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02/27/2005 Entry: "Walking amongst the new and old"

Walking amongst the new and old

We spent the weekend in Malacca, trying to run away from the smog. It looked like the clouds had descended upon the city, except that it was tinged gray and the heat was tremendous. But it was just as bad in Malacca so we stayed indoors for most, venturing out in the evening for a stroll along Jonker Walk.

It was there that we discovered a quaint little place called Geographer's bistro. We stopped for some beers and enjoyed the live music, especially when a customer jumped up and took on the drums for a few songs. He was really good. Sitting just next to us was a lone traveller absorbed in his book and beer oblivious to the fact that his $20,000 camera on the table was easy target for a snatch-and-run.. but only for a while. Nothing happened. It was mainly tourists, but the atmosphere rocked.

We stuffed our faces with local fare and I left Jonker Walk with a new pet - Iggy the rubber lizard. I keep forgetting he's fake and jump whenever I spot him out of the corner of my eye until I realize its Iggy. It's fun. Today we spent the afternoon amongst the ruins of Famosa and St. Paul's Church. It's still beautiful, but it's also sad to see the walls are marked with scribbles and the names of people who have no respect for history -- it's also the government's fault for lack of concern that these old structures are not preserved properly. The tombstones at St. Paul's are right out there in the open, and the beautifully engraved epitaphs are all slowly fading away with time.

I'd forgotten how nice a trip to Malacca can be, having only visited the city during my school days. If you somehow manage to visually erase all things modern from view, you feel like you're someplace else.

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