Throwback Thursday: Malacca at Night
In continuing some of my recent posts, I’m still going through old photos from my Southeast Asia adventure in the summer of 2012. During my quick solo trip to Malacca (aka Melaka) City, in Malaysia I had a great time walking around photographing to my heart’s content. It was great eating at a delicious Indian restaurant (where I’m sure I looked quite foolish, not knowing for sure how to properly eat what I ordered) and taking in the sight of the canal from the back patio of the hotel where I stayed. Here are a few of my favorite shots from that time.
Right before the sun started to set, as I was searching for a good dinner spot in Little India.
Outside where I ate dinner. The trees were filled with birds, making it one of the noisiest parks I’ve been to.
My dinner in Little India
A pretty great way to spend the evening on my hotel’s back patio!
Throwback Tuesday (Is that a thing?): Walking Around Malacca City
As mentioned in my previous post, some photos from my Southeast Asia adventure in July 2012 got lost in the shuffle of life and I’m finally getting back to editing them. Here are some photos from my quick trip to Malacca City (aka Melaka) in the Malaysian state of Malacca, northwest of Singapore. I concentrated my exploration in the touristy areas of Little India and Chinatown. I feel like this post contains a bit of sensory overload, but then I remember that’s kind of what my first day was like there. I don’t have my travel journal or travel book with me right now, so I apologize for not having more details about what these sights are, but I do hope you enjoy these photo highlights!
My delicious lunch- their well-known chicken rice ball dish
I loved the picturesque canal
The town center where I had a few people ask to have their picture taken with me…
Decorated Trishaws are quite a sight to behold!
And here’s some proof that I was present in all of this… including a selfie with Mr. Universe and a random fake giraffe feeding from a museum I visited. 🙂
Flashback Friday: St. Peter’s Church in Malacca, Malaysia
Hi there! Welcome to my very random Friday blog post. I’m currently on spring break from teaching and I’ve had a chance to revisit some photos that I never got around to editing a while back. I just can’t bear the thought of having gone on such a fun adventure and not sharing the photos, so thanks for indulging me by checking out this throwback post…
Here’s some background: In June and July 2012, I had the awesome opportunity to travel to Southeast Asia as a recipient of a Lily Endowment Teacher Creativity Grant. You can learn more about the photography club I started and the great things I saw happening in Cambodia on the blog with much gratitude for the experiences the grant allowed me to have. One bonus of my trip was the time to travel to Singapore, visiting my cousin and her family. While there, I took a quick side trip to Malaysia, visiting the city of Malacca (also known as Melaka). When I returned from my southeast Asia adventure, my life got a little crazy, as did my photography business. I continued to teach, travel, and photograph, and found that time got away from me and I didn’t get to edit and share photos from my many adventures. So I’ve decided to revisit those photos and share some over the next few months. I hope you enjoy these somewhat outdated photos!
When I got off the bus in Malacca, I started to explore and was immediately drawn to this church, St. Peter’s. I think that after spending a couple weeks in Cambodia where Christian churches are uncommon, I found this church to be a novelty and enjoyed checking it out. While the date is somewhat in question, most believe that St. Peter’s was erected in 1710. I loved capturing the light pouring into the sanctuary and appreciated the more modern installation in front of the church remembering Jesus walking on water. I hope you enjoy these photos. More Malaysia photos will be coming soon!
A Day and a Half in Malaysia
With the Porta de Santiago in Melaka (fort built by Portuguese in 1511) and wishing for a cold Coke and some AC right about then…
Hello again!
Wanted to check in quickly before my summer travel adventures comes to an end. This week I had a quick excursion to Malacca (spelled Melaka in Malay), Malaysia to explore a new place for a couple days. It’s a town on the Strait of Melaka a few hours bus ride northwest of Singapore. To all you motherly protective types out there: Yes, I was careful and yes, I’m back in Singapore with my cousin and her family safe and sound now. I still have lots to see in Singapore, so I’ll hold off posting on that for now (save this one comment: Yes, I agree with what I posted previously, Singapore really is the antithesis of Cambodia).
So, since I’m now obviously an expert on all things related to Malaysia after the 30 hours I spent in the country ;), let me share some thoughts from my time there:
- The trip between Singapore and Malacca is almost all palm tree plantations with mountains in the distance… really beautiful.
- After my time in Cambodia and Malaysia, I have a renewed appreciation for encountering a western style toilet with toilet paper supplied (it’s possible to find them in both places, but not always probable)
- Knowing absolutely zero words in Malay, I had fun trying to figure out some cognates of English words from the language when I read their signs (a nice change from not being able to read any Khmer letters/signs in Cambodia). See if you can figure any of these out: motosikal, polis, komuniti, sekyen, taksi, bas ekspres
- I sat in the first seat on the way there and noticed that the bus driver waved to every single coach bus that was driving the other way on the highway… and there were many. I don’t think the driver on the way back was quite so diligent in his friendliness.
- A lady gave me directions to find a restaurant on the second floor of the mall. I searched and finally asked someone only to be reminded that when they say second floor, that means third floor in America. 🙂
- There are such a wide variety of cultures represented in Malacca (Malay, Chinese, Indian, etc.), that I have no doubt that I was accidentally offending one or more at a time at various points in my journey. I think I read somewhere that you’re supposed to only eat with your right hand… well, that’s kind of a struggle for left-handed me. Consider this my apology to anyone I offended while I was there. 🙂
- Blue eyes are quite the novelty there. While I was taking a picture of the fountain in the town square, I had two strangers ask to have their photos taken with me… sweaty, grungy, overheated me and my blue eyes. Some people in Vietnam are really going to enjoy those vacation photos for years to come. 🙂
- The malls and rest areas where I was have prayer rooms designated for Muslim men and women.
- I met a lovely woman and her daughter from Brunei on the bus ride back and we had a great conversation where I learned all about Brunei (a country on the island of Borneo) and I told them a bit about my life as well as the Amish culture around where I grew up. It was a really fun way to spend the bus ride.
- I was a bit startled when the woman introduced herself and assured me that she wasn’t a terrorist even though she wore a head covering. It made me sad to think that she assumes most Americans think that way.
- She offered me some cherries. When I declined, she taught me that in Brunei when you decline food, you have to touch the food as you decline it. Interesting custom! I wonder what things we Americans do that they would find a bit weird…
- I tried a food in Malacca called Cendol… it involves coconut milk, syrup, iced shavings, green noodley things, and red beans. It was actually quite refreshing after a hot morning of sight-seeing, though I could have done without the red beans.
- The river going through Malacca made for a really lovely place to walk and have breakfast. I look forward to sharing pics of it when I go through them all.
- There are these rickshaw type bikes for people to ride in called trishaws.. they’re covered in gaudy decorations and each one has a blaring sound system. Sometimes a whole hoard of them will go down the street at once with lots of different music blasting… photos and videos do not do them justice though I’ll try to share what I can when I get back. 🙂
Thanks for reading. I hope you have a wonderful weekend!!
jenni mansell photography 