Blogs from Melaka, Malaysia, Asia - page 16

Flying in from Jakarta that morning (about 11.45 - 22 January 2010) I was not sure if I should wait for the 4 pm Transnasional bus to Melaka at the LCCT of Kuala Lumpur Airport for Melaka (Malacca) or opt for the option of traveling to KL and then changing a bus for my destination. I had checked on the internet, including Travelblog, and it seemed that the first direct bus to Melaka from the airport does not leave until 4. As usual the shouts from the bus booths that line up a wall as you are about to step out of the airport were confusing, fast and loud. Agents from diffferent coach companies were all shouting over each other: "KL Central, KL Central". Rather than approaching a booth, I shouted back equally loudly "Melaka", while ... read more

From Kuala Lumpur's huge Puduraya bus station, I got a bus to Melaka, a 2,5 hour trip. Melaka, or Malacca, is becoming a modern city, but the houses and streets at the heart of the town are still like they were a few hundred years ago, when the Portuguese, Dutch and the British colonised it. Also, the Chinese have put their mark on this town. I had a walk through most of the historical streets and got to see the sights. The main square consists of many Dutch colonial style houses and there is the famous "Stadthuys", or City Hall, which is now a museum about Malaccan history. After that, I went up the hill where (small) parts of an old Portuguese fort still remain and on the top there are the remains of the British ... read more

I decided to get the train from KL to Tampin then get a taxi to Malacca as strangely the railway does not extend to Malacca. I could have gone by bus which would have been a lot cheaper but I was curious to see what the railways were like here. Not up to much as it turned out - it cost 25 Ringits instead of 6 on the bus. This was first class seating with air-con on the express service to Singapore. The train arrived on time but inexplicably left 15 minutes late - this would not have happened in Vietnam where every train leaves and arrives bang on time. The seats were very large - almost like armchairs and tilted backwards and had a foot rest too. Shame the carriage was about 20 years overdue ... read more

Since I can remember, my entire vision of Malaysia was built on a mind’s eye image of Melaka, oddly enough. As a result, my expectations of the city were revving on the red side of the expectations temperature gauge which is often a little dangerous but what could possibly be disappointing about a Colonially marked Muslim Indo-china symbiosis? After our 100th over night, just better than bearable bus ride, the bus station appear around 7am, marking our much anticipated arrival in Melaka. Admittedly the general mood of our pair was erring on the side of irritably exhausted and we still had to negotiate our way to the other side of the city so we did what sensibly exhausted travellers do and stopped for a coffee break before having to muster the energy to haggling with a ... read more

Nach dem anstrengenden Tag in den Genting Highlands sassen wir am 04.11.09 frueh am Morgen ziemlich unausgeschlafen im Bus nach Melakka, einer kleinen Stadt westlich von Kuala Lumpur. Im Nachhinein muss ich sagen, dass wir fuer diese Stadt mit nur zwei Tagen und einer Nacht deutlich zu wenig Zeit eingeplant hatten, denn die in meinen Augen sauberste und gemuetlichste Stadt Malaysias hatte eine Menge mehr zu bieten, als wir erwartet hatten. Wir haben dennoch versucht, das meiste aus den wenigen Stunden vor Ort zu machen und eine Bootsfahrt rund um die Stadt schien uns die beste Alternative, um moeglichst schnell moeglichst viel von Melakka zu sehen. Es ging vorbei an alten, wunderschoen restaurierten Gebaeuden, kleinen Maerkten, einem Riesenrad in Stil des London Eyes, einem alten zu einem Maritim-Museum unfunktionierten Piratenschiff usw. Ausserdem gab es riesige Shopping-Center ... read more