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Published: February 26th 2020
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Crossing the border from Singapore to Malaysia by bus is a breeze. We got a Grab to the bus station and were far too early but I was relieved to see that our easybook booking had gone through so we were OK for the 2 front seats. You have to go up to the 707 window and show your booking, then he ticks you off and he writes the bus reg number on it so you know which one. There is nowhere to sit at the bus station so we sat on our bags in the shade and used the loos at the last minute. Everywhere was very clean and being hired down and wiped constantly. There were posters up giving health advice about the virus. The 707 service bus pulls in across the road in front of the big blue building which is a school. It was only about half full and as I’d seen in videos, super comfy, with reclining seats and leg rests and lots of room. You could easily get a good sleep on it.
We got to the Tuas border crossing after about an hour and on the Singapore side you get out and take
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Nowhere to sit but the toilets are OK you passport to immigration but it is all automated and you scan it yourself. No need to see an actual person. There were no queues at all, but it was very much set up for long queues at busy times. We didn’t take our luggage off. Then we got back on the bus (there are toilets to the left as you come through) and drove over the bridge to the Malaysian side. There you do have to take your bags, put everything through the scanners and get stamped in by a person. He looked carefully at my passport as I have a Chinese business visa, but no questions asked as he must have seen the date and I was there last August. Luckily there were no problems with anyone on our bus so we were all back on in no time. We made one more 10 minute comfort stop after about an hour and arrived exactly on time. The bus station for Melaka is quite a way out of the centre, a 15 minute taxi ride. Get a Grab if you can, less than half the price.
I had booked a guest house (Wayfarer) on the river and paid
a bit more for a room overlooking the river with a balcony. It was only £31 a night, no breakfast. When we arrived the lady had to explain the keys and security pad thing to us, there are many doors to get through with different instructions for night time. It a a bit of a pain. It is a converted shop house, so very long and narrow, and what a shambles downstairs, combining chill area for guests with family living space. Free tea, coffee and snacks, a box of chargers, various family members huddled round a chaotic desk, random furniture and several cats. Their litter trays are by the gate onto the walkway along the river. Nice! We were a bit gobsmacked by it! The room was on the first floor up an uneven flight of steps and was very well appointed, lovely dark wooden floor, huge bed, big balcony and looking down onto the river and a row of bars, which were very noisy with people and music. It didn’t quieten down until after 1am. Even the boats were hurtling up and down until midnight! Don’t stay on this stretch if you are bothered by noise, or at least
don’t have a room looking onto the river! From a safety point of view, we had the aircon on all night and it dripped water onto the hairdryer attached to the wall underneath (and into my open case). I shook the drips out and still used it, no sparks or shocks!
We went out for a look around and were not too inspired. Melaka has a lot of museums and very nice shabby chic cafes, but the whole place needs money spending on it. Every street had open drains running along, the washing up water type rather than toilets, but they really smell and we moved from one bar as it wasn’t nice to sit there. The main attractions need a spruce up and the whole place could be cleaner. I’m not fussy, but this is a world heritage site and really lets itself down. We wandered around and hoped it would grow on us, which it kind of did. In the evening we went to a FAB restaurant called Wild Coriander, mainly Malay food and it was delicious and so cheap, 51 ringgits for 2 main courses, desserts and drinks. I went for durian cendol, feeling adventurous. It
absolutely stank, but quite a few restaurants think nothing of putting it on the menu. The waiter’s face was a picture when I ordered it, bless him, eyes nearly popped out of his head. It tasted surprisingly OK.
Today we were going to walk to the island and see the floating mosque but it was very far and we gave up and went into the shopping centre. There were lots of Brits from a cruise ship and the centre was great, mainly because it had Uniqlo, which we really like. Now we have more stuff to hump around. We went to The Daily Fix Cafe for a snack, recommended in Tripadvisor. It’s in Jonker Street. It’s a shame we won’t see the weekly street market as it looks quite an experience, but it’s still nice to walk up and browse in the shops. We found another neat little temple and bought a bundle of incense to burn for our families. It cost 5 ringgits and there was quite a lot going on inside. You cannot share, so I had to use all of them. A local guy took charge of me, lit everything and I had to follow him
round and out 2 or 3 sticks on each tiny altar. There were loads of them and I followed him round at a trot, he kept saying come on and explaining each one, this for babies, this for money. He wouldn’t let Gill do any! Then he gave me to another gup who took me right round the back with the fake money in the bundle which someone had fanned out for me, and we went to some barrels at the back and set it alight with a blow torch, avoiding a nasty accident when I nearly set him on fire. Oops! The most bizarre altar had a display of cigarette butts and cans of Guinness. Must be the altar for having a good time! Then we located a place for breakfast tomorrow which opens at 8, as our bus is at 9.30, and a vegetarian place for tonight, which is just around the corner and has good reviews.
So we like it more here now. There are some cute shops and the food is WONDERFUL.
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