Going UpCountry

It wasn't my intention to write this post. 

I have, after all, already written three.

But then I looked again at the collection from this weekend trip, and thought to myself, with this being my first time back to Malaysia after a twenty year hiatus, heck, maybe I should write a fourth.

So here we are, armed with a batch of pictures that born and bred Malaysians would not bat an eye to, but is fascinating to someone who has spent her whole life on a little dot of an island surrounded by flat ground, concrete buildings and horticulturally planted trees. 

For the record its not as if there can't be any rubber trees or palm trees or anything of that sort. 

We used to have them. 

We just don't grow them now.  

Somewhere along the way the ground dried up or something, I don't know.

And so it becomes such that if we want to get grounded with nature or have our fix of forest and cultivated farm, we have to cross the Causeway and go upcountry.  

Locals here on the island often say that they go to Malaysia to visit family, for the food and for the shopping. 

Whilst that's true, there are those of us who do go to the country just for a quick glimpse of what our own island used to be, yet no longer is. 

There's a kind of vibe in the country that seems to be also prevalent throughout parts of South East Asia. The vibe is a little hard to define but it's a kind of small-town, kampung feel can be described as both idyllic and rustic at the same time. 

It really depends on how you define the vibe. 

Could it be the presence of the coconut trees?

Could it be the presence and color of the soil, or the untouched tropical forest that surrounds many a house and which you don't realize until you're in these parts? 

It's difficult to define just what this is that makes one feel familiar with the kampung vibe- it might even be the harmony- but there were plenty of such scenes, most on the outskirts of Melaka as the transport was going in, or out, and in a way, it made me feel at ease.

The world hadn't changed. 

Sure, it had evolved, but in places like Malaysia where there was more than enough land, they could keep what places like Singapore used to be. They could keep things at ease and timeless. They could decide- on their own- whether or not they wanted to evoke change. 

In a sense there was a huge part of just 'letting it be', and even though people like to say that it's not good for progress etc etc, perhaps that is a factor we stressed out urbanized people need. 

It wasn't just the kampung vibe that I caught my eye.

There was also, the presence of space and the sight of all them trees.

A long time ago I used to get bored with the view of palm tree after palm tree after palm tree, but no more. Now the sight of them actually calmed me down and soothed me. 

But what really caught my attention- what I really, really were eager for- were the hills. 

It would have been nice had I been able to see the hill range of Titiwangsa that stretches over Pahang, Kelantan, Perak, Selangor and Negri Sembilan, but seeing the foothills of the foothills along the North South Expressway wasn't too bad either. 

The hills fascinated me.

Probably because I'd just come from Kanchanaburi not too long ago.

Or probably because I've been fascinated by their hills ever since I discovered that the hill in the horizon seen from my bedroom window back in Singapore was likely one of the Gunungs in Johor. 

There was a time when I'd get bored with seeing tree after tree after tree out the window of a bus journey. 

But now, no more. 

The view has become soothing. 

The view has become nostalgic.

And I'm thankful for it. 

Melaka: A Bus Ride Back

Most of the pictures I took today were of the bus ride back. 

There was, I have to admit, not much that we did on this last morning here in Melaka. 

What we'd come here to do, we'd done. 

What we'd not planned to come here to do, we'd also done. 

I was glad to have been able to see The Stadhuys and Jonker Street and where Christ Church Melaka was. 

I was also glad to have been able to see some of the other hotels and shopping centers in the area. 

It was an entirely new experience (returning) to Melaka this time. 

Were there any regrets?

Well, yes, one. 

I did want to go 16th century Portuguese fort A Famosa and take a look at the Latin-inscribed stone tablets that I remember had been carefully arranged along the wall. 

That had been one of the things I remembered about Melaka after my last visit here more than 20 years ago. 

Perhaps I'll get to do it at another time. 

Breakfast this morning was a smorgasbord of food that I had wanted to have the day before but didn't get to have. 

