Downtown Malaca

Today was my crossing in to Malaysia, and I was pretty nervous because I had no idea what to expect. I also wasn't sure how I would get from the train station to Malacca, 30 km away, or where I would be staying. So with this uncertainty in mind I crossed the causeway from sterile Singapore to seedy Malaysia. The first images as we passed through Johor Bahru were of gleaming office towers with corporate logos surrounded by dirty apartment buildings and shacks made of wood and corrugated metal. Makes you wonder who globalization is really helping. Speaking of globalization, they played The Matrix, in English on the train. We passed forests of palm trees, clear cut patches that are empty fields now, more shacks, and busy roads packed with cars and motorcycles. An old woman with one eye sat next to me and told me how she used to live in London and was now going to her Doctor son's wedding.

Getting off the train was one of the hardest things I have ever done, but it turns out Malaysia is an easy country to travel in, and everybody speaks English. I bought a ticket to Kuala Lumpur (KL), which proved to be a mistake, since the express bus leaves right from Malacca, then took a taxi, which was easy since the fare was fixed at 40 Ringitts (RM40), about US$10. I later found out I could have taken a bus for RM3. The ride took about an hour because of heavy traffic, and was mostly through American-style suburban sprawl of ugly stripmalls. In true American fashion there are no sidewalks, so the only way to get around is by car. It seems Malaysia is developing, but in a bad way.

Culture clash

I checked in to the very nice Robbin's Nest Guesthouse, which is in an ugly square concrete building, but is clean and has some character on the inside. Then I set off to see the town. Malacca seems to have a serious case of schizophrenia. The place's big claim to fame is that it was the site of a prosperouse sultanate and the major trading capital of the region until the Portugese came in the 16th century, then the Dutch kicked them out, and finally the British kicked them out. So there's lots of history. I wandered into the modern part of town, though, which consists mainly of the aforementioned ugly, dirty, white, 3-story concrete box buildings. However there are also a bunch of high-rise hotels, mostly on the shore, obscuring the view to the Straight of Malacca. These were built during the prosperous early 90s, but then construction was stopped when the Asian currency crisis hit. So there are also a bunch of half-finished hotels. There's a ton of traffic too, and it's always moving, since there are no stop signs or traffic lights. A large part of the traffic is noisy, racing motorcycles. This and the lack of sidewalks makes it difficult to get around on foot.