Blogs from Melaka City, Melaka, Malaysia, Asia - page 25

Day 294, 21st March Melaka This is it - I’ve come this far… It’s the last real stop on the odyssey…next big stop is the culmination of 10 months of Blood, Sweat, and Tears - Singapore. By pumping the pedals day after day 13,000 miles brings me to Melaka. I now have the first inkling of how those first Portuguese, Dutch or British colonisers must have felt after such a huge voyage of stress and hardship. I can’t imagine a journey by sea, would it have been easier to do than overlanding it? I have to pinch myself - am I really here, and under my own power…that fact is just sinking in and as I look at my sun-baked and wind-scorched face in the mirror I begin to smile with elation and a sense of ... read more

Left KL and the very helpful Equator staff, for a two hour bus ride to the historic maritime town of Malacca (Malaka). The town has a colourful past and has been influenced by numerous cultures - including the Malays, Portuguese-Eurasians, Chinese and Indians, with Portuguese, Dutch and British influenced architecture. We are staying in a cheap but clean hostel called the 'Travellers Lodge', which has a great roof terrace overlooking a view of the sea. We enjoyed an Indonesian style lunch, before heading off to the city centre. We first noticed a lot of bicycles covered with umbrellas, tinsel and flowers - a common method of transport for tourists! We were very surprised with the amount of tourists visiting the town. Then we had a look at St Paul's church, Christ church and saw a huge ... read more

Here in Melaka, one can find large variety of honey and bee products. Many products are good for health according to those who believe in holistic health and complementary medicine. I researched local market and posted details on Melaka.TV WebSite. Any one interested to know more about honey and bee products of Melaka, Malaysia can read the article located at http://melaka.tv/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=35&Itemid=28 Thats it for today! ... read more

We left Tioman on a 7.30 am boat and made it over to the mainland. Unfortunately, when we got there we got directed to the domestic bus terminal (for buses around the area) rather than what they call the international terminal (which really just provides long distances Malay buses - except for ones to Singapore and sometimes to Hat Yai in Thailand). As such, we didn't get on a bus to Melaka till gone 12. Still, sitting and chilling in a local food court for a few hours was ok. We had some toast and drinks for about 25p. The 'VIP' long distance buses around Malaysia are all much better than UK (e.g. Stagecoach) in that they have bags of leg room. You can get super low cost buses which have small seats and zero ... read more

While in the Cameron highlands, there's not a whole lot to do except hike around. It's very easy to do, and there are plenty of options as to how long you would like to spend skipping through the rain forest, and where you might like to end up. You can climb to the top of a 6,600 foot mountain, visit a butterfly farm, or go to one of the many beautiful tea plantations that the highlands are known for. Suz and I chose the last option. Our completely untrustworthy guide book describes path 9A as "a leisurly 1 hour hike". So of course we didn't bother to start hiking until noon. The plan was to make it to the Boh Tea Plantation, have some tea and sandwiches, take photos, and hike it back home in time ... read more