Blogs from Melaka City, Melaka, Malaysia, Asia - page 29

After Kuala Lumpur we took the train to Melaka, or Tampin actually, about an hours drive from Melaka which doesnt have a train station. We were entertained by our taxi driver who was a bit crazy and had two teeth to his name, but knew lots about Melaka and the area to regail us with on the journey in his 1970s Nissan Saloon. Classy. Our guest house in Melaka was awesome, a really cute little place right by the river and the centre of town. The tourist areas of Melaka sadly are pants. The few remaing colonial buildings have been surrounded by concrete and tourists and spoilt. Oh and to Charlotte's dismay I insisted we visit the WORST replica ship in history in the mid day sun. Thankfully, the chinatown area was excellent, full of interesting ... read more

Melaka - Mersing - Tioman - Johor Bahru Well I think I have established that I am not a very intrepid traveller, I am finding the 'basic accom and resorts' hard to cope with. I think its because I'm on my own, I am sure if I was with someone, we would have a laugh about it and get on with it. But on my own, it leaves me feeling a bit vulnerable and wondering what the hell am I doing there? The last few days have been example of this. Melaka, on arrival by bus from KL, was a typical Malaysian town except with a little square of historical buildings and museum, all of which took an afternoon to explore. Otherwise it had very little going for it, I managed to find a nice clean ... read more

From Singapore, I negotiated my first bus trip to Melaka, which my Lonely Planet described as "sultry", i.e. incredibly sweaty! It's a really well preserved town which has seen a lot of "invasions" over the years, but maybe a little too touristy. I went to the People's museum, which was quite good and I pottered about Chinatown, where I sampled Chicken Rice Balls, which I think is local to the area. Stayed in the Kancil Guest House, which is a converted Chinese townhouse run by a guy called Daod and his pal Charlie - both of whom really like a good, long chat! Daod has travelled all over the place and taught me lots about Hinudism. Anyway...aside from some of my laundry disappearing from the line, I really liked it - v chilled out and lots ... read more

25 June 2006 Tourist traps around Malacca The Swiss guys we met in told us that Mini-Malaysia and the butterfly/bird/monkey/reptile park were worth the trip, so we decided to spend the day as proper camera-toting tourists. We managed to get about twenty metres from the guesthouse when we encountered a reasonably sized crowd and traditional band, all waiting expectantly. The crowd had reached critical mass (the point at which the crowd alone attracts curious passersby and tourists who join the crowd because there must be something worth looking at) so of course we joined it. There was a Chinese temple dedicated to some dead guy who had played some important role in history, including discovering Australia in the fifteenth century, 300 years before Captain Cook discovered it in English. Apparently the Prime Minister was due any ... read more

i really liked melaka but can't be bothered to write much of a blog today so here's a list of the things i did... walked around lovely china town. ate lots of nice food BBQ night then ladies night in x-tracts with free drinks (not convinced there was any vodka in the drinks tho!) met up with steve (my 2nd cousin's brother in law) cold flared up again cos of rubbish air con in hotel ... read more