After two weeks in George Town / Penang and the Cameron Highlands (see our previous article here 🌞), we continue down South early August. We stop for two nights in Kuala Lumpur, just enough to meet with a friend of Dimitri “from back then”. Given that Kuala Lumpur is our last stop in Malaysia, I will include it in my next article and I won’t enter into details on the Malaysian capital city here.

As tradition requires, time to bring out our map from Peninsula Malaysia! This time, join us in:

• Vibing with the coolest rickshaws in Malacca
• Stepping into the future in Singapore

Vibing with the coolest rickshaws in Malacca

Malacca (English spelling), also spelled Melaka (local spelling), is a harbor city located on the West coast of West Malaysia (which is another name for Peninsula Malaysia, if you remember right). If you look at the map, you will see that the straits separating Indonesia from West Malaysia have been named after Malacca (Straits of Malacca). It already gives us a hint about the key role that the harbor played in the trade between India, the Arabs, Indonesia and all the other bordering countries.

Nowadays, Malacca is more a holiday city than anything. With the many stalls offering food to the tourists, the lively streets filled with music and the weekend market and boats roaming the canals, it gives off a nice coastal city vibe. A welcome breeze from the sea alleviates the crushing heat, saving us from frying on the spot.

What happened to Malacca?, you might wonder. Worry not, because Dimitri and I have become experts in the history of Malacca thanks to our crazy 21-museum run.

21 museums in a day? Ea-sy

One thing strikes us, wandering aimlessly in the streets of Malacca: museums. Museums everywhere. We are talking about a city hosting a little less than 600,000 souls – this is no Paris, no New York so we are puzzled. Thanks to a helpful Google comment, I learn about the museum pass. One ticket to the 21 museums located in Malacca and in its outskirts, for the equivalent of 4 euros.

To buy the museum pass, head to the Tourist Information Center, buy goods worth 20 ringgits and ask for the museum pass – it is worth it.

The pass is valid for 3 days. It goes without saying that Dimitri and I buy it on our last day in the city. It sure does help that what is called a “museum” in Malacca would more qualify as an exhibit; one building in our list ends up hosting 3 “museums”. Here what I have learnt from visiting 5-6 museums in a day.

Malacca was created to reach conveniently South-East Asia, India and the Middle East. Under the guidance of the Muslim kingdom that ruled it until the XVIth century, it was a flourishing harbour city, which brought many merchants coming with their goods and cultures. Malacca was attractive to many, especially to the Western powers:

• The city was colonized by the Portuguese, who increased the taxes so much that merchants started avoiding the place (contrary to the Catholic missionaries, who felt at ease under the very religious Portuguese reign).
• Then came the Dutch, at the expense of a bloody war. Kudos to the Dutch for their non non-sense naming: for instance, the St Paul church was renamed into “the church on top of the hill“, soon to be replaced by the “church at the bottom of the hill“.
• The last colonizers to arrive were the British, who essentially ruined Melaka because they wanted to establish another harbour as the leading entry point in the region (George Town / Penang, if I recall right).

Like George Town, Malacca hosts diverse communities. Today’s Malay rich culture comes from the Orang Asli (the native population from Malaysia, now living in small communities), the Portuguese, the Indian, the Sikh, the Baba Nyonya (the name given to the Malay Chinese families), the Chinese and the Malay (that I differentiate as being mainly Muslim). Jonker Street, i.e. the Chinese quarter, is a landmark in the city and is quoted in every city guide.

This museum run leads us to shiver in a front of an exhibit on the trauma that people endure for beauty. Luckily, we end our day with what will become our favorite museum: the kite museum.

What Malacca is famous for: relaxing

Don’t be fooled by the info dump above: our main activity in Malacca is relaxing, as it should be. All the tourists that we have met were shocked when we told them that we stayed for the week: “But what did you do during 7 days?!”. We do in Malacca what we do best: chilling, eating and walking.

We enjoy our homestay after the shoe-box rooms that we have had until now, with the owner’s cats keeping us company.

I discover the amazing Malay food courts, where my taste buds are delighted to taste the famous claypot, with the background music of some uncles singing. We are lucky enough to be in Malacca for the weekend, which means night markets. I had been told about Nasi Lemak, the Malaysian staple breakfast: rice cooked in coconut milk, chicken, one or two slices of cucumber and chili sauce. We buy Nasi Lemak from a stall handled by young teenagers, thanks to another friendly mum acting as a English translator. I might repeat myself, but I have felt in love with the friendliness of the Malay. Despite my best efforts, it turns out impossible for me to finish my plate (too spicy!), Dimitri sacrificing himself for me. From then on, I play it safe and leave the spicy sauce on the side.

The claypot is a rice basis cooked in a claypot on a high heat, to which you add vegetable, meat, everything to your liking. The rice is caramelized and it is an incredible flavourful comfort food. God, I miss it!

How could I write about Malacca without mentioning their crazy rickshaws, with their over-the-top decorations and music blasting through the loudspeakers? You heard them miles away, and spot them easily with their flashy colors and ultra kitsch themes. Dimitri and I look for the rare Pikachu rickshaw and showcase our professional singer skills during the 10-minute ride across the city center.

