Melaka

Dutch windmill - complete with palm trees.


I enjoyed Melaka, although it wasn't as interesting or as big as I had been led to believe by online and other sources. There was plenty of time to see everything I wanted to see in one day, so I came back on Saturday night instead of staying the night, and used Sunday for a Singapore picture taking day.

The influence of various groups of Europeans can be seen all over Melaka. There are some pictures that I took that really don't look like they're taken in Asia at all. Except for the flora, of course. The highlight of my day was going to St. Paul's church, which was really neat. It was delightfully ruined, lots of headstones, really dreary looks, with a cheerful, fun guitar player singing in Malay. Really the high point of the day, and I absolutely loved that and the Porta di Santiago, the leftovers from the Portuguese walls, saved by Sir Stamford Raffles, who really seemed to have gotten around in this part of the world. Other than that - Melaka is good for shopping, but I guess I'm just not that interested in Asian culture. My favorite parts of Melaka were the European parts.

I return home in a little over a week. It's close enough that I can just about taste it, but far enough away that I know it's going to drag. I have seen nearly everything I wanted to see (I still want to go to the Botanical Gardens and perhaps the Chinese and Japanese Gardens and take pictures - I'm told that the gardens are only of interest to botany and photography hobbyists, and I do like to take pictures - and it's free), I've done what I came to do, and I'm ready to leave. I think it would be more interesting here if I knew more people, but I don't particularly like hanging out with other Americans abroad, because they're annoying, and I haven't really been here long enough to meet many people anyway. So, I'll be glad to be back. But all in all, it was a alright for a summer job, I learned a lot, and I got to see and experience some really interesting and cool stuff. Chalk this experience up to more positives than negatives. :)