Meeting the Locals

Location: Malacca, Malaysia

NP: Eppu Normaali - Näin kulutan aikaa

Mood: Relaxed

The friendly mother and daughter at Sea Garden Resort & Spa's reception.

The people that you meet among your travels are many and range from the sneaky tuk-tuk driver to the burly fisherman by the pier. As a traveller, the people you meet most by far are those offering some sort of public service, such as waiters in a restaurant, barkeepers, shopkeepers, hotel receptionists and taxi drivers. At times you might meet students or band members at a pub or some local hangout.

Like the most entertaining tuk-tuk driver we met in Bangkok, or the singer we met at Post Laser Disc in Hat Yai.

The singer of Post Laser Disc in Hat Yai.

And then there are the other travellers - people that are just passing by (or live there for now) and spending their time at the same haunts you choose to spend yours.

Like a Dutch man and her Malaysian wife with whom we watched football in a bar in Malacca.

We've been fortunate enough to run into some locals during these past weeks of travel. The most common way for us at least has been meeting people more than once by visiting the same spots more than once, which makes it more natural to engage in conversation, for them or for us.

Like the girl who claimed to have seen me walk by every day on Koh Pha Ngan, or the owner's Indonesian father we met at Far East Cafe in Malacca.

What ever the occasion, it is always a small treasure meeting and talking to the locals. These will certainly be some of the moments I'll think back on after the trip's over.