228. ESCAPE TO SMALL TOWNS

I'm thirsty now and you aren't open!

A durian 'feast' - taste test with 1 fruit...

The Cheng Hoon Teng temple, lovely old building, the most impressive is her roof with its porcelain characters

The colours of Malacca - this Hindu temple was a dull grey before...

They're done a good job with the trishaws, making them insta-worthy. It's a fun, colourful ride round the block, music blaring away and everybody's good about it...

Malacca was for a long time, just another sleepy hollow small town. The river that runs through it was silted with stinky black mud. All it needed was some paint to bring out the beauty of the old temples and old-world shophouses and when it was anointed a Unesco heritage site, money started pouring in and what we see today is this transformation...

Having visited the town several times before, this time was more about eating and shopping...

Checked out several vegetarian eateries - they were super! Menus and presentation were certainly different from those in Singapore, I'll be back...

Luten 21

Anthony's Kitchen

The eating and shopping continued into Muar, another small town in the state of Johor, next to Malacca, about an hour's drive away...

This too was a sleepy hollow but has woken up to the possibility of the tourist dollar which right now, it's chiefly from Singapore, whereas Malacca receives a sizeable number of visitors from China, followed by those from Singapore who are there to eat and shopping for more food to take home.

The narrow Muar River separates Malacca from Johor State

The eating continues into Muar...this market is a coffeeshop

Nothing beats street food and coffeeshop coffee

In between kneading his dough fritters, he takes orders

Small town vibes live on in their bazaars and the merchandise they carry - the difference now is that the workers or business owners are not native Malaysian Chinese - quite a number are from China and Vietnam...

Muar has her collection of shophouses

227. THE JEWISH CORNER

 

Nestled in a leafy corner of Waterloo Street, is this Jewish Synagogue, a new Museum, a kosher cafe and a small mart selling everything that's kosher...

It's not a place that one can just walk in so I jumped at the chance to tour it. I suppose because of a siege mentality, they have been protective of their safety and privacy. Since the Museum opened, they are more receptive to visitors under controlled conditions, and are open to wanting to share their culture and history etc to more people. Prior permission was required for entry and an ID had to be produced at the guard house. This is for a group. For individuals, they may email to register their visit, entry is free.

On this map below, (I couldn't get one showing its location), it's facing the main Waterloo street, next door to the Singapore Calligraphy Centre.

Comprising 2 large buildings, the Jacob Ballas Centre and the Synagogue, it's quite an imposing structure.

This Rabbi is newly arrived to Singapore and wants to open this Synagogue and the Museum to more people who's interested to learn about their customs, culture, religious practices etc.

Here he shows and explains their Jewish holy scriptures, the Torah, housed in this special room.

Well known names in Singapore's Jewish communities. More and more Israelis have settled in Singapore in the last 15 years.

Their Prime Minister, Netanyahu, came to check us out too!

The Prayer Hall from a vantage point...

Some of their more interesting neighbors on the same street - this is an Arts district