Blogs from Melaka, Malaysia, Asia - page 20

April 13th- 15th Arrived in Melaka about 1pm. Had lunch at the bus station before getting taxi to hotel. Went for swim in pool - quite good size. Then went out to expore a bit. Very nice town which gets quite a lot of tourists. Chinatown was good with loads of different temples. Found really big shopping mall and walked round that a bit. Found good food stalls for dinner. The next day we saw all the historical sights etc and then did soem shopping in the afternoon- very cheap- I got 2 pairs of shorts and a top for 7 quid, from a proper shop not market stall. Had pizza for dinner- we really needed a change from noodles and rice. Caught a rickshaw home- tehy are all brightly lit and decorated with flowers as ... read more

Today started with a very civilised breakfast in the courtyard, everything from fried rice to boiled eggs to toast. Then a wander around the town. How many museums can one place have. Didn't venture into any, i could breathe the culture from outside! A visit to the tourist info to find out how to get to Tioman Island http://www.tioman.com.my/ - where South Pacific was filmed. I need a beach. Have decided against Indonesia, so doing this instead. I can catch a bus from Melaka to Mersing that will take about 4 hours give or take. Then catch a ferry or speedboat to the Island which will take about 2 hrs. There is nowt to do in Mersing so best to get there around midday to catch a ferry straight away on the day. They run til ... read more

We arrived in Melaka city late Friday night and found a guest house to stay at for the night. Melaka is an old Dutch colony in Malaysia that was overtaken by the British before Malaysia became independent, its almost like being in Europe, in Asia!! The next morning, we started sightseeing about our guesthouse, and quickly began a quest for breakfast. We were looking for the Geographer Cafe, which was recommended by Lonely Planet. Once we finally found it (and got some good sightseeing in on the way), it was just opening, but they let us in anyway. While we waited for the kitchen to open, we split a piece of banana chocolate cake, which was delicious! After breakfast, we did some shopping in the quaint shops around town, and did some sightseeing of all of ... read more

I should have really called this blog, 'LANTERNS I HAVE KNOWN' - the photo diary of someone with too much spare time on his hands. {Lynn told me off for taking endless photos of hanging lanterns and I had it coming. Of the ones shown here I think I must have photographed and deleted another twenty thousand} We stayed in Melaka for 10 days in total and it turned into a holiday from a holiday. For a change it was just good to be able to stay in the one place for few days. Good to get everything washed, good to find some of the prerequisites of civilization here like wood fired pizza, nice pasta and cold draught lager. We weren't being very good backpackers, staying in the Hotel Puri with its crisp white sheets. One ... read more

Melaka, a good introduction to Malaysia Wednesday 4th March 2009 Melaka was a good destination choice for our first stop in Malaysia. The four hour bus journey from Singapore was very comfortable in a spacious air conditioned coach, passing through spectacular countryside, jungles, green hills, distant mountains and miles and miles of palm plantations (for palm oil). Melaka is a lively little city, steeped in history and the locals are a cheery lot; even the Trishaw peddlers have a sense of humour, for example, “How about a ride on my BMW?” They don’t hassle either! It is such a contrast to Indonesia. Here one can browse around the shops and market stalls at leisure with no pressure to buy. We have a cheap, clean budget room on the edge of Chinatown and close to the old ... read more