Kuala Lumpur

Hello KL! A crazy city full of shopping complexes, fearless motorcycle riders, and a amazing melting pot for Chinese, Malay and Indian cultures. On any street corner, Malay taxi drivers heckle for a fare and Indian stall owners offer their gastronomic delights, while Chinese business persons discuss the morning news over a hot coffee.

KL is really hot this time of year,and it has rained every afternoon since we have been here. This morning we ventured to the Petronas towers and crossed the sky bridge on the 41st floor for some great views of the city. Unfortunately the camera did not do it justice.

Tomorrow is Chinese New Year, and the atmosphere is KL is electric- think a new years eve in Australia. A shop around the corner sells dried chicken meat, apparently the thing to have for Chinese New Year. Everytime we pass the shop, a line of queuing chicken jerky fanatics spews out the doors and down the street. Not a good time of the year to be a chicken!

Chinese New Year promises to be huge, with festivities starting in the morning and continuing well into the night. We leave early on Sunday morning for Taman Negara in the central highlands of Malaysia... hope the celebrations don't give me too much of a headache for the bus ride.

Beginnings

Good morning Malaysia!

This morning we awoke to the sounds of motorcycles and Malaysian traffic sighing. We hit Malaysia yesterday, and after a couple of hours waiting at the border and a 3 hour bus journey, we arrived at Melaka, one of the oldest and most historical towns in the country.

Singapore was not very different from Sydney, and except for the food and the cleanliness of everything, we could have been in Australia. English is readily used and understood, and all road signs, radio stations and TV programs are broadcast in English. A good place to get used to being in Asia- sort of like a half way house......but eventually we grow tired of the halfway house- so Malaysia here we come.

Expecting a big change from the obsessive cleanliness of Singapore, we are pleasantly surprised. Melaka is a thriving metropolis of 700 000 on the south west coast of peninsular Malaysia. Its position on the Strait of Melaka have seen progressive Portuguese, Dutch and British settlements attempt to gain a superior position for spice trading routes.

Today, Melaka appears to be a fairly industrial town with lots of museums. Although the city is steeped in history, the push to modernise means that shopping centres are everywhere and McDonald's, along with all the other hallmarks of western capitalism, abound.

Around Melaka, there are pockets of history and the city retains some rustic charm, but it appears that the Malaysians are looking down the barrel of modernisation with little or no regard to the history of the region. Kind of sad really.

A big highlight was a visit to the shop of Charles Cham, a local artist. Charles designs t-shirts and paintings with a socially aware message (see image above). Great to see positive energy for change abounds in all parts of the world. Check out his website http://www.charlescham.com