Melaka, Malacca or Malaca
You can name it as you prefer. Here is where we started to get to know Malaysia, cause the huge and noisy Kuala Lumpur doesn’t allow you to relax and get deep what you see around.
Melaka is an old European colony, commercial and business center of the Netherlands Empire in Asia, that was given to the British. A considerable amount of Portuguese stablished there during that time.
This heritage left a lot of constructions and different areas of the city, one of those could be the portuguese district, the little Amsterdam or the British colonial area; other more typical of another cities around, but big represented here could be China Town or Little India.
Unlike Kuala Lumpur, in Melaka we could get everywhere by foot. It will take more or less time, but the distances are more affordable. And so, walking, we reached a beautiful island in the middle of the city, an ancient village of wooden houses with a stunning floor for ventilation through holes.
On this island we met a Malaysian famous man. Every year on my birthday (August 31) he paint the roof of his house with the colors of the flag of Malaysia. He showed us couple of his family secrets for a healthy old age, such as having lots of stairs in the house for daily exercise or go weekly to swim in the waters of a nearby island.
It’s time to remember how’s the exchange between the euro and the Malaysian ringgit:
4.2 Ringgits are 1 Euro. Eating in cheap places usually costs around 6 ringgits, 1 euro and a half.
The first night in Melaka cost us 36 ringgits, the two following a mere 20 ringgit on a small pension called Little Dragon; very basic, but suited our needs. As a curious note I could tell that the router exploded shortly after turn, I activated torrent and… boom! Until the next afternoon I couldn’t try again to slowly download something.
We tried ice creams made when you order them, they were made with frozen fruits you chose. We discover too various Chinese, Indian and Malay local restaurants, where one dish could be as cheap as 4 ringgit.
In this quiet and beautiful city we had a last evening with a local girl, ethnic Chinese, who had traveled throughout Southeast Asia with all kinds of experiences; a couple of Lithuanians working in a small business online, they decided to settle there months ago; and a few travelers who were passing through Melaka direction to Kuala Lumpur.
And from there we went to Singapore by bus, for 22 ringgit per person in a comfy coach with spacious, reclining and padded seats.
During our week in Malaysia we spent around 100€, half of that money was in restaurants, food stalls and supermarkets. I could say that Malaysia is cheap, though considerably more expensive than Thailand, where we are right now.
