Places to visit in 2012 – Malaysia
The region of Southeast Asia has always been attractive to tourists from all across the globe, but especially Westerners interested in Eastern culture. This is where countries such as Laos, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam can be found alongside many more, but today we’ll be taking a look at Malaysia.
The country itself is in a rapid process of modernizing, due to its oil reserves and investment in high technology industries, it has become one of the richest nations in the region. However large parts of the country are still developing and this makes for an interesting mix of attractions, on the one hand you have the very modern high-tech ones and on the other the more traditional ones.
One place in particular in Malaysia has been garnering increasing attention from tourists and travelers, and that is the country’s oldest city: Malacca. Few other places in the region can create the same type of image which attracts visitors, lantern-lit canals, narrow streets lined with ornate temples that have been standing for decades if not centuries, it’s a great place to visit.
Malacca, just like the country as a whole, has seen a variety of rulers, having been first a Portuguese, then a Dutch and then a British colony, its unusual architecture and cuisine – both of which reflect those foreign influences – make this UNESCO World Heritage Site one of the most visited places in Malaysia.
The Heritage Site features several attractions such as the Baba and Nyonya Peranakan Museum which offers you the chance of visiting an actual Peranakan town house, a great way of sampling Peranakan culture. This is also where you can see the Cheng Hoon Teng Temple, the oldest Chinese temple in the country.
Having been a European colony for many hundreds of years definitely left its mark in the form of Christ Church, the oldest protestant church in the country which features some extraordinary building materials and artifacts, the floor of the church containing Dutch tombstones and the sacramental silverware still bears the Dutch coat of arms.
The Church is located in the Dutch Square which also features a clock tower but although it looks Dutch-made, it isn’t, it’s called the Tang Beng Swee Clock Tower and it was built in 1886.
These are just a few examples that can’t even start to explain the wonderful experience that Malacca and Malaysia on the whole can offer its visitors, so if you’re planning on seeing an Asian country, give Malaysia a solid consideration.
