“Malacca Hi,” Lekka Hiney Ho!

One of the neat things about Singapore is that it is such a small country. You can stand on the southern shores and clearly see Indonesia; where many head to for a day of golf because it’s cheap! Or if you head north you can’t help but come across Malaysia. In fact, I am pretty sure you could swim to or with a good bat swing land a baseball on its shore.
Since John and I are still staying in a hotel we decided to take advantage of a hotel tour to Malacca, Malaysia. Two Saturdays ago we woke up bright and early for our 7:30am pick-up. A bit groggy we boarded a minibus and hoped it wasn’t going to take us all the way to Malacca. And so began a day of slight mishaps and minor confusions. We transferred at the tour office to a luxury double-decker bus. We were the last people to board the bus and got in trouble for sitting in the wrong seats. Apparently we had been assigned them but no one told us. We traveled along to the border where we waited for about three hours to get through. At one point our bus driver came up to the top deck and told us that we would have to disembark to go through customs and quickly disappeared back down to the driver’s seat. John and I sat there a bit confused because we were at the back of the bus, but no one moved to get off. Everyone seemed a bit confused. So John went and checked with the bus driver who looked at him funny. It turned out we had some time to go before we had to get off.

Getting through the Singapore border check point was simple, but a bit intense. Let’s just say it isn’t anything like a trip over to Mexico or up to Canada. As person passing through the border between Singapore & Malaysia is met with sense of ease, security, and a bit of intimation. All meant to create an understanding that Singapore is an efficient, strong, sovereign State.

Our tour guide came on the board the bus at the Malay border. He introduced himself and announced that we were on our way to Kuala Lumpur. To which John immediately raised his hand asked, “Are we going to Malacca.” The tour guide, “Yes, we are going to enjoy Malacca today.”

After six hours on the bus we arrived in Malacca, still a bit lost. We were ushered into a hotel with four other people and sat down to dim-sum lunch. John and I had to laugh because we didn’t quite feel we were getting a cultural experience with six hours on a bus and a lunch at very sterile hotel. From the hotel we rushed around Malacca taking an Augen Blick of 600 years history in about two hours. (Towards the end the women in the group including myself were begging for water!)

Now at this point you who are reading about my trip might be thinking, “What possessed them to take this trip?” First of all as they say, Ignorance is bliss. We had no clue how long we would be on the bus for! Most importantly we went because of the history and check out the modern importance of the water ways that surround the city. Since the 1400’s Malacca has been an extremely important out post for explores and tradesmen. Today the Malacca Straits is one of the most heavily trafficked and pirated areas in the world. I believe 80% of Japan’s oil flows through the stretch of sea. In the 1520s Malacca became part of the Portuguese expansion into the East Indies. In the 1540’s Saint Francis Xavier came to the coastal city and died there during monsoon season. After the monsoons ended he bodied was eventually taken to Goa which is still his resting place today. The Dutch then took over the area in 1641 ruling for over 100 years, until they lost interest and headed for Indonesia. By the time the English arrived in the 1800s the city was in despair. It was at that time a conscious effort was made to preserve the city this was also helped by decisions made during World War II. –The British “abandoned” Malacca and fought to stave off the Japanese further south. “Abandoning” is how a local Malay would describe what happened, but even if that was a truly accurate statement in the end they were given a truly beautiful gift, the preservation this historically diverse place. A true melting pot, where today you can still find a small number of people who still speak Portuguese there.
Here’s is a link to more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malacca#History

We arrived home 12 hours later. Still intrigued by this city where people who come from a mixed heritage are often referred to as “Straits” and modern landlords make more letting the their houses be run over by sparrows for Bird’s Nest Soup than renting it out. Where they are still fond of Jesuit priest and honor Buddha (Malaysia’s official religion is Islam).

Day to Day Lives

For the last week I have been trying to decide what should write about. First, I thought about the song from the Broadway show, Avenue Q, “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist.” Then I could not help, but thinking of all the luxurious slogans of Singapore Airlines, known to be “A Great Way To Fly” or when they suggest you to, “Experience a whole new way to fly in comfort and leisure with First Class, Business Class, and Economy Class.” Singapore is a land where luxury buildings rise among public housing (subsidized by the state, the tenant has 99 year lease and the apartment is renovated every 40years). It’s also a land where you can find housing developments called Bel Air and shopping to rival 5^th Ave, but you can also find an area of town called “Little India.”

I recently found out that there is no minimum wage in Singapore that in fact Starbucks charges $4.50 for a latte and they pay their employees $3.50 an hour. It might surprise you to know that is on the high end for the service industry. In the evening you will often see truck beds full of construction day laborers. At first I couldn’t understand where they all lived or how they could afford to live in Singapore, until someone explained that at night they head over the border to Malaysia where they live in shanty villages. They get one day week off (Sunday) and flood the streets of Little India.

Being a maid is also an interesting profession in Singapore. Full time maids tend hail from either Thailand or the Philippines. Many apartments come with a small maid’s courters, which is usually off the kitchen and not air conditioned. Their bedroom is usually big enough to place a twin bed and maybe squeeze in a dresser that is, if you are a maid who ends up with an Expat family. If you are a maid who works for a local family you will most likely receive a mat for your room or you might sleep in the kitchen, if not with the children. Maids are paid about $140-$210 a MONTH (on the higher end for an Expat), plus as the employer you must pay about $210 a month in taxes. Time off depends on the family the maid works for and what they are paid, it could be every Sunday off or one Sunday a month or one Sunday every 3-4 months! Often if maid is employed by local, they may not be allowed to leave the house until their day off. Condos do not allow maids use the swimming pool. If you get pregnant as a foreign maid you are automatically deported, unless the father is a citizen and willing to marry you.
Singapore does make public transportation fast, comfortable and affordable, you will pay no more than a dollar to ride a bus or take the subway. Taxis are also extremely cheap $3.50 a ride on average. Going to a matinee is also reasonable about $5.00. You can also splurge ($20) and go to the luxury movie theatre were servers bring food to you as you set in a reclining lazy boy with a blanket.
You can eat out here on average anywhere from $4.00 to $35.00 a person.It’s often cheaper for a family to eat out than to buy groceries. Service is more often than not sub par, whether dining or shopping. Our favorite bar that we have discovered is not far from our hotel. At the Park View. The building was built several years ago by an extremely wealthy man from Hong Kong. He is so particular about whom he allows to rent office space in the building that he must check their fung shui. In the lobby of building is spectacular bar with waitresses who fly to retrieve bottles of wine. The ambiance is beyond glamorous and if this bar was in New York it would be packed with people and top notch servers. But here in Singapore it’s practically empty every time we have been with fabulous live music and no one clapping. The servers although cute are for the most part lack luster and have no idea what’s on the menu. All that aside, I find this all fascinating since there is a sign when you enter that reads, “Members Only.” When we looked up information a membership we found the cost was $3,000 a year.

HERE IS SOME INFO ON THE AREA WE ARE CURRENTLY LIVING IN: http://wikitravel.org/en/Singapore/Bugis