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.