Melaka (a.k.a. Malacca) is the capital of the Malaysian state of Malacca.
Traditionally, the spot where Melaka stands today was the center of Malaccan history. It was the capital of the Malaccan Sultanate and the center of the Malay world in the 15th and the 16th century before it fell to the Portuguese in 1511. Centuries of colonization by the Portuguese, Dutch and the British have shaped the architecture of the town.

Largest island of Malaysias east coast. It’s located 32km off the coast and is some 20km long and 12km wide and the highest peak is Gunung Kajang with 1038m. In the 70ies TIME magazine selected Tioman as one the world’s most beautiful islands but lost some flair in recent years due to do development. The island has eight main villages, many beaches and is densely forested and is surrounded by numerous coral reefs, making it a scuba diving haven.

This website is a service inspired by Red Palm, a hostel for backpackers in Kuala Lumpur. But have you find any mistakes in here and have complains, then blame me and the people adding comments ;)

It is not a commercial website and it is being updated in my spare time. Though there are ads and the online booking feature for hostels that brings in a bit of money (it's an hostelworld.com affiliate program). This money will be used to cover the cost for hosting the website and part of it is also donated to Plan Internation (Plan is an international development organisation, working to alleviate poverty and help children in developing countries to realise their full potential).

On august 31st 2007 (also the 50th anniversary of Malaysia's independence) I lauchened the third version of the website. This time I have a proper content management system which should allow me add content easier to the website as community feature for people to add comments. There will certainly be additional features along the way. I'd say, the website is only halfway finished so far.
The project was started in November 2004. I hope in the future the content will grow with the help of other backpackers exploring Malaysia.

The purpose of this website is not the replace guide books like Lonely Planet, Footprint, Rough Guide and all the rest of it. Gosh, how time consuming would time be. ;)
But I am hoping it will offer some additional information and interesting pictures and stories. And, to be frank, it is also a means to let more people know about the wonderful little hostel Red Palm in Kuala Lumpur which, I think, is a hostel the way it should be - a place with a homely atmosphere, small, cozy where one easily gets to interact with locals and travellers alike.

And once again, any help or advice for making this website more informative is always welcome.

I would also like give credit the people that helped adding photos and further information to the website:
Marco ( 4climates.eu) for the exellent animal photos, James for the Perhentian Island Pics, Andreas and Chris for the Kuala Lumpur stories, Katja and Waldemar for the "In Melaka on bicycle" story (39grad.de - german), Mirja, Alex, Conni, Sebastian, Colin, Antonio, Ziga for photos, photos, photos
And Sofie, Hanis, Kamel, Gazza, Liza, John, Saiful, Lela and Suzy for being my family when I'm in Malaysia

Take Care and Safe Travel. Tilo