Requires GoogleEarth
Tourism Melaka :: Melaka United
Facts about Malaysia
Melaka.net
A Melaka Homepage
Historical Places to Visit
The Malacca Fort
Old paintings and Maps
120 km Race photos
Images by Steph
 Ride organizer Hamdan Bin Mohd & Family |
 A Happy Ride! |
Images of the Ride
 April 9 & 10 |
 Ride Day- 120km |
 Tourists, River cruise |
Returning to Malaysia
This is becoming another wonderful Malaysian experience. I absolutely love this country, and these people. It's fun having Bev along this time - to see it all again through her 'fresh' eyes. This is simply a lovely people. The Malaysians have all the complexities of any nation, any culture - the politics, the poverty, the wealth, the crime ... they have persisted through Arab, Thai, English, Japanese, Portuguese, Dutch - invasions, occupations, influences. They have taken it all in and came through it as an independent nation. Last year Malaysia celebrated their 50th year of independence. That is fairly young as a sovereign nation, yet the culture is so very old.I've heard of Malaysia referred to as the 'land of smiles'. Maybe it's the climate - warm warm warm - maybe it's the method of negotiation and cooperation that has worked for them over the centuries, maybe it's in their blood... but they are lovely lovely smiling people. The royalty are friendly and humble, the poorest of the poor still smile from their ramshackle porches when they see a horse go by.
Melaka - Arrivals
Bev Gray and I met in the Kuala Lumpur airport today. She had arrived a couple hours earlier on a flight from Los Angeles. Two policemen met us at the airport, and drove us (in a very official car!) down the highway from KL - Selangor - to Melaka (Malacca is the English spelling) . It was an hour or so drive through miles and miles of date palm forests. We arrived at the Everly Resort Hotel on the Atlantic coast (a beach!) at around 4pm, had a quick shower, gathered up laundry to do (everything I have needs washing after 2 weeks in Spain!) and then Bev said 'lets go do something!' I think she's going to be a fun travel partner :) We took a taxi into the city and had a wonderful dinner at a Chinese restaurant, then set off to look for some shops, and right across the street was a 'Health Shop' - massage and reflexology (foot massage/stimulation techniques) and other Asian sorts of therapies. Bev said 'let's go!' (yes, she's going to be fun).
So we did and I had my first ever foot massage and reflexology thing. It was fantastic!!! Hot water soak (with a tea bag in the water), massaging and pressing and finding some very painful spots in my feet - and then a leg massage (oh those riding muscles) and then they had to pry me from the chair because I was too relaxed to move. It was really quite wonderful. I think we're going to go back tomorrow for a head/neck/shoulder massage. My neck and shoulders have been hurting since I came off of the mare at the Ladies Challenge in Abu Dhabi ... maybe all I need is a good massage!