Malacca's street party market.

It would appear every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings are party time here in Malacca's Jonker district. Thoroughfares are closed, along with  narrow connecting lanes to make way for hundreds, no thousands of stalls, road side cafes, and everything in between. A vibrant mass of humanity, shoulder to shoulder enjoying themselves, chocking the narrow street, as could only happen in Asia. Tables and chairs placed randomly along the roadway, while their owners cook up a vast array of unforgettable dishes. People flattening fish through a mangle, or deftly dissecting a chicken with a cleaver. The vitality of all these people is hard to describe. Everyone with their few metres of space have no difficulty co-operating with each other.

Yesterday evening after finishing some drawings of a Chinese Temple, I was suddenly swept up by the crowd unexpectedly. Before I could say Jack Robinson, I found myself in a Chinese Club in full throat Karaoke mode. The singers were quite elderly, but still in fine voice as they sang a varity of Chinese love songs. They were accompanied by a vidio voice and musicians that produced a very professional result. From what I could gather you were able to obtain a CD of your efforts, no doubt to play endlessly to your friends. Then I found myself in the middle of a square dancing class, that looked a little like a high tempo Tai Chi session in some park. The dancers were very earnest and followed their leader carefully. The only thing missing was the cowboy hats, but all seemed to be having a lot of fun as they worked their way around the floor.

There appeared to be little regulation in place, as long as your table stood upright without the need of a brick you were in business. The overall impression was one of vitality, imagination, and energy that overwhelmed the onlooker. Everyone in top gear without any sense of ego. Just this great sense of joy at being alive, something I sometimes feel has been lost this joy in our over regulated existence, were political correctness that has taken over our lives in Australia. Here there is that real feeling of freedom, maybe we have forgotten what the word really means.

                                                                        Melacca.

Temple roofline, Melacca.

Chinese  Landscape stone used as furniture decor.