Malacca and some reflections.....

          The journey winds down. I am just a single 4 hour bus ride from the city of Johor Bahru,

Early night-fall over Malacca.....

located on the Malaysian side of the Straits that mark the territorial border with the State of Singapore. If Malacca had been anywhere other than my last real stop on the journey, I would not have accorded it 4 full days---2, maybe 2 1/2. Interesting, and if judged by the frenetic tourist night

market activity along a couple of its major streets, is benefiting from its 2008 UNESCO World Heritage designation. The hotel sector is obviously important and growing along with all the ancillary services devoured by tourists---- taxis, food stands and electronic gadget entrepreneurs etc. At one point yesterday morning I was "trapped" on a traffic island while a non-stop procession of perhaps 70-100 large and luxurious coaches were give priority and exited from a large bus park reserved for the vehicles assigned to transport the guests from a cluster of large hotels. Noticeably, all the passengers were Chinese and

This is  how the British arrived in Malacca...

headed somewhere, locust like, in the same direction. Assuming 70 buses with 43 passengers per bus, equals 3000 tourists.
           Yes, Asia is on the move! Assuming that this is just the tip of the iceberg as prosperity percolates down to the working masses, the numbers involved become astronomical. And as the whole industry in Asia grows it most probably will become increasingly homogenised with Disney, Starbucks, Holiday Inn, Mc D etc., at the forefront. I suppose that what I am trying to say here, is that I wish, in the interests of authenticity, I could have seen Malacca 25 or 30 years ago in pre-UNESCO days, when it was likely a rather poor and sleepy back-water.  What surprises me with today's mass tourists, is the seeming total lack of interest by 98% of them, in any details or background of the place that they have paid to render homage apart from the "selfie" phenomenon. Move just 75 metres from where the 'action' is and streets are deserted.
          I am glad that I was able to see northern Vietnam and northern Laos, both on the cusp of 'opening up' and likely just before the tidal wave of tourists from The Middle Kingdom arrive at the local airports and coach parks. Only the lack of infrastructure in those places  is currently holding the onslaught in check. I spoke on several occasions to travellers from Myanmar who assured me that that country is virtually the only untouched/authentic country left in the region. But things are happening pretty fast there and after

Oriental sound machine.....

40+ years of being closed the nation is now open for business.

            I visited Malaysia a number of times for business in 80's and 90's, the capital Kuala Lumpur specifically, and found at that time that English was widely spoken, not just by hotel staff, but by 'the man in the street'. Today, things are very different and sadly comparatively few seem to understand English, especially younger people. The Malaysian govt. I am told, has a determined plan to assure the social supremacy of the Malay (Moslem) majority and as part of this strategy, the Malay language has priority over all others---Hindi, Mandarin and English. Languages other than Malay have almost vanished from public sight. Apparently English lessons and access to English language study material has been severely cut back by the Ministry of Education. The older people in Malaysia were educated in English, as were their teachers. Under the new system, I am told, the present crop of teachers would have been trained uni-lingually & predominantly in the Malay language. Cynical I may be, but hopefully not a language fascist, however inclined to wonder how many of the future millions of Chinese tourists to Malaysia will be fluent in Malay!
              Singapore, (currently ranked #1 best educated country in the world) in contrast, has heavily favoured the use of English as the unifying force in its multi-cultural society----to the point that the government is now undertaking a promotional campaign to encourage the majority Chinese population to speak more Mandarin and use chop sticks!!