Our ride is captured by Leane, a French woman who we meet at a museum. We keep on meeting French people everywhere and hear talking French all around us at the lookout point, waiting for the famous sunset on the gorgeous Masjid Selad. The Mosque faces the sea and this stunning scene concludes our stay in Malacca.

Stepping into the future in Singapore

It is so simple to reach Singapore from Malacca: we just have to hop on a bus for a few hours. The city-state is located on the Southern tip of the former Malaysian land and was part of Malaysia until its independence on 9 August 1965. The former fishermen’s village has grown into a buzzing business center since that date. With 6 million inhabitants only, Singapore records an impressive GDP per capita of $89,000 per head (twice the French GDP per capita as a comparison).

It goes without saying that the cost of living is significantly higher in Singapore than in Malaysia, so we only plan 3 days to visit the city-state: for once, there is no time to lose! It does start great with the most efficient border crossing of all times, thanks to the automatic border control (kudos to my dad’s work). I was not expected it to be implemented for the land border, which are usually less automated than the airport ones. This is a foretelling sign: welcome into the future!

I am not too much of a city lover; truth be told, I didn’t see I would love Singapore that much. I am very happy to have been surprised. Singapore looks like if the “city of the future” blueprints of the best architects and landscape planners in the world came alive. Just strolling the streets is a feast for the eyes: there is incredible architecture everywhere, beautifully paired with inclusion of nature. Buildings and nature coexist, showcasing engineering feat.

We focus on free activities, including parks and outdoors. No problem, there is plenty to do! Thanks to the great article Awesome Places in Singapore You Can Visit for Free from Trevallog, we enjoy the greenery of Fort Canning and the Botanic Gardens, just visiting parts of the two parks due to their impressive sizes. Our feet take us to the inner lake surrounded by massive, shiny skyscrapers. One could have felt overwhelmed by their heights – it is not the case, they fit perfectly into their surroundings.

The only activity on which we splurge on is the visit to the famous Gardens by the Bay. They are hardly a secret gem and crowds and crowds of tourists come to visit them. The entrance price is pretty expensive too – it is nonetheless fully worth it. When we enter Cloud Garden and face the inside waterfall, I thought that there was not a lot to see – oh boy, was I wrong! Gardeners and engineers have built a structure supporting a recreation of rain forest, where exotic flowers bloom and vines coil to. We climb the structure, carried away in a magical world.

One is only allocated a limited time to spend at each stage of the Gardens by the Bay, so we move still bewitched to the Super Trees. The Super Trees are artificial trees quilted with flowers and LED light bulbs. We queue for 1 hour to take an elevator to their top and are welcome by a breath-taking view of the city at night. We marvel at a human-made landscape, such a strong contrast to all the incredible landscapes that we have seen during our last months in Asia. There is a light and music show each evening at a fixed time (check the schedule online) and we are fortunate enough to catch it before leaving. Laid on our backs, looking at the dark sky illuminated by the colorful fake trees, lulled by the relaxing music, we have really nothing to complain about in life.

The Super Trees are not the only “rooftop view” that one can get in Singapore. A city of skyscrapers means that there are a lot of viewpoints. Upon the advice of the article quoted above, we visit the CapitaSpring Sky Garden located at the top of one of the highest buildings in Singapore. (All the free slots are taken for months, but it is well worth the 10 Singaporean dollars that we have paid.)

Our schedule is so full that we forget to eat on the first day, remembering about it at 10pm when everything is closing… and end up eating a very sad McDonald’s meal. We slow down the two following days, taking the time to lunch with Beate, my first manager in Hamburg who takes us for a discovery of Chinatown, a city within the city. The mall here only offers products from the Mainland and every sign is written in Mandarin. I was expecting to see only working people in Singapore but there is a very active community of Chinese elders. We dine the next day with Sophie, a French mum on her way to join her daughter in Malaysia who we met at our capsule hostel, and share a lovely night chatting. We manage to do a quick trip to Santosa as well, the holiday park/island attached to Singapore. Due to a recent oil leak in the sea, we stay on the sand – not too bad.

Even if we traveled to Singapore by land, we make the trip to the airport to discover the Jewel, the inner garden and waterfall that crown one of the best airports in the world. We are stunned by its majesty.

Our last day in Singapore happens to be on 9 August, for Singapore 59th anniversary. Crowds of Singaporeans wear read and white, the national colors, and gather at the inner lake for the parades and for the fireworks. Unfortunately for us, our bus leaves in the afternoon so we miss it. Nothing to regret – 3 days in Singapore is the perfect duration for people tight on money. I still remember internally crying when we had to pay the equivalent of 25 euros for a brunch nearby Victoria Street.

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As you might tell, I am a month late in my travel stories. I did start this article mid of August, then life came in the mix and here I am, mid of September. Stay put – I still have more to tell you about Malaysia, a country which became so dear to me as to Dimitri. Next and final episode will be focused on the very traditional East coast, the paradise-like Malaysian islands and the lively Kuala Lumpur. Lots of love to you all, see you soon on Breathe in the World!