Malaca

On the bus to Malaca

We took a day trip to Malaca on Thursday.  We left at 7:30 which was an early start for us. The bus was very comfortable and air conditioned (absolutely essential in this climate).  Like all SEAsian buses it had fancy curtains.  I haven't figured out the purpose for them, but they are universal.  Buses in Mexico had fancy curtains as well.  Maybe it is Canada that is weird.

Jasmine overlooking the straits from St. Paul's church

Malaca is located on the southeast coast of Malaysia overlooking the straits of Malaca (between Sumatra and Malaysia).  This is possibly the busiest waterway in the world today and was the reason for the existence of the town.  Between 1400 and 1500, Malaca (or Melaka) had its golden age as a port where ships from India and the West could meet and trade with ships from China and the East.  Because of the way monsoon winds worked, it was a natural place to stop.  It was through Malaca that Islam entered South East Asia.

Malaca was conquered by the Portuguese in 1511 and later by the Dutch in 1640. Under the Dutch, Malaca started to decline in importance basically because the Dutch drove too hard a deal and the traders went elsewhere.  We visited a few museums and the Sultan's palace which gave a  good picture of the different nationalities that used to trade in Malaca.  It was quite warm (44 C)  and we were glad to stop in Chinatown for a rice balls and chicken lunch.

Jasmine, Jennifer, Ariel and Kathleen heading for the bus

After lunch we had a bit of time for browsing around  Chinatown and Kathleen bought a pewter cross for 9 RM (about $3.00 Cdn) at one of the shops.  I was very thankful for this later when on our trip back to the YMCA in KL we stopped at the Selangor Pewter factory.  They  had lots of very beautiful and fairly pricey pewter items.  For example there was a pair of candlesticks selling for 200,000 RM (about $70,000) but Kathleen had already satisfied her pewter cravings .

It was a great day.  Kathleen and I finished it up with another wonderful Indian meal at a local restaurant ( I have become very fond of butter naan).

The class at the Selangor factory

After that it was time to pack for our 5:30 am start on our trip to Laoag in the Philippines. That was a very early day and another story.



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