Arriving in Malaysia

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Arriving in Malaysia

The staff at our hotel in Singapore- the Fragrance Hotel Crystal -were so helpful in helping us find the best public transit to use, where to eat and what bus to take to Melaka - our first stop in Malaysia. We left on the 8:30 a.m. bus on Monday morning, April 27th, and travelled in luxury to Melaka. This was a regular long bus but just 6 rows with comfy seats which each stretched all the way out like a lazy boy chair….and excellent air cond. Crossing the borders for Singapore and Malaysia was very easy and efficient.

We arrived in Melaka about 4 hours later. A lovely historic port city on the west coast of Malaysia and a perfect introduction to Malaysia. The taxi driver himself was a wonderful tour guide pointing out sites of interest en route to our Guest House. We stayed at Kancil’s Guest House, recommended by Lonely Planet. Our host Dao was a wonderful welcoming and very kind man. His house is a huge Chinese Ancestral Home where he has many rooms for rent. We settled into a comfortable double room upstairs for 50 RM (about $17.CAN) per night. And he prepared wonderful breakfasts which we ate in the peaceful backyard garden.

We walked all over the first day and took a hop on/hop off bus for our second day. It was a treat to explore this city -Portuguese Square, traditional Malay Village, Dutch area, Chinatown -despite the heat and humidity -very hot and sticky! We could definitely have stayed longer but snorkelling called! Dao helped us plan our Malaysian tour and we headed off to Cherating on the east coast on Tuesday, April 29th.

The Malysian people we have met have all been very kind and welcoming- many speak English and many have travelled other places. We take our shoes off upon entering any Malay home or store -and we have decreased our alcohol intake to almost nil as most places are Muslim and do not serve alcohol - healthier for us! Does this mean we might lose weight too? Though the food is yummy....... and we are drinking delicious mango lassi -smoothie!

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Photos

Villa Sentosa
This a living Malay museum and is slated to be designated a UNESCO Heritage site in 2009

Our host at Villa Sentosa demonstrates the gong
This is a private home and this man is a member of the very impressive family who own it. He spent about an hour touring 4 of us around and explaining the varied collections....very interesting..... We each made a wish while striking the gong 3 times.

interesting characters on the sign
we took the hop on-off bus on to Chinatown

Jonker Street -Chinatown
great street to visit - temples -antique Chinese furniture - many shops....

friends at happy hour
we had a fun day touring Melaka with 2 young women from our Guest House - Anna from Germany and Tash from England - thanks you 2 -it was fun! - and we rewarded ourselves with Tiger beer at the Geographer's Cafe in Chinatown

view of housing and the sea from St. Paul
I love the one colourful house!