And relax...

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Geo: 2.19715, 102.249

Wow, Melacca! A small town, with heaps of character, about 5 hours north of Singapore. A little bit of history for you- the Portuguese colonized in 1509 and built some churches and a fort, the Dutch followed a while after and continued to add churches and strengthened the fort, and then finally the British came and destroyed the fort and made no effort to preserve the churches. Or so the stories here go. In 1946 it was returned to Malaysia and became a UNESCO site in 2008 (thanks Wikipedia!).

Previously the cheapest way to reach Singapore from KL was by taking a train/bus which passed through Malacca. As a result, many tourists would stop here on their journey- I was tempted to do this myself but am still passportless! Recently, Air Asia and other low cost airlines have started to fly KL to Singapore for as little as £5 which has dramatically reduced the number of tourists visiting Malacca. So at a time when the rest of Malaysia is fully booked, many guest houses, hostels, cafés, restaurants and shops here have permanently closed which creates a bit of a 'ghost town' feel, especially in the evening when the streets are deserted. Such a shame as it really is a nice, safe town with some of the nicest people I've ever met.

Yesterday morning I arrived here courtesy of the very comfortable and efficient 2 hour bus from Kuala Lumpur. We arrived in a torrential tropical thunderstorm and the first thing I saw was a giant Tesco- I honestly felt like I was back in the UK. Anyway, after about 3 hours the storm passed and it was time to do some exploring. The streets in the old town are really narrow and peppered with churches, temples and mosques. There are many small shops selling the ubiquitous artwork, clothes, scarves and bags etc indispersed with many fruit stalls- durians and mangoes are in season right now so I'm very happy! Outside the old town, and just the other side of the Malacca River, lay many of the 'tourist sites' I climbed to the top of St John's hill and the accompanying fort, got a little lost and found myself in the architecture museum, climbed another hill and found another church, and just generally did a lot of walking. Today was spent wandering in and out of museums- there is a museum for everything here! My favorite was the Islamic Malay museum which was really interesting and culturally relevant. The museum of Malacca which I visited previously just told me the story of kite making in China.

Most of the tourist sites are in a pedestrianized zone so, for those who don't want to use their legs in the humid heat, there are many tricycles which ferry people around. They look a bit like the Thai tuk-tuks but work like a bicycle so are much, much safer! The owners decorate them with flowers, Hello Kitty, Malaysian flags and any other bright and vibrant things they can find. They then ride them around blaring out loud music. I've discovered that much of the recent western music has yet to find it's way here and so the sounds of the Spice Girls, S Club 7, Backstreet Boys, Boyzone and Gangnam Style can be heard in every shop/cafe and from these tricycles- I'm in heaven! Haha

The food in Malaysia is incredible. I didn't know anything about the food before I arrived here and I've been pleasantly surprised. Yesterday's lunch was Malaysian rice and meat (see picture) and then dinner was an Indian curry served on a banana leaf and eaten by hand- saved having to faff with a fork and spoon! A little messy though. Not being quite sure what was happening, I accidentally ordered some extra roti so ended up eating enough food to feed a small army. Today started with a proper German breakfast, complete with chicken and potato, made by some people I'd met in the hostel. Followed by a bread/egg pancake thing filled with chicken, onion and cheese and then some Chinese food for dinner.

Tomorrow I want to rent a bike and head to some of the areas out of the town- the old Portuguese settlement, a mosque and the real China town. I hope the weather holds out! If not, I will cafe hop my way around the old town- hard life hey?!

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Photos

View over the town
That circle part of that tower is an observation deck which goes up circles for 5 mins and goes back down again

I've never seen a ceremony before
Trying to subtly take a photo...