Same place, a decade later

We arrived in Kuala Lumpur from Medan in Sumatra and spent three days roaming markets and exploring the city. KL had changed since my previous visit before my youngest daughter had been born. Modern buildings extended skywards. Footpaths were easy to navigate. And the city was vibrant. But remnants of the old still existed, like the Chinese temple with its overpowering infusion of giant incense coils.

Hengchun’s last gate

I returned to Hengchun after a few days. That last gate, West Gate, that I’d missed niggled at me because it wasn’t every day I got to explore a walled town.

Fuk Tak Chi

Surrounded by modern skyscrapers, this building had been a temple where Chinese immigrants could meet until the 1990s. When I entered, the front room was converted into a small museum, as well cared for as the elaborately designed doors at the entrance.

China’s Macau

I took a ferry to Macau for the day. In many ways the town reminded me of Goa. Both having once been ruled by the Portuguese, the architecture had that distinct flavour: arches dominating the buildings; open squares; even one of the churches was similar to one I’d seen in Panjim.

Sarawak’s Kuching

Photo courtesy: Shoestring@wts wikivoyage — Wilkmedia Commons

I didn’t have any expectations of the town with a name like money tinkling in a cash register. So I was pleasantly surprised by an orderly city along the fast moving Sarawak River.

Hey, I’m not done with Malaysia

Photo courtesy: Terence Ong — Wikimedia Commons

This was a year when my three daughters were off on a trip with their dad and I decided that six weeks sitting at home would be down right depressing. To break up the long stretch without them, I flew to Singapore and crossed over into Johor Bahru because I could catch a cheaper flight from JB over to Kuching in Malaysia’s Sarawak, rather than from Singapore.