with their time.

Singapore Flyer and ArtScience Museum, view across river

We had a chance to visit Little India the following day. Quite honestly I don't think we could have missed it, Col of course was keen to have a curry and what a better place. Truth be told it was one of the best he had since we started traveling. We did consider also visiting the Botanical Gardens the but we had to prepare for the next leg of the journey and there were still bits and pieces to finalise.

 Hindu temple, Little India

Flower arrangements

Shoes off!

Paul, Emma, Olivia and Cyrille, thank you for adding such a special touch to our stay in Singapore: You.

Singapore is happening, on the surface it feels very consumer driven but there's a heart to this city that is about its people. And we only stayed 4 days, so our opinion is just that at most. But we felt there's definitely more to see. Next stop: Melaka, Malaysia.

A few thoughts
Singapore is a city state, that is both country and capital city. There is a lot of criticism around its development, and we don't really know much about it. Our feedback comes mostly from our friends who seem very happy in this new foreign land. They took a leap of faith to experience something new and look for a better quality of life and they found it here. Away from family, it's not easy but the hope and opportunities for the future are greater... It's a tough call but it does help to consider that there's more than one way to do things and throughout our travels we have met people who defied 'the way things are done' to create a new possibility for themselves. And they're ok.