Melaka

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I took the bus from KL to Meleka which was straightforward and only took a few hours, you then just transfer onto the local bus 17 to go into the centre of town.

Melaka was an interesting little town, packed full of culture from all the colonial periods and was a really good break between the big cities of KL and Singapore, it kind of reminded me of the Brighton in comparison to London as it is a small, metropolitan town with a some markets and riverside cafes.

The history of the town is fascinating and has Portugese, Japanese, British and Chinese remanents and went through 6 countries during the colonial period. The town was based around a central red square left from the Portugese era and then you can just potter around the town for the day. There is a heritage trail which is marked out and quite a handy guide to follow. After arriving from KL I just popped my stuff over in the hostel close to Chinatown and then went back over the river to wonder up and down there. They have various museums, sights and markets full of lots of local foods and cheesy souveniers. A highlight from Meleka was definitely the variety of food. Due to the many different influences Meleka has developped its own real cuisine and has stalls selling the items everywhere- Nonya, celup, lots of different biscuits, chicken rice balls, special spring rolls and different types of Cleng have really helped Melakas tourist trade.

Chinatown was a really buzzing area and it is good to spend some time walking down the "Jonker Walk" which has some lovely little shops and galleries to look around. Additionally there are various temples that were just nice to have a look at.

You don't really need much more than a day there but it is definitely worth a little stop at just becasue the town had so much character and a reallly nice atmosphere to pick up.

Then, off to Singapore.

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