Melaka is a World Heritage City and most famous for its Peranaken people and culture. Peranaken people are Chinese-Malay couples, the men are called Baba , the women Nonya, and they have a wonderful mix of Chinese and Malay customs and foods. Wandering and eating is what you do, despite the insane heat and humidity, so that is what we did. We saw basically the whole city by foot - an old Baba Nonya house, many Chinese antique shops, all the Chinese temples and pagodas, the oldest mosque in town (a striking mix of Chinese and British architecture with a pointy pagoda like roof and a lighthouse looking minaret), some churches, the fort and the riverside.
We also ate all the treats we could get our hands on, including a wonderful dim sum breakfast, some curry puffs and a sweet and sour fish that was so good, we went back when Barb and Scott arrived.
When our feet got tired and the rain cloud started to really look threatening, we headed into a bar across from our hotel that offered "Doctor Fish". This is a new fad spreading across Asia, where you put your feet into a fish tank and these little fish nibble at the dead skin on your feet. (As you can imagine this has been banned in the US.) Usually this is done at a spa, but this place offered it for 5 Ringit (less than 2 USD) and a beer while they nibble so even if it was a bit of a crock, we figured it was worth a shot. The first couple minutes we both did not think we would make it the full half hour, the tickling and nibbling sensation was almost unbearable, but you get used to it shockingly quickly. It never got old to watch those fish go at it - as you can imagine our feet are in some pretty horrible shape after all the hiking and walking we have done - and we are not sure if they really did anything, but it was an experience.
We've uploaded photos from the last 6 weeks of our travels for safekeeping if you are interested.
http://picasaweb.google.com/howieandhaviva/BangkokThruKL#
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