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Published: April 5th 2007
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Melaka
We lost count on the amount of times we had to get off and re-embark the buses to get from Singapore to the town centre of Melaka, Malaysia, but we had no problems with either set of customs and the luxury seats of the Johor Bahru - Melaka Central express coach made most of the stress slide away. With our preferred hostel all booked out, we checked in to the Chong Ho Hotel in chinatown and had a wander around the streets to see what could be found. After a cheap 'Laksa Nyonya' dinner (a local dish) at one of the many street-side 'restaurants', we wandered down the main street packed full of little weekend market stalls. With a huge outdoor karaoke stage, and the locals singing their little hearts out, it had a great atmosphere! After various stops including that for small pineapple tartlets and a try at a bamboo massage-board, we made our way back to our beds to sleep off the days travels.
The next day began with a visit to Cheng Hoon Teng Temple, the oldest Buddist temple in Malaysia, dating from 1645. As cameras were allowed we spent most of our time
capturing the intricate carvings, colourful lanterns, and effigies. This was followed by a quick peek into the nearby Mosque before heading over the bridge to the tourist office. Picked up a map of the area and spent the rest of the day on our own mini tour of the town. First to St. Paul Hill to view the church ruins and statue of St. Francis, then down the otherside of the hill to the remains of Porta De Santiago. Back to the town square, where the Dutch occupation is still evident in the red brick buildings and mini windmill (strange!). We then walked from there to Bukit Cina - aka China Hill, the oldest and largest traditional chinese graveyard outside china, where we got lost amongst the graves, freshly littered with paper 'offerings' due to monthly tradition.
After a freshen up at the hostel we headed out to dinner at 'Capitol Satay' famous for its bubbling vats of satay sauce in which you cook your chosen kebabs from the vast chiller cabinet. Once inside it got busy with tourists and locals alike and so we invited a couple to join our table and ended up spending the evening with them.
After dinner we took Eric and Kristal to a few bars on Jonker St, which, with its closed shops and empty street, looked completely different to the previous night.
Kuala Lumpur
Morning trek to the bus terminal the following morning proved interesting as it didn't seem to exist. In a last ditched attempt we flagged down a passing bus and luckly it was on its way to the terminal. Once there we bought our tickets for a bus bound to Kuala Lumpur and grabbed a quick bite to eat in the local restaurant. Spent the bus journeyteaching ourselves to count in Malay and testing our knowledge on the fellow bus passengers who gladly corrected our terrible pronunciation. We arrived to a very hot a sunny K.L. and set off on foot to the 'Golden Triangle' area, and our hostel. As soon as we arrived the rain began, reminding us yet again that we have chosen to travel in the rainy season. Thankfully it never lasts too long, and we spent the time wisely updating our blog.
In Melaka, Eric and Kristal had talked of the great diving in Borneo, and after a quick read of our
Lonely Planet we thought it sounded a great. Throwing caution to the wind we spent the next morning booking our one way flight to Sabah in Malaysian Borneo! Ate lunch in the local mall, then jumped on the Monorail to Masjid Jamek Mosque, where Saz got to play Muslim fancy dress! After interrogating the local Tourist Information office about everything we could think of around and about K.L., we cleaned ourselves up in preparation for a fancy dinner at the revolving restaurant at K.L. Tower. Well, we hoped to have dinner at the Tower, but due to the extremely un-tourist friendly public transport and general city layout (!) we pretty much walked around the entire park where the tower is based, and couldn't get up to it. So, we gave up and caught a taxi to the nearest pizza place we could find. A reasonable substitute.
Determined to actually get to something with a view, we flagged down a taxi the next morning and got him to take us straight to the Petronas Towers where we collected our tickets for the viewing area for the afternoon. With time to spare, we caught the train somewhere near to the National
Mosque, where Saz again had to don the full-length attire to gain entrance. More like a conference centre with a pointed spire than a traditional mosque, a guide inside described its dome as more like a 'half-opened umbrella'. Not particularly impressive, but it passed the time. Back at the Twin Towers, we learnt a lot about the 'brilliance' of the Petronas gas/oil company, and boarded the lift to the skyview platform on the 41st floor that connects the towers. At only half way up the towers, the view was not amazing, but it did give us a better picture of the jumbled mess that is K.L.! After a few minutes being slightly bored, our 7 minute time slot expired and we were ushered away, so we headed back to the hostel for an afternoon packing session. Due to strict weight limitations on Air Asia, we had to set aside a fair amount of our stuff to put into storage for our trip to Borneo. A brief reunion with Eric & Kristal over dinner at a Chinese street eatery had us ready for an early night in preparation for our 03:30 wake up.
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Edna
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Its getting difficult keeping track!
My goodness guys you do fill in each and every minute - it gets difficult keeping up with you! Darren went to Borneo back in '93 and thought it was wonderful and the locals were lovely - hope you find the same. He really enjoyed Jakarta too - are you going there? Lots of love x