Leah’s Cafe

Though Malacca has been officially upgraded to be a “city” few years ago, it’s still very much a small town. In fact, living in Malacca is very much like living in a big village, the people in the neighborhood still talk to each other and know each other.

I was born and bred here, except for the 10 years I spent in KL/PJ/US, I came back to live here in 2001. I still like the small town atmosphere and the big village community. I never get used to the big city life! Though I did meet people that I was good friends with in KL/PJ, I find it hard to maintain friendships with all the commuting, work stress and traffic woos that one has to battle on a daily basis.

Malacca is small geographically, it takes less than 30 minutes to travel from one end to another end. Traffics are usually quite alright, so long we could avoid the downtown tourist hubs during the weekends. Malaccans think our house is in the middle of nowhere when we tell people where we live. Actually it’s less than 10 minutes drive from Jusco and 2 minutes from the toll plaza.:-)

In Malacca, people call me “teacher” or “teacher Chong” wherever I go, though I am not their teacher and never taught anybody related to them. I like this close knit community atmosphere, but also dislike this because privacy is not something people respect very much i.e. the strangers I met in the market told me I should quickly get pregnant since age is catching up, the “chap fun” stall auntie wanted to know how much I make, …:-)

Though snatch thieves are rampant especially in downtown tourist areas and crime rate has been rising in recent years, there are still many neighborhoods where people live without layers of locks. But of course if you have valuable jewelry and rare gold coins it’s better to keep them in the rented safe deposit at the bank. We live in the gated community, we seldom lock the gate and the grill, just the wooden door will suffice. There was a break-in in our neighborhood last year, but the police was able to track down and arrest the thief on the same day the crime took place, because the dumb thief left his IC at the checkpoint, and the security guard deligently took down particulars of every visitor.

Cost of living is still relatively lower in Malacca, RM2 can still get you a plate of “wan tan ” noodles for lunch if you know where to find it, sumptuous dim sum buffet at a 5 star hotel ONLY RM30++ per person niah. Houses are still relatively inexpensive. I know I could never afford to live in a gated community in Klang Valley. Our house is in the price range of a medium cost flat in certain area in KL/PJ. In fact, for the price of a double storey link in PJ/KL, one can get a pretty impressive bungalow liao. Though people may not get paid as good as in Klang Valley in certain professions, but I still think it’s a nice trade off for a better quality of life. :-)

* No, I don’t work for a housing developer . :-)