Melacca – We lika Melaka

(Miller)

Since the trip down treated us so well, we decided to take a few more days in Malaysia, the town of Melaka specifically. Notice I’ve spelled it a number of ways. That’s because it really is like that. Malay is a relatively new language but we were still surprised to see it written in the Roman alphabet rather than in characters like in Thailand and Cambodia. It made piecing words together a whole lot easier though.

UNESCO named Melacca a world heritage site and we FULLY support the decision. The museum density within a 2-kilometer area is the heaviest we’ve seen – EVER! There were no less than 15 museums, including ones featuring kites, literature, marine vessels of past and present, local history, and my favorite, the Museum of Enduring Beauty. It demonstrated how different groups around the world, past and present, have displayed beauty in their own minds. Included in the exhibits were – teeth filing, neck stretching, corset wearing, anorexia, piercing and tattooing, and skull forming. Enduring took on a whole new meaning.

We were particularly excited to see the sound and light show that evening. It advertised the history of Melacca with …yes, sound and lights. We were pretty excited, as Malaysia was unraveling itself to us as a very diverse, complex and layered country. Well, this was a bit of a disappointment. The amphitheatre was built to view the lit up fort hill at night and highlight the local sights while recounting the colonization on to independence in 1957. Not recommended as you can go next door to the top floor of some restaurant and listen for free. We went over to the mall next door and watched Transporter 3 to complete the media experience for the evening.

Walking along the river (it had a very Dutch feeling), I noticed something sliding along. It was too small to be a crocodile, but too big to be a snake. It turned out to be a HUGE swimming monitor lizard, many in fact. No one told us about these but they are not to be missed, creepy.

We took an afternoon bus the next day to Seremban, where we thought we’d be able to sleep and get a morning tram for our 11am flight to Japan. Not so. The bus station in Seremban was awful. After being told multiple times to just take a taxi by the TICKET SELLER, we decided to just go see if we could check-in at the airport…15 hours early. Refueled with some Dunkin’ Donuts, we took the commuter train and 2 hours later, we were in one of the nicest airports in the world (really, voted in the top 10 for 2008), lounging on a mat, watching movies, and sleeping for a solid 8 hours. Malaysia was great, so much more left to see!