Biking

There's not too much to tell today. I borrowed a bicycle from the friendly proprietor of this guesthouse, got out my not-so-trusty tourist map, and bungled around the city.

I started out by going to a district mainly inhabited by Indians and ran across a remarkable temple. The building is basically a brutalist concrete rectangle, but the facade is covered in very unusual statues. It must be the temple of the Fat Goddess, because a lot of the statues were of an immensely fat and very formidable-looking woman with boar's teeth. You wouldn't want to mess with her. Or her companion.

In case any of you are thinking of making a trip to the tropics, let me warn you about bicycling. Because you're generating your own breeze, you don't realize how much exertion you're doing. It's hard to drink enough here at the best of times, but you need even more when bicycling in this kind of heat. (It's consistently in the low 90s with 80% humidity.) It's really easy to get heat exhaustion. I had to sit by the river for a while, drinking water and recovering before I could make it home for a greatly needed shower.

Onward to Borneo tomorrow!

Exploring Malacca

Malacca has been designated as a UN World Heritage city and you see signs proudly proclaiming this everywhere. But as with other Word Heritage sites I've been to, the designation seems to be a mixed blessing. The wonderful traditional area is preserved, yes--but as endless rows of gift shops and cafes.

So today I went for a walk around some of the less tourist-oriented parts of the city. I had a wonderful breakfast of rice, curry, and dal in little India and then walked along the river looking for the big lizard/small crocodile things that somehow live in the polluted waters. Maybe they feed on garbage. Anyway, I spotted several, but none were posing for photos.

The parts of the river that haven't been converted to fancy shopping developments are quite picturesque.

I bought a very nice batik sarong at a little local shop for 22 ringgits--about $7. If I can find a cooperative fellow guest to take a photo, I'll model it and post the picture here.

After about 4 hours, I made my way back to the tourist sections and tried a very tasty snack of fried radish doused with chili sauce. The seller kindly let me take his photo.

I'm off to check out a place that does traditional Chinese massage and medicine. Maybe they have a magic cure for blisters. In any case, I think I'll try a bicycle tomorrow.

Malacca!

As I sit here typing this, I can hear a dragon dance being performed next door and the call to prayer from the nearby mosque. That sort of sums up this country.

When I woke up this morning, I had eight blisters on my feet. I have fewer this evening, but only because they've merged. It was a good day for a bus trip to Malacca.

Another great thing about this country is that English is so widely spoken. It makes everything so much easier! So, for example, I hobbled to the bus station and found that it was closed for renovation. So I asked some Indian guys, who spoke English and directed me to a shuttle bus to the temporary station. When I got to the bus stand, a Chinese guy who spoke English pointed out the bus, and then the Malay driver confirmed in English that I was on the right bus. Easy!

Malacca is great--full of wonderful old Chinese-Malay architecture.

And lots of pompous Victorian architecture left over from Malaysia's time as a British colony. This fountain is in honor of Queen Victoria.

After much hobbling around town, I tried cendol, which is a specialty of this town.

It contained kidney beans, corn, peanuts, sliced apricot, some green gooey bits, and some big round translucent gooey things. On top of all that was shaved ice, coconut milk, and a sweet brown syrup. "Very refreshing" as my seat-mates exclaimed.

From the toucans to the two towers

I'm exhausted and footsore, but happy. This morning I visited the famous bird park in the huge Lake Gardens park. It's the largest aviary in the world, they claim. Anyway, it was a very long walk in very high heat and humidity. I'll spare you the zillions of bird photos, but here is a remarkable turkey-sized pigeon:

I limped from the park back to my own neighborhood for lunch at the most amazing vegetarian buffet I've ever seen. Rice and a sampling of 7 dishes cost me about $2.30. And it was all delicious.

Finally, because no trip to Kuala Lumpur would be complete without seeing the Petronas towers, I made my way to the very upscale center of town. This architectural tour-de-force is the modern take on traditional Islamic architecture, financed by oil and gas money. Yes, everyone takes this photo. And here's mine.

I was dead tired and walking on blisters, so I made it back to the hostel early, before the apocalyptic thunderstorm that's going on now. On to Malacca tomorrow!

My luxurious private room

Your wish is my command, Linda. Here is my room at the Travel Hub. It's about 5 by 8 and this photo shows pretty much the entire room. My neighbor in the room next door, separated from mine by walls apparently made of cardboard, was having an argument with his girlfriend last night. Luckily, I brought earplugs.

Pounding the pavement in Kuala Lumpur

Kuala Lumpur is everything I hoped for: a lively combination of traditional Malay, Chinese, Indian, with a smattering of people from everywhere else. I spent the day wandering the streets, where Indian, Chinese, and Muslim temples are crammed in between glittering towers and squat 60s concrete monstrosities.

Here is a Chinese temple around the corner from my hostel. The man in the foreground is waving incense as he makes an offering.

 

The streets are full of packed markets, selling knock-offs of everything under the sun, as well as fabulously colorful fabrics, snacks, hardware,...you name it.

This is a large, busy mosque complex. Despite the street noise, I could hear the musical chanting from the spot where I took this shot.

The Malay ladies love their colorful, patterned clothing! These ladies are enjoying cendol, the local--err, I don't know what to call this concoction. It's an iced drink made by combining a scummy-looking dark gunge (bean paste?) with a dark liquid (liquid brown sugar?) and then in pouring a white liquid with green squiggles (no idea...). All this wonderfulness is mixed together to make a refreshing drink. It's very popular and I have to try it--tomorrow.

The internet changes travel, like everything else

I have (sheepishly) done the unthinkable: booked rooms for most of the first half of my trip. I feel so unadventurous.

In the old days, before HostelBookers.com and the like, grungy backpackers knocked on the doors of the cheap hostels and asked whether they had any available rooms. If a room had no peep holes in the walls or bloodstains on the sheets (bed bugs), you took it. Part of the adventure was trudging up and down the streets looking for a place to spend the night. Travelers swapped recommendations and horror stories about the hostels.

Now the recommendations and horror stories are online, and you can see pictures of places you might want to stay (or not). And you can book a bed in advance over the internet. And, abandoning all street cred, I have. Here is the place I'll be staying in Kuala Lumpur when I arrive.

My excuse is that I want a private room, not a 20-bed dorm with people coming and going at all hours. Private rooms are scarce (at a super-cheap price, at least). After a long day seeing the sights in the tropical heat, I want to be sure I have a little privacy. Maybe I've become a flabby old curmudgeon, but I don't want to listen to the drunken conversations of a bunch of 20-somethings in the beds next to mine.

When I get there,we'll see whether this new world of planned travel feels too restrictive. I've left the last part of the trip unfettered, so a little of my self-respect can remain intact.