The Sad Goodbye

Location: Malacca, Malaysia

NP: Mors Principium Est - Into Illusion

Mood: Wistful

Malaysia was supposed to be a relatively short stop for us, but here we are, still in Malacca after 15 days. The city took us by storm when we had little expectations. Perhaps this, as it is with movies, is the correct way to experience new places. With no expectations there are no disappointments, only surprises.

This time our focus was shifted from nightlife and drinking to food and limited exploration. Part of the reason is the high price of beer, but also this city seems ill-suited for the young and reckless. It can be enjoyed much more by the mature and cultured.

We have not even visited the Pure Bar, which I hear is the only real nighttime stomping ground in the city. No, this city requires a different outlook.

Most of our exploration has been focused on Chinatown, which is really close to the hotel after we found the shortcut through a building I mentioned in an earlier post. They have a big night market on Jonker Street every weekend and the Chinese karaoke on a stage at the end of the street is both amusing and loud.

Yesterday we also visited Little India, which is very little indeed, and tried some Nyonya Nasi Lemak - a dish of rice cooked with coconut milk, chicken, peanuts and small, crispy fish. This time, unlike the first time we tried it (Ipoh Nasi Lemak at Mahkota Parade's food court), it was very good. There's not much to be said about Little India here though. It's too small to merit a visit and the best local Indian restaurant (Pak Putra) is not located there.

It must be said that the food court in the Mahkota Parade mall is quite poor. Though there are many vendors and I've eaten four dishes there, none of them have been good. Otherwise the mall is quite nice, though it could use more free seating (there are many massaging chairs around that cost to use and make a sound if you sit in them without paying for the massage function).

Small amounts of culture have also trickled through our daily eating frenzy. Apart from the European architecture and fortifications, there are some sights to be seen from earlier inhabitants. One of them is the Cheng Hoon Teng Temple (Green Clouds Temple). Being built in 1673, it claims to be the oldest functioning Chinese temple in Malaya. It is open to visitors daily and some of the altars are engulfed with serene chanting.

Malacca had been good to us, but tomorrow we will be saying goodbye to the city. We will be saying goodbye to our friendly receptionist and the taciturn but lovely Chinese nightman at Kota Lodge, to the game-playing son and the serious mother at the Kappan House and the pretty Vietnamese waitress at Far East Cafe, to the bats that shriek in the night over Jonker Street, the staff of How Kuai and the elderly lady at the gym, to the lady at the laundry house just across the street, the Chinese man who taught us how to dine in the local Chinese restaurants and the many vendors on the night market every weekend.

Mika and Maymay, the receptionist at Kota Lodge.

Thank you. See you again soon, I hope. Or perhaps never again.

Tomorrow we leave for the futuristic expanse of Singapore's urban sprawl where I'll be certain to reap some new experiences, first of them being the wonder of dormitory accommodation...

I am cautiously optimistic.