A vibrant old city, with a unique historical and cultural background, ancient capital of the Malay kingdom before the colonial era, Malacca was our favorite place in Malaysia. With its center listed as UNESCO World Heritage, the city is an explosion of colors with mixed architectures, cultures, religions.

Having been strategically located on the Malacca strait, the city has been conquered over the centuries by the Portuguese, Dutch and British; each of these peoples left their influences and traits, most obviously seen in the architecture of the buildings. And these buildings are all in excellent shape, well maintained and either recently painted, either with nice graffiti all over. A real joy for the eyes!

But what surprised us the most was the number of religions that live together in harmony in Malacca; Buddhists, Muslims, Taoists, Catholics, Anglicans, Protestants, Hindi… they all have their own churches/ temples one next to the other, they all respect the differences and they consider themselves like brothers. We were astonished when our guide, a Hindi, stopped in front of a Saint statue in a catholic church, touched the saint and said a prayer: “God is one and the same, whether we call it Buddha, Allah or Jesus, so having some good thoughts and praying is the same in any holly place.” Where else can one hear such thinking?

So here we had a new positive surprise in Malaysia! We really love this country!