Our last week in Malaysia was split between Kuala Terengganu and Melaka. Melaka was a destination that after some research had looked really interesting, and we decided on Terengganu on a bit of a whim. As in Taiping, we didn’t see many tourists, but it was interesting to see a new place in the country.

📍 Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia

The first place we visited was Chinatown which was a lot like most Chinatowns, but it did have a really quirky cafe that we had lunch in. Turtle Alley is pretty self explanatory – it was a small alley way wedged between buildings, with mosaics of turtles decorating the walls and the floor.

Masjid Kristal (the Crystal Mosque) earns it’s name due to the glass exterior, and sits at the edge of Wan Man island on the Terengganu river. It is open to the public, and can hold up to 1,500 worshippers at one time.

Also on Wan Man island is Taman Tamadun Islam, a park that highlights Islamic architecture by showcasing monuments of Mosques from all over the world. We brought a ticket that covered the park, as well as a river cruise, and it was a lovely way of doing something different with the afternoon.

📍 Melaka, Malaysia

After a few days in KT, we got on a coach and made our way to Melaka. When we first arrived, we noticed that our hotel was a 20 minute walk from the centre of the town, and that included the Jonker Street Night Market. We decided to check it out instead of staying in for the evening and we’re so glad we did – we hadn’t realised it was only on during the weekend, and as we arrived on a Sunday we luckily got to witness and experience it.

The following day we went back to the same place, as it was the centre and where all the activity was. The tourist centre advised us that the museums were closed (but open again the following day), and so we explored the rest of Malaka by walking along the river, and going down alleyways. That evening we took a river cruise to soak up the atmosphere at night, and to enjoy the beautiful lights along the way.

At this point we’ve seen so many monitor lizards, we’re as used to them as we are the monkeys you see in most treetops.

Most of the museums ended up being cash only, and with it being so close to our next move, we were reluctant to get any more cash out. Instead we went and looked around Christ Church Melaka, and went into a Customs museum that was free. We will admit, this was a bit of a random choice, however it turned out to be quite interesting. It featured confiscated items – including a sculpture of a naked woman laying down on her back that was deemed “sexually offensive”. Malaysia is a predominately Muslim country, so whilst to us the statue was fine, it proves how strict they are. They had even covered up her chest with fabric in the display stand.

Food

There was a strong influence of Chinese cuisine in Malaysia, but here are a couple of our favourite dishes that are specific to Malaysian cooking:

Shop Openings

This may seem quite a random point in the blog, but it was something we noticed in Indonesia as well. Outside a shop, barbers, or cafe/restaurant etc that has just opened, you will see huge flower arrangements. They are often gifted from other businesses as a congratulations for the shop opening.

📍 Singapore

We have sent this blog out from Singapore, where we landed today. We’ve been out to enjoy dinner and drinks with a very good family friend of mine, but we will be back with more details on that in the next blog. For now though, we’re off to bed before exploring tomorrow. Love from,

Caitlin and Luke