The road to Kuala Lumpur: Melaka and the haze

October 2015

Melaka or is it Malacca? Well the Malay spelling is Melaka, so when in Malaysia?

The historic town of Melaka has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2008. I can only assume that the general cleanliness is a positive side of the cultural significance kite mark.

September and October 2015 in Malaysia (and Singapore) were really bad for air pollution. October half term was during the height of HazeGate 2015, with API readings over 190 (extremely unhealthy) locally and worse in KL we needed to escape for a few days. It wasnt all bad news as the knowledge that the state of the air conditions in SE Asia had finally reached the first world news, was heartening and hopefully, action will follow!

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2015/10/true-cost-malaysia-haze-151023122841586.html

However, it wasnt much of an escape as it wasn't much better in Melaka, but at least we had the tourist things to keep us occupied.

We stayed at the Ramada Plaza which is about a 15 min walk into the main pub scene area of Jonker Street. We booked a club room and, although it wasn't in keeping with the Traders in KL, it served a decent breakfast and didn't run out of beer and wine every evening ;)

The bar is actually quite nice and they serve a mean Singapore Sling, albeit 40RM++ a time.

A trip to a town with 'one' wouldn't have been complete without the obligatory visit to the Hard Rock Cafe. The kids love the sameness! It was not as good as Siem Reap but better than Kuala Lumpur, so not too disappointing. Only negative, as always with HRC, is we could have eaten in any other Melaka restaurant two days and nights running for the same money of one western meal!

One such establishment is the Geographer Cafe. We visited a couple of times and enjoyed an afternoon pint and an evening meal. Well worth a visit!

On the way back to the hotel we decided to pop the kids into a trishaw and take the slow stroll back.

It just so happened that the route back to the hotel took us along the river...

4ft beast

...and the establishments all welcoming patrons for a cool beer; so we stopped off at River Song. The name, which has nothing to do with Dr Who, appealed. The woodwork was lovely.

Beer cool and cheap, view lovely

For a really great - halal - meal you should visit Pak Putra Tandoori & Naan Restaurant. You will not be disappointed.

Lovely Naan, Dahl, Butter chicken, Jalfrazi - yummy!

The best tandoori in Malaysia

Culture is all around in Melaka, from Chinese Temples, Christian Churches, European literature & motor vehicles to colonial buildings. It is an endless melting pot.

The Chinese temple - Cheng Hoon Teng - is a must.

Another must for us was the visit to the Wah Aik Shoemaker. Having just covered Bound Feet in my Our World lessons with Year 7, I was overwhelmed to visit this shop / museum. This practice, which features in a book called, Bound Feet and Western Dress, also known as Lotus feet, goes back centuries, was considered to be produce a thing of beauty.