Sure, it might look a little mixed, with one plate holding scrambled eggs, spring rolls and dragonfruit, and the other holding a waffle (which I finally got to try), a red velvet cupcake, and a rich-flavored banana cake that I had been eyeing since the day before. 

With breakfast being over, we went for a walk outside the hotel. 

I guess I wont' be forgetting this part of Melaka anytime soon.

No doubt I still don't really know which district I am- Melaka is not the smallest town after all- but if I'm not wrong, near this place is Bukit Cina, there's a hospital on the opposite side of the road, and the church at one end of this street is likely the oldest Eurasian church in the community. 

What struck me most about this place was its balance of residential and commercial. 

Right in front of the driveway were houses and homes, but there was this big car park, and then further behind, hotels, condominiums and office buildings. 

I wonder how the residents felt seeing this giant of a concrete block rise up less than 30 meters away from their garden gate. 

We packed, checked out, then headed for lunch at The Shore. 

Quiet as the place was, here we had to make a quick decision between Subway and Thai food at an even quieter place called ThaiOK Express. 

We decided to try the Thai food, where we ordered a plate of salted egg chicken with rice, and a bowl of green curry chicken. The accompanying plate of rice we decided to takeaway.

Back we headed to the hotel, got a Grab (thank God it came quite fast) and off we went to board our 1345 coach bus at Estadia- another hotel behind Hatten Hotel.

To be honest, the location took me quite by surprise. 

I had thought, that what with Melaka being a popular tourism spot and heritage town and all that, the buses would *only* stop at the town's bus interchange, but maybe because it is so popular a town that the interchange's not enough to fit all the buses pulling in and out by the hour, and so they've added coach pick-ups at various spots all over town as well. 

The wait outside Estadia could have been a wee bit more comfortable (I mean, where were the female restrooms?!) but oy, the timing was good, the bus left on time, and so no complaints. 

The bus (named Luxury Coach, by the way) left right on the dot at 1345, and soon we were making our way out of Melaka towards the highway. 

You know, seeing these pictures here right now makes me realize just how ironic it is that I actually got to see more of Melaka out the (departing) bus window than in the last two days that I had been there.

This was a part of Melaka which I hadn't gotten to see. 

I hadn't known that there was a prison museum (left over from colonial days, I think) here. Neither had I known that there was a Salvation Army right here in Melaka literally opposite the prison (just like it were over at Changi in Singapore)

This side of town wasn't the touristy heritage 16th century Melaka that everyone had heard so much about and come all the way here for.

This was present-day, where people lived and worked and studied and ate and bathed and slept. 

Here was where people made a life for themselves and their loved ones, and went to work and ran businesses and set up cafes and turned their plots of land into garden nurseries and went to banks and supermarkets and got their bikes repaired and pumped petrol. 

It wasn't about the Portuguese and their churches, or the British and their buildings. 

It also wasn't about the Chinese immigrants and their trade or the Peranakans and their colorful, vibrant Baba-Nyonya culture. 

This side of Melaka didn't have much of trading posts and the Straits Settlements and the narrative of colonialization. 

This was the Melaka today.

This was Malaysia today. 

And even though I didn't know where I was or what I was looking at, it was just as interesting to see.

The bus trundled along, taking me out of the main township towards the suburbs of Melaka. Along the way, the view outside the window changed from the very concrete to the less concrete to the near rural. 

After a while there came up more trees, the space from house to house got wider and wider in between, and soon enough we had turned onto the Expressway. 

From here the bus went straight down the highway heading towards Singapore, two hours direct. Somewhere along the way I fell asleep, and it was only when we neared where I think is Yong Peng that I woke up. 

Here the bus made a quick pit stop for toilet break, snack break and all. 

And then afterwards it was down to Johor, towards the Gelang Petah-Tuas side.

Here, once again, we cleared immigration at the Sultan Abu Bakar Immigration at Gelang Patah- quite quick, fortunately (I had worried about the queues)- got back onto the bus, and onto the Tuas Second Link it were until we reached Singapore Immigration, and back into Singapore.