Blogs from Melaka, Malaysia, Asia - page 14

Welcome to part 10 of the blog! We left Singapore on a local bus, sometime around 2pm (Fri 3rd Sept), this took us through passport control and dropped us at the chaotic Larkin bus terminal in Johor Bharu. After fighting off crowds of ticket touts and much haggling we managed to get on a coach too Melaka. It took around 2 hours to get there and just as we were nearing the travelers lodge hostel it started to rain very heavily. We checked in then ran across the street to eat at an Indonesian restaurant opposite the hostel. After some very tasty dinner we went for a walk around town, however, it was late and the weather was crap so we didn't see much before we headed back. I slept late the next day and when ... read more

6th September 2010 We got up and left the hostel about 9.30am and set off to find some breakfast. We were recommended place called Limau - which was a few streets away. After breakfast we visited the Endure and Beauty museum which explained how other cultures perceive beauty. It was very fascinating to see the lengths they go to, too feel ‘beautiful’ - we saw things from ear, nose, lip, head and neck stretching to permanent scaring and foot binding. After we had finished the museum we realised there was a pretty big storm going on outside. We waited an hour for it to calm down before making a run for the mall. We spend another hour or so at the mall whist the storm was coming to an end and then made our way to ... read more

Had breakfast in a cafe called Limau, not far from the hotel. We then went to the Museum of Enduring Beauty this showed all different things regarded as beautiful by different cultures such as lip plates, corsets, scarring and foot, neck and head re-shaping. This was a great museum (other than the lack of air conditioning) and was really interesting. We had planned to then go on a boat tour, however as we came out of the museum it was absolutely pouring with rain and was thundering. We waited in the museum for about 1 hour - in which time we got so bored that we visited the kit and spinning tops museum, which were in the same building. After about an hour the rain was not so heavy so we braved it to the shopping ... read more

We’ve made it to Australia! We’ve had four days in lovely Cairns and pick up our campervan tomorrow to start the long drive down to Melbourne (around 4000km). But first here is our slightly delayed Malaysia and Singapore blog and the end of our Asian travels. The first place we visited in Malaysia was Kuala Lumpur. It is by far the most developed city we have visited and was a bit of a shock at first. The city has some amazing (and plenty of ugly) sky scrapers, none more outstanding than the Petronas towers which form the vocal point of the landscape. It is quite an incredible building with a suspended walkway half way up between the two towers. We didn’t go to the top for the view but did go to the slightly taller telecommunications ... read more

Everyone has had a slice of dear Melaka; the dutch, portuguese, british, chinese, invading armies of islam. It is quite the colourful place, literally, the british painted the whole town red at one point to assert the place as the dutch had left every building bleach white. The food here, whenever restaurants happen to be open is varied and great. The hours suck and we often have to wander for nearly an hour to find a non-western/corporate (ie mcdonalds) place to eat. There were never any exports from Melaka so the invented themselves as a megaport and all trade routes passed through here to seek protection from the monsoon winds. Nowadays it is kinda boring and there is not much more to do other than eat and look at nice buildings. Many restaurants 0have this deal ... read more