Melaka - Singapore (Day 42- 46)

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Day 42

After a Starbucks hot chocolate we checked out of our Hotel and got the bus down to Melaka. We stayed at a place called Cyclamen Cottage, which is classed as a heritage house and has actually been in the newspapers in England apparently. The building was really nice and the couple who owned it were really really friendly the whole time we stayed there. The only down side was that it was either a taxi or a 30 minute walk into the centre. We thought we would give the walk ago (killer in the sun!) and we found the now classic Chinatown as well as the other shops and restaurants etc. It's a really small town and a lot of the markets only opened at the weekend which was a shame. The town is very historical though and over the years has been owned by Britain, Portugal and Holland so there is a weird mix of buildings.

Anyway we found a lovely restaurant looking out onto the river called Harpers and had some yummy food. Also whilst we sat looking out onto the river, Mandy spotted what looked like a small crocodile just below us...it turns out its actually a big lizard called a Monitor Lizard and apparently they are as common as a cat in England!!! Although that sounded a bit scary our owner told us that they (and the Geckos) eat the mosquitos which can only be a good thing - Mandy has been a prime target for mosquitos ever since we've been away!.

Day 43

We had arranged to have breakfast at 9am and were served egg on toast along with a couple of local foods to taste which was cool. We planned to explore the town a bit and were prepared for the long walk until the owner offered us a lift into the centre and ended up giving us a mini guided tour which was very nice of him and also very interesting. We took the river cruise which wasn't anything special to be honest although we did spot a few more Monitor Lizards! After the cruise we went to a museum (on a replica ship) and learnt about us Brits invading countries! We also had a quick look at the oldest Chinese temple in Malaysia and although obviously not our sort of thing the buildings of the temples etc in Asia do look impressive.

We then tasted the local dish, rice balls with chicken, which was really nice and a different variety to the classic rice! After lunch we thought we would take in some more history and went to A'fomosa which is where the Portugease took over. After this we had another one of our "Big wild goose pagoda" moments...Brett suggested that we went to Ayer Keroh, where there was meant to be a few beautiful things to see...so we took the long and expensive taxi ride but when we got there, not only was it now raining, it was deserted and everything seemed closed!!! Brett got a slight telling off for that suggestion! We then got another taxi ride to the Portugease settlement which was meant to be full of nice restaurants...nope once again nothing open and a bit of a ghost town! Malaysia obviously isn't doing too well on the tourist front in low season!

After a mixed day of history and goose pagoda's we found another really nice restarant before heading back to watch a film in bed...which was interupted by our owner who knocked on our door around 9-10pm to give half a dozen leaflets on Singapore (our next destination we had told him earlier in the day!). Bless him although Brett in his boxers was probably not the sight he expected!!!

Day 44

After another nice breakfast with new things to try, our friendlly host booked our taxi and gave us both a keyring souvenir to keep! You probably couldn't get a nicer host. He was from a Strait Chinese family and had told us quite a few interesting things about Malaysia whilst we were there.

Our next destination was Singapore. After a nice bus journey down we went through customs, where you get off and back on the bus the other side. When we arrived an old local, who had been on the bus with us, pointed us in the right direction to our hostel/hotel which was only a five minute walk and located in Little India (similar to Chinatown). Malaysia has a mixture of Indian, Chinese and Malay people. Our hotel (Zenobia) was a similar situation to Hong Kong, cheap in comparison to the competiton but still expensive. Despite arriving at 3.30pm our room was still being cleaned, so we used the communal toliet which had a couple of dead bugs on the floor...nice start!

After a quick look around to find the metro and finally checking in to our room, which wasn't great but bug free, we headed to Banana Leaf Restaurant (one of the Indian restaurants which had been reccomended on a leaflet) and unlike us we ordered a Chicken Korma which was soo yummy and a couple of other different dishes...but the novelty part of the meal, which us geeks liked, was that you ate your food off a Banana Leaf (hence the name of the restaurant) rather than a plate! The locals also eat the curry with their hands but we didnt go that far!

Day 45

A trip to Sentosa (an island off mainland Singapore) was on the cards today...it is pretty much one big holiday resort with, beaches, restaurants and a load of theme park type attractions. Again the low season hit with a few things not open but Brett went on a luge ride (a cross between a go cart and a bob sleigh...but not as fast as it sounds!) before getting a cable car back, which freaked him out a bit being really high, all on his own with only a little bar holding him in...big wimp! We had a look around and ate the "Tastes of Singapore". We then took the metro to the Chinese and Japanese gardens which were really nice, with some cool animal and Chinese "legend" statues as well as a nice lake and a couple of Pagodas!

In the evening we headed to the Singapore version of Chinatown to enjoy a couple of our favourite Asian dishes (as this was our last night in Asia) and also had some yummy Dim Sum for starters (Hong Kong cuisine). We then walked along to bar street where funnily enough there was a load of bars in the surrounding area...Brett also thinks this must be where all those famous Singapore people live as there were a few nice cars knocking about and also the lovely bars we chose (Emorium and Barrio Chino) charged us around seven pound a drink!!! Gulp. We were told Singapore was expensive but we didnt realise it was like fancy London prices! To be fair though, in the second bar we sat listening to a live band called "The Geckos" which was good fun.

Day 46

With our flight due this evening we headed out to see some more of Singapore...a trip to Sentac City Mall was first up with the Fountain of Wealth the main attraction (we actually thought it was quite ugly!). Then it was a trip to the river where Sir Stamford Raffles from England first landed and turned Singapore into the City/Country it is today. A few good sights around here blended in with the business sky scrapers. We took it all in and had a drink by the river. Our last stop today was to another Hawker food court for an early dinner. Lau Pa Sat, has been there for years and is the tradional place to eat, this was a lot lot bigger then the other ones we have been to and picking our meals was hard! The whole row of Satay stalls outside the court was a hit with us too (thats been one of our favourite foods).

Finally in the evening we headed to the Singapore airport for our flight out of Asia and into Australia. The airport was a bit weird as you go through security just before you board your plane!

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