Portuguese, Dutch and British history
Melaka is the capital of the same named state, on the west coast of peninsular Malaysia and has a rich historical and cultural background from previous Portuguese, Dutch and British rule. In the 15th century, Melaka was one of Southeast Asia's greatest trading ports. The city centre is listed as a UNESCO world heritage site.
Meeting an annoying Russian instagram girl
From Kuala Lumpur I went on to Melaka in the south. I found accommodation at Three Little Birds House. There I was greeted by a child, the son of the owner, who appeared a little later.
On the first day I met a Russian girl via CouchSurfing, but only for 1 hour, because she wanted me to take thousands of pictures for her Instagram and was recording Instagram stories all the time. She had already searched all the popular Instagram spots of which the city centre has quite a lot of it. There's some nice street arts and he streets are often decorated with orange Chinese lanterns. Furthermore, in the centre you will find old historical buildings from the colonial period painted in all red (after restauration).
Trying delicious local dishes
I got terribly annoyed of taking so many pictures of her, so I parted for lunch and never returned. At the Mori Tea House I enjoyed a spear with monkey head mushrooms and peanut sauce. This is practically the vegetarian version of the Malaysian national dish satay. Yummy.
The city is also known for many small cafés like the Daily Fix Café, which is located behind a batik shop. There I had a tasty café together with a pancake made of 100% local pandan leaf extract and served with coconut blossom sugar and coconut rasps.
Colorful trishaws with loud pop music
When you walk around Melaka you can see everywhere colorful decorated trishaws with fake flowers. They drove around with loud and shrill pop music. The cheerful drivers will bring drive you around for around 10$/hour. You can choose between different styles like Hello Kitty or Frozen theme.
Going by bike to a floating mosque
In the afternoon I rented a bike in my hostel. It was a bit of a change for me to ride on the left side instead of the right side. With my bike I went to the "floating mosque". It looks like a floating structure if the water level is high. It was built 2006 on a man-made island.
Even if I couldn't enter the mosque, it was still beautiful to look at from the outside.
A night market
In the evening I went to Jonkers Walk, a night market. The vendors offer an endless range of souvenirs, antiques and crafts. You can try chicken rice balls, radish cake, cendol (a sweet coconut milk and jelly noodle dessert), caramel encrusted kiwis or Kaya (a spread made from coconut) filled waffles.
I didn't stay too long, because it was too crowded for me. In general I didn't expect to see so many tourists here, most of them were from China or Korea.
Summary of Malaysia
I liked Malaysia quite a lot - not as much as Thailand - but still I enjoyed nice weather, the low prices and the beautiful nature. The people are very friendly and speak English relatively well (since the country used to be British).
On the other hand the people here are also more conservative than their Thai neighbours (probably because of their religion). The cities in Malaysia are a bit boring, especially I didn't like the business atmosphere of the capital Kuala Lumpur.
