Chinese New Year Lingers in Melaka

(Top: View from cable car to the top of Genting Highlands, pigs roasting on the street, tourist party table in the street).

(View of Chinatown in Melaka with lots of red lanterns for New Years celebrations, gravestones for the Dutch who settled in Melaka in the early 17th century, religion was brought early to Melaka, Thaipusam Festival activities).

Chinese New Year has made it difficult to do anything in this country and we can't wait for it to be over. Tourist destinations are overrun with people from every country coming to visit their family here, or to take a holiday.

We spent a day in the Genting Highlands just outside of Kuala Lumpur. It is quite a bit chillier there and Dave and I spent the first part of the day in the indoor amusement park. We spent the rest of day in the casino, at the outdoor amusement part or trying our hand at archery. This place was also packed full of Chinese tourists. Later on we were invited to a street party outside of our guesthouse with 10++ roasted pigs (yep roasted right over fires on the street in a city as big as Toronto), free beer, free Indian food buffet and plenty of unfortunate karoke. Dave and I did a good job recruiting people from our guesthouse to experience a neighbourhood Chinese New Year tradition.

Melaka has been difficult. Again, it's the top tourist destination in Malaysia for some reason. This city was a principal trading port for the Portuguese and the Dutch since the late 15th century so there is a lot of history to explore. It's a really interesting place, with lots going on right now. So, that means we can't wait to leave either. The guest house we are staying at is really intersting, an old Chinese-Nyona style home with lots of character and a beautiful garden sitting area.

Our bike ride yesterday brought us outside of Melaka, looking at rubber tree plantations and tasting all the local fruits right off the trees. Our trip got extended when we ran into a local Thaipusam Festival. This is a Hindu festival honouring Lord Subramaniam by piercing their cheeks and acts of physical resilience. They remove these piercing and redo it again the next year. There is lots of dancing, painting their bodies and throwing tumeric powder at each other. One man in the photo grabbed onto a girl and she went into a trance and was havocked with tremors until her family rushed her to the hospital. It's all very strange. We were invited to be apart of the festival, but we're not those kind of tourists. Later we met up with our friends from Langkawi for some Jonker Street activities.

We are going to attempt heading to Singapore. Cross our fingers that we can get there!