Melakan Tales - Progress Faster Than Reciting the Alphabet

This photo only courtesy of flickr's The Bugz.

Melaka - So a royalty's hunting dog fell down the river and drowned when it saw a mouse deer, inspiring the prince to name this city from the site this actually happened - beside a melakan tree (Indian gooseberry)! So goes the legend. On my 2nd visit in this hybrid of Portuguese and Dutch city, I was just floored! This wasn't the city that I visited just a few years ago! It has amazingly grown exponentially!

First off, there is already an Eye of Melaka (their answer to the London Eye); a revolving restaurant that amazed me no end (at 20 ringgit per person); a hop-on,hop-off tourist bus service that perplexingly riuns from just 9AM to 12 PM; a more frequent and voluminous river cruise business; a better planned public transport with a more comprehensive itinerary (their town bus service now runs directly from the city center to the main terminal, you'd get there in 15 minutes; it used to take an hour!); a very much alive Jonker's Street that used to only come alive at night, but is a heavy bustle of activities and tourists now - even at daytime; and a tourist set that has more than quadrupled! I am not exaggerating!

I remembered having a cheap meal at a makeshift stall just before turning towards St. Paul's Hill - now it is all gone! What used to be small forgettable stores has been transmogrified into a luxurious Carrefour and its contiguous Dataran Palahwan - Melaka Megamall, the smallest megamall I have ever seen. LOL

The Stadthuy and Christ Church (an anglican church) still took my breath away! They even have a Taman Mini Malaysia now - a cultural park - Melaka's tribute to the 14 states of Malaysia as well as its neighbors in Asia. This is Malaysia's version of the Philippines' Nayong Pilipino and Indonesia's Taman Mini Indonesia Indah!

I feasted on their fruits - dragon fruits, balimbing, some anonymous ones - at 1 ringgit each! The Melakan Bus Terminal is such a well planned system of local and interstate transport system that it doesn't matter now that it is actually 4.5 kilometers outside of the city center.

To be honest about it, I cannot wait to be back! One day, soon!

This is the Eye in the Sky.

This photo only courtesy of www.backpackingmalaysia.com.

Rainy KL Beckons into Luscious Cherry Memories and Petronas Wonderment

Lightnight strikesover KL. This photo only courtesy of www.washingtonpost.com.

KL, Malaysia - It had been drizzling all darn day! And most of my early start was wasted by supersonic loud old chinese ladies who spoke as though everyone on the bus was deaf. Later that day, my arrogance got the better of me when I actually realized I got lost trying to find Pasar Seni station. When I finally trudged through Jalan Petaling, the place - at 10 PM - was packed with curious tourists. All that crowd and no one was buying. I saw ripe cherries somewhere within Chinatown's chaos - at 25 ringgit per half a kilo - so I bought one. I have missed this sweet fleshy fruit. My London days are gradually turning into cobwebbed memories, but these cherry memories keep haunting me.

Jalan Pudu seemed ghostly and commerce in the area has been greatly affrected by the closure of Puduraya Bus Station which is being refurbished. My dilemma is, where do I get my bus rides to Cameron Highlands and Melaka? I was told by the guy at my hotel that I was to go to Bukit Jalil, just a few stops from the Pudu train station. The usual throng of dazed caucasians were, now, mere trickles. No wonder, business in the area has been gravely affected.

I was actually amazed with the richness of activities that I had partaken. After all, this was my 5th arrival in Kuala Lumpur since January this year. I wasn't meant to get bored in KL.

If the randomness of my thoughts skip by misdirected targets, it is because I am dead tired, albeit smug - and my internet service is annoyingly running out on me.

This is the Eye in the Sky!

Lake Titiwangsa. This photo only courtesy of www.tistory.com.

Petronas Twin Towers - never a tired sight!

Burmese Tales - Crossing U-Bein Bridge to Ancient Amarapura

I was in a rush! I had to see the ancient city of Amarapura, north of Myanmar, at the fringes of Mandalay City. But the main attraction was on my way to the "city" - the U-Bein Bridge.

Stretching 1.2 kilometers, walking along its teak planks had been one of the most serene of experiences. With hardly a sound but the rush of the lake, and the waft of the winds, I trodded on, spellbound. To be honest, It was a considerable gale, I had to hold on to my cap. The leisurely walk to the other side took 15 minutes, but I couldn't help but stop every so often. In the middle of this bridge, I saw a single skeleton of a tree from a distance; a familiar sight among visitors. It was straight out of a painting. One day soon, I'd be able to share that photo here. For now, I had to rush and get to the other side. I had less than an hour for the crossing and back to where my tuktuk was waiting.

I could have stayed longer - but then I didn't want to miss the meal of hundreds of monks at a temple nearby. It is an attraction shared to tourists, occuring once a day - and a highlight of any Amarapura visit! During this ceremony, all the monks - young and old, big and small - would partake on a meal together - while us, curious and ignorant tourists, would watch them from the sides of their dining halls. All the monks must be laughing among themselves. "The idiots come to see us eat," they would say. While they do so, tourists like me take a hundred snaps. Some time during this practice, I was awash with embarrassment. But that pang of guilt was fleeting. This foreigner's folly somehow fuels the local economy. I came a long way to see them eat, what's so wrong with that? LOL

For now, I should be walking back to the other side of the lake. I felt lucky to be stepping on these teak slabs of wood. If you don't know it yet, U-Bein Bridge is the world's longest teak bridge - and without doubt, it was nothing less than magical.

A few meters near the edge, I saw my tuktuk. But wait! I saw dirty ice cream! The eating monks and my tuktuk would have to wait while I devour my scoop of ice cream.

This is the Eye in the Sky!

Amarapura's U-Bein Bridge, Myanmar. This photo only courtesy of flickr's davebluedevil.