Blogs from Melaka City, Melaka, Malaysia, Asia

Crossing the border from Singapore to Malaysia by bus is a breeze. We got a Grab to the bus station and were far too early but I was relieved to see that our easybook booking had gone through so we were OK for the 2 front seats. You have to go up to the 707 window and show your booking, then he ticks you off and he writes the bus reg number on it so you know which one. There is nowhere to sit at the bus station so we sat on our bags in the shade and used the loos at the last minute. Everywhere was very clean and being hired down and wiped constantly. There were posters up giving health advice about the virus. The 707 service bus pulls in across the road in ... read more

After five mostly sunny days in Penang, Linda and I awoke to the sound of pouring rain on Thursday (August 1st) to face the eight-hour bus ride to Melaka. With the forest-clad spine of mountains in Penang's interior buried under a thick blanket of clouds, we crossed back over to the mainland via the 24km Sultan Abdul Halim Muadzam Shah Bridge – which has a name almost as long as the bridge itself! As the only passengers left on the bus (which was actually more like a luxury coach, with fully-reclining seats that enabled Linda to sleep comfortably for most of the journey) we then spent our forty-minute stopover in Kuala Lumpur at an outdoor canteen beside the intercity bus terminal, where we were the only non-Malaysians (and Linda the only female!) amongst the motley crew ... read more

The breakfast was a real treat and we all agreed it was the best on the trip so far. At 10.00 we met on the foyer for a tour of old Melaka City. The influence of the Portuguese, the Dutch and the Chinese. How Dutch and British ships loaded up with bricks and tiles as ballast and sold them in the Eadt Indies for silks, spices etc. It became a world heritage site about ten years ago and there is a constant fund to resort the mish mash of buildings. Harmony Street was particularly interesting as it had a Hindu Temple, Mosque and Budddhist Temple all within two hundred yards of each other. After an hour and a half we called it a day as the kids were melting. We retraced our steps to an air ... read more

Nous arrivons à Malacca jeudi en début de matinée. Après quelques recherches pour dénicher notre point de chute, notre choix se porte sur la Travellers Planet Hotel & Guesthouse. Nous faisons ensuite le tour des guichets pour acheter nos tickets retour vers Singapour pour dimanche après-midi, ce qui s’avère un vrai parcours du combattant car tout ou presque est déjà vendu ! Heureusement qu’il reste des places auprès d’une compagnie de bus (la plus chère malheureusement, mais le tarif reste inférieur à si nous avions acheté nos tickets depuis Singapour). Nous rejoignons le centre-ville et notre logement en bus, et terminons cette 1ère journée sur place au calme. Vendredi et samedi sont consacrés à la découverte de la ville, inscrite comme George Town au patrimoine historique de l’UNESCO. Bien que Malacca semble moins agréable à visiter ... read more

After getting home about midnight we were in bed about 12:30am. The alarm went off at 6:00am and it was a struggle to get up but we were up and ready to leave by 6:40am. We got a very smooth run to the airport and arrived at the A1 Parking by 7:30am. We handed over the keys, jumped in the minibus and got delivered to the airport. We had already checked-in so were able to wait in the much shorter ‘bag drop’ line. It took maybe 15mins before we were bag free and headed in the direction of the Irish Pub for our 'Breakfast Vodka'. After that, Bec went for a quick smoke before we quickly went through customs. We got some non liquid breakfast at Hungry Jacks before a having a walk around the shops ... read more