Malacca

Short on time I tried to soak in all the sights of the famous city Malacca in 24 hours. I met a Australian family one the way there. They were backpacking with 3 kids from 2 to 9 years old. There plan is to go to Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia. Blinded by the cheap prices of Air Asia flights they will most likely end up in places they don't like and which are to dodgy for the kids. But they were fun and I was able to help since they had no Lonely Planet.
Everybody wanted to rule Malacca over history because of it's important strategic location just next to the Malacca Straits. Sultans came in the early days, then the Siam, then the Portuguese, the Dutch and finally the Queens Empire. Because of the turbulent past there are many reminders of occupation. Dutch mills, Amsterdam style houses, catholic churches built by the Portuguese, a clock tower by the British etc.
The city center is laid back which is in strong contrast to the new Malacca which is dominated by traffic and malls. I found this city very charming and recommend it.

Kuala Lumpur

KL was a little tin town 150 years ago and now is home yo 1.5 million people. KL is among the club of nice cities in east Asia. It has skyscrapers, colonial houses, Metropolitan parks modern public transport and a buzz ling nightlife which is centered in China Town. That's where I stayed at in a huge gym like hall with about 30 beds among the walls. It's the kind a place you expect if your home gets destroyed and a government agency brings you to a emergency relief shelter. But I liked it a lot and it was cheap. I wanted to go on top of the Petronas Towers but you have to stand in line for hours and then you are only allowed to go the skybridge in the middle of the amazing twin towers. So I enjoyed them from the ground. Then I walked through the city in the suburbs which is not suited for pedestrians. Only foreign tourists were walking a.k.a. waiting to get to the other side. But I found a nice little park with apes and from there I got to Little India. Which I liked once again.
The omnipresent mosques are not as load and aggressive as the ones I witnessed in Indonesia. They are more focused on low key. Maybe there is no need for PR if 90 percent is Muslim. The next day I went to the airport to fly to the Philippines.

Pulau Penang

A surprisingly easy ride over the Straight of Melakka brought me to Pulau Penang. It has more tourists than Indonesia, but still doesn't give an impression of being overrun. I settled in China Town. In Malaysia the economy is run by Chinese people and the government by Malay people. Indians, Korean, Westerners add to the diverse culture that makes up Malaysia. If you expect social unrest or cultural clashes you wont find any. It's one of these countries that live among each other. The tiger economy probably helps to keep it that way. Dutch and British influence remains arcitectually which is well restored. Little India was my favoured place with all the Bollywood music blasting out of small loudspeaker and food everywhere. I now look forward to India more than ever before.
As a day trip I went to Penang National Park which offered a nice hike over a hill to the other side of the island to come out to the beach. A soon as I was on the furthest point from the entrance it started to rain heavily - a thunderstorm. So I hiked back through the RAIN forest and got completely soaked. But it was fun to yell "is that all you can throw at me. really that's it?" and similar stuff to the nature.
The next day I was of to Kuala Lumpur.