First anniversary

We've officially been in Malaysia for 1 year and 4 days - although I spent a whopping 14 weeks travelling this year, so I suppose I've really only logged about 9 months here.

Realizing how much time we've spent outside of Malaysia - and taking advantage of a three-day weekend, we went to Penang. It was a harrowing 5 hour drive with high-speed tailgating at about 110km an hour the whole way - at one point we ended up immediately behind a six car pile up - no doubt due to the aforementioned high-speed tailgating.

Arriving safely and in one piece we opted for a night in Batu Ferringhi - an unimpressive so-called resort town just outside of George Town which backs onto the busy and polluted waters of the Straits of Malacca. It was nice to be by the sea (worth it just to see a woman in full burqua on a jet ski) - and our real goal wasn't a nice beach holiday but to score some first-rate Chinese seafood.

We cruised around town and as expected found a run-down, slightly dirty, packed little restaurant just meters from the sea serving all manner of crab, prawns and fish. We opted for one of our favourites - sweet & sour chilli crab and we were not disappointed. Stuffed and messy with sauce smeared all over our chops (and in my case, my clothes) we called it a night and primed ourselves for an exploration of George Town the following day.

Compared with it's sister-city Melaka, George Town is both bigger and dirtier (I saw 4 rats in 24 hours). On the plus side, it's considerably less touristy and certainly lives up to it's reputation as a culinary destination.

Rain kept us from wandering and exploring as much as we would have liked - so we hunkered down at some food stalls, stocked ourselves with beer and began several hours of taste-testing some of Penang's most famous fare - from loh bak (deep-fried minced pork wrapped in tofu skin) to Penang laksa and the local (spicier) version of the ubiquitous kway teow (essentially Malaysian pad thai).

After our feast we headed back to the streets and stumbled upon a delightful little bar that is (for those of you who are lucky enough to have been there) almost exactly like Duffy's - same size, layout, decor, and general atmosphere (just Chinese and no Chicago Cubs paraphernalia). We met an Aussie engineer in the oil business, a Dutchman who found himself in Malaysia after his holiday to Thailand was cancelled due to the floods, and a wandering 38 year old American with a penchant for Asian women half his age, an obsession with self-defence and the right to bear arms. We had a grand time.

We did of course squeeze in a couple of cultural attractions as well. We made a brief stop at the Snake Temple - which although not exactly as I envisioned (you know, Raiders of the Lost Ark) but there are a few pit vipers slithering (actually snoozing) at the altars.

We also made an attempt at a tour of the Blue Mansion - a restored home that once belonged to a wealthy Chinese merchant in George Town. While the mansion is certainly impressive, I would not recommend the tour.

For no discernible reason (other than there is probably a gift shop at the end) you aren't allowed to take photos (strictly enforced) and the entire tour is said to take an hour, but after 25 minutes we hadn't gotten out of the foyer and it was too crowded and too hot to hear anything the tour guide had to say anyway. So we bailed and played with the camera out front for a bit instead. The Blue Mansion also operates as a guest house, so clearly the best thing to do would be to plan ahead and just stay there.

Melaka

On Saturday we packed our bags and headed south to here:

Melaka is certainly one of the more famous and more popular tourist destinations in Malaysia.  Our Rough Guide gets a bit down on it for being touristy (and then devotes 20+ pages to it), but despite all the tourists we found it quite pleasant and a nice break from KL.  Melaka (also sometimes spelled Malacca) is one of the oldest cities in Malaysia (14th century) and at one time was certainly one of the most important both in cultural and economic terms.  It was originally founded by a Sumatran prince in exile who got on well with the locals and Melaka quickly became an affluent trading outpost between India and Indonesia.

Thanks to its strategic location and wealth Melaka proved irrestible to the Europeans and as a result Melaka has a particularly long and varied colonial history.  The Portugese cruised in about 1500 and then 100 years later the Dutch relieved the Portugese of their duites.  The Dutch hung on for nearly 200 years but they were no match for the Brits who, save the Japanese occupation during the Second World War, hung onto it until Malay independence in 1957.  On top of this the Chinese have been flocking to Melaka for a couple hundred years as well.  The result, is a bizarrely coherent yet wonderfully diverse little town that deservedly (I think) achieved UNESCO World Heritage status 2 years ago.

Aside from the wonderful architecture, Christian churches, Buddhist temples, mosques and Hindu shrines sit quite happily next to each other, the food and the markets are the real highlight.  The standout food of Melaka, commonly referred to as Nyonya cooking is based on Chinese ingredients and cooking techniques with local Malay and Indonesian (and occassionally Indian) herbs and spices.  The result is amazing.

As for the markets you can buy all the usual tat that you can get at any market anywhere in the world but there are some standout shops particularly in terms of furniture and antiques.  It is a reprint, and after some mediocre haggling Ian picked up an amazing map of British Malaya ca. 1834 for about $15.00.  Borneo appears almost entirely blank with the following note:

'Borneo produces gold, tin, diamonds, camphor, spices &c.  Interior unknown but inhabited by the aboriginal Dayaks, & the coasts by Malays & Chinese.  Borneo is three times larger than Great Britain & divided into several independent states. Probable population 3,000,000.'