Kuala Lumpur and Melaka

Hej hallå and Hi!

So, Malaysia! We spend last week in Kuala Lumpur and Melaka (Malacca). My husband had some work related meetings there, and I tagged along to do some sightseeing. My friend and 'fellow housewife' Kim was also there, and as she is Malaysian she acted as my guide. It was fabulous! The haze was not as bad as I had expected, and it actually cleared up totally for our last few days. We walked about the city and visited the craft market and the modern shopping centre, we tasted a lot of great food, and just had fun. We also drove down south to Melaka and spend a couple of days there.

Kuala Lumpur felt like a city that is now in the transition of becoming a metropolis, taking down most of the old buildings and building tall new modern skyscrapers instead. Everywhere you went they were building something new. Melaka on the other hand is still a small town, and much of the old city and life can still be seen. It was a cosy and quite charming city! The weather was the same everyday, sun in the morning and hot and then thunderstorms or heavy rains in the afternoons. But as usual I will let the pictures do most of the talking, so here they are!

We start with Kuala Lumpur. For some reason I did not take that many photos of the city itself. The interesting stuff happened indoors where they had air conditioning...

View at the twin towers from our pool at the hotel. I swam every day, a great way of both cooling down from the heat and get some exercise.

We spend one day at the market, walking around and admiring all the different crafts from India, Malaysia and China. 

The shops were full of beautiful bags, wooden masks, batik fabrics, scarfs and what nots!

The Chinese street, felt like being back in China!

Sunday brunch at the Mad Hatter restaurant. 'Of with his head!!!' =D

The buffet was huge with tastes from all around the world. Sushi, pasta, salads, noodles and as in the picture here a whole roasted lamb! Yummy!

Melaka: about 2h drive south from Kuala Lumpur.

A small river runs through Melaka, and it is a very nice walk along side it.

Many of the houses are colorfully painted.

The local taxis. I have never seen the like of them before! Apparently they have annual competitions between themselves for the best decorated taxi! This was a row of only pink Hello Kitty taxis, but the most popular decoration this year seems to have been Frozen with Elsa and Anna. In the evenings they all had crazy disco lighting and music on. Mental. =D

One of the first things that catches your eye when traveling in Malaysia are the colours. Bright colours everywhere, and no rules whatsoever as what goes together. It is colour chaos and they love it! I have to say that it makes for a very vibrant city scene! These are traditional Malay fabrics, but the Indian cloth shops was as colourful.

We even saw some wildlife swimming in the river. This lizard was closer to a meter in length, and it swam like a pro!

Melaka has been an important port in Malaysia since 1400. It has been occupied both by the Portugese (16th century), the Dutch (17th century) and the Brits (19th century). This is a replica of a Portugese ship from the 16-th century. So it is a city very rich in History!

A blog post about Malaysia can not be completed without mentioning the food. There are as many different kitchens in Malaysia, as there are different people. The biggest population is of course Malay, but the 2nd and third biggest population is Indians and Chinese. So in the traditional Malaysian kitchen today there is an explosion of asian tastes! Non of them can be called 'pure' indian, or 'pure' chinese food anymore, because they have all influenced each other. In the picture you have one kind of filled Roti bread with some curry to dip it in. Absolutely gorgeous! I can not pic a favorite as they were all so good. If you like food, I recommend a trip to Malaysia just to eat!!

This is one of the most famous restaurants in Melaka. It doesn't look like much, just a whole in the wall. And they only served one thing. Chicken with rice balls. During lunch time the queue could be several meters long onto the street. You don't order anything, you just wait to be seated, and depending how many you are you either get half or a whole chicken to the table. 

Our portion of half a chicken and 5 rice balls each. The chicken was boiled in a rich broth. Not that many spices, but very simple and very delicious!

I still have many photos from the bird park in Kuala Lumpur to share, but I guess I will put them in a separate post! So until next time!