Kuala Lumpur and Malacca: skyscrapers, space, and a red city

We traveled around Malaysia on a scooter we had bought back in Thailand. After camping in Cameron Highlands, on October 26, 2015, we made it to Kuala Lumpur and checked into a hotel — a hot shower and a soft bed at last.

Concrete jungle

The next day we rode around the city among the skyscrapers. If in Penang we had seen something Russian, in Kuala Lumpur we saw something New York-like: these giants really are impressive.

A pond with fountains in a park, a wall of skyscrapers in the haze behind it — The skyscrapers of Kuala Lumpur

Then we went to a park — beautiful, cozy, and quiet. For some reason there were hardly any people in it.

A patterned flower bed of green and burgundy shrubs, palms and trees in the haze behind it — A park with almost no people

The same park turned out to have a planetarium, and with it an excellent space museum. There is a Soviet spacesuit, a rocket engine, even a space toilet, and we took a selfie right from inside a space capsule.

An old spacesuit behind glass in a museum — A Soviet spacesuit and a rocket engine in the space museum

A rocket engine with a nozzle on a stand in a museum — A Soviet spacesuit and a rocket engine in the space museum

Pavel and Alexandra half-reclining in the seats of a mock-up space capsule — A selfie from a space capsule

Malacca

On October 29 we arrived in Melaka — more properly called Malacca. It is another city with a European history. First there was a Malay sultanate here, then the Portuguese captured the city and built a fort, after them the Dutch became its masters, and then the British. That is why the architecture of the old part of the city is colonial, and the historic center is a UNESCO site.

On a hill stand the ruins of St. Paul's Church with old tombstones, and below are the ruins of the fort.

Pavel by old tombstones with coats of arms propped against a white wall — Tombstones in the ruins of St. Paul's Church

The stone gate of a ruined fortress, an old cannon in front of it — The ruins of the old fort

Almost all the buildings in the center are red. The square among them reminded us of Red Square: it has a church, a fountain, and a history museum. Inside, the church is simple, without any luxury.

Pews and a simple altar with a cross in the bright hall of a church — Inside — simple, without luxury

And the day ended with a sunset on the beach.

The sun setting behind clouds over the sea, a path of light on the water — Sunset on the beach

Fountains and Petronas

On October 30 we returned to Kuala Lumpur and spent another couple of days there. We walked around the city, went to the sultan's palace, then to a deer park — besides ordinary deer, it is home to a species of tiny deer the size of a large rat.

In the evening we went to the fountain show. It was a mesmerizing sight, and the photos do not convey what it looked like in person.