Day 2 - Melaka to Johor

---

After waking up several times throughout the night, I woke at 5:50am and reached to check the time, only to realise Bec was already awake too. We got another hour sleep before waking just before 7:00am. We were showered, dressed and out the door by 7:30am. Of course there was nothing open at this time but the beautiful thing was, there also wasn’t many people about either which made the photo taking a lot easier. We walked back in the same direction as the previous night, toward the Christ Church Melaka, then past the Hard Rock Cafe and down Jonker Street. It looked a lot different during the day with no people or flashy lights, faux clothing or junky bits and pieces. Some of the buildings were so old and beautiful.
We walked along the river and back toward the hotel detouring via the park with the planes and trains in it. It was at this point that a Chinese man approached us and asked if he could have a photo with us; we thought it was weird but obliged. Then walked away wondering what caption would be with it; are we his new wives? Who knows?!
There was still nothing open yet so we decided to head back to the hotel, showered, checked-out and jumped in our Proton bound for our next destination, Johor Bahru.
We entered our address in our Garmin and headed off. It was approximately 215kms from Melaka to Johor. Just when we were sure we were on the right road we saw the Polis (police) ahead stopping some cars and waving others through; we, of course got stopped.
We drove up to the police and they asked for Bec's licence then looked highly puzzled when she handed him her Victorian Driver's Licence. He then took it over to another policeman who looked just as puzzled. They had a laugh, walked back over to us and handed back Bec's license and we were on our way. We made another stop about 50kms into the drive at a service area to use the bathrooms. While stopped, I also got a banana chocolate bubble cup for breakfast; I wasn't overly hungry but thought I should have something. After our brief stop there, we had just over 100kms left before reaching Jahor Bahru.
We arrived at the Thistle Hotel just after 1:00pm, found our free parking at the rear of the hotel and made our way to the lobby. Check-in wasn't until 2:00pm but the lady at the counter let us check-in anyway.
The room here was fantastic; the beds were so soft and we were on the 8th floor. It wasn’t the best view out the window but it was nice being up higher.
From there we went down and checked out the pool, then decided to walk across the road and grab a light snack at KFC (yes, the vow to not eat rubbish didn't last long, but it was conveniently close). After that we walked back to the hotel, got changed and made our way down to the pool.
The sun was trying to come out but it was so smoggy that it was struggling - but it was still very hot. We sat by the pool for a few hours before deciding to go and shower and get ready to head out. We'd decided to drive down to the City Square Mall and a few other shops in the area.
The shopping centre itself was pretty rubbish but we managed to find somewhere there to grab some dinner; tonight it was Mexican.
After that we walked around a little longer before paying our 3MR for parking and driving back to the hotel. We did, however, get lost on the way and ended up in a fairly dodgy area where we even spotted a hooker; we quickly moved on and eventually got back on the right road. We were back at the hotel nice and early to get a good night's rest as the last two nights had been pretty light on for sleep.

Total Steps: 22,237
Total kms: 17.17

---