07 Jan - 09 Jan 2009 Malacca


Melaka aka Malacca
Kancil Guest House +6062814044 kancil@machinta.com.sg
Basic double room for MYR 50.- or US$ 14.- per night.


Click below for an interactive road map of the Kancil Guest House in Malacca, which we would recommend, and for directions:




 





Enjoying a nostalgic journey into Malacca’s glorious past (unfortunately, this UNESCO World Heritage Site has been disneyfied and commercialised to a degree that has to be seen to be believed; in 2008 CE National Geographic ranked Malacca amongst the worst preserved historic destinations in the world), flip-flopping in the footsteps of Sumatran and Malay sultans as well as Chinese, Indian, Arab, Portuguese, Dutch and British merchants (who traded in silk, spices, gold and china and who waited out the monsoons in this area) in the historic streets of old Malacca and enjoying the commanding view from St. Paul’s Church down onto the infamous, for her pirates, Straits of Malacca where many large vessels plied in both directions.



Indulging our tourist-tacky desires by taking a ride on one of Malacca’s uniquely kitsch trishaws (bicycle rickshaws) and meeting at kampung Morten Abdul Rahim Haji Hashim who showed us around his 100-year-old traditional Malay house (Villa Sentosa) - built on wooden stilts to improve the air circulation and packed to the brim with old furniture and family relics.



Strolling through the tottering lanes of Malacca’s Chinatown, visiting a bouquet of (i) colourful temples (including the oldest Chinese temple in Malaysia, built in 1646 CE, the Cheng Hoon Teng Temple), (ii) sober mosques (including the Kampung Kling Mosque with its uniquely pagoda-like minaret) and (iii) functional shophouses (including the one of shoemaker Wan Aik who crafts doll-like shoes for bound feet [“lotus feet”], once the height of gruesome fashion for well-to-do Chinese women in Malacca where only a girl with bound feet could be a wife or a concubine; those with normal feet were peasants, servants, low-class prostitutes, amahs or workers, and despised) and regaining afterwards our strength with Chinese dim-sum and endemic Nyonya pineapple tarts (buttery pastries with a chewy pineapple-jam filling).



Taking the KKKL express bus from Malacca (Melaka Sentral) back to Kuala Lumpur's Puduraya Bus Terminal for MYR 12.20 or US$ 3.40 per person (business-class like “snoozer seat”) for the 150-km long ride.


Click below for a summary of this year's travels

Visit the Konni & Matt Online Albums and order high-res travel photos
Konni & Matt Travel Photos


Recommended books - click below for your Amazon order from Germany:

For Amazon bargains from the United States, please click here
For Amazon bargains from Canada, please click here
For Amazon bargains from the United Kingdom, please click here

01 Jan - 07 Jan 2009 Kuala Lumpur


Flawed-Democratic Federation of Malaysia
28 Tengkat Tong Shin
Mutiara Villa Condos
Fully-furnished one-bedroom 700-sqft apartment (no. A-25-F) on 25th floor for MYR 1,750.- or US$ 483.- per month, with balcony and including free access to gym and swimming pool with Jacuzzi. Stunning views over the city.

Click below for an interactive road map of the Mutiara Villa Condos in Kuala Lumpur and for directions:


 





Welcoming the New Year 2009 CE (which corresponds to 5769 on the Jewish calendar, 5109 on the Old Hindu calendar, 4707 on the Chinese calendar, 2552 on the Thai solar calendar and 1430 on the Islamic calendar) together with an excited multicultural Malaysian crowd and with fellow German globetrotter Claus and a fantastic fireworks display in front of the brightly illuminated, glowing 452 m high Petronas Twin Towers punching up into the midnight sky.

Touring Kuala Lumpur with “KL Hop-On Hop-Off” (senior-citizen ticket for MYR 17.- or US$ 4.80 per person, valid for 24 hours) and doing a leisurely circuit of the main tourist sites with a topless double decker: Bintang WalkChinatown, Central MarketNational PalaceLake Gardens , Merdeka SquareLake Titiwangsa and KL City Centre.



Skywalking over the 41st-floor sky bridge that connects the Petronas Twin Towers at a modest 170 m above street level.



Taking the Transnasional double-decker bus from Kuala Lumpur’s Puduraya Bus Terminal to Malacca (Melaka Sentral) for MYR 12.30 or US$ 3.45 per person for the fast and comfortable 150-km ride on the highway.



Visit the Konni & Matt online albums and order high res travel photos
Konni & Matt Travel Photos


Recommended books - click below for your order from the United States

For your order from Germany click here
For your order from Canada click here
For your order from the United Kingdom click here