Blogs from Melaka, Malaysia, Asia - page 34

Hello again! In answer to the age old question 'where are they now?' I can confirm the answer today is: Melaka. After a very quiet, chilled out 8 days in Kuala Lumpur, we hopped on a melaka-bound bus today and made the shorter than usual journey of just 2 hours. We're staying in a nice place called Traveller's Lodge and we know it's nice because we took some time to check out a neighbouring hostel, which turned out to be a bit grim and made us appreciate what a good choice we'd made in the first place! We did, however, downgrade to a smaller room as the one we were originally given had a really hard matress and I couldn't bear the thought of sleeping on that for our long stay here (when we tried to ... read more

Well, on Tuesday I got to add one more to the passport. Simon and I crossed the border into Malaysia, and got the bus up to Melaka. Nice enough little place. Lots of colonial history (Portuguese (who built a church among other things), Dutch (who modified the church among other things), and Brits (who used the church for storing gunpowder, among other things...)) Saw some of the sights, then decided it was basically too hot to keep tramping around, got on a bus, and came backto Singapore. Wednesday night Si and I had a boys night out, and got terribly, terribly drunk.... What do you expect when drinks cost $12 a jug (4 quidish), and Si knows the assistant manager who makes them significantly stroonger than usual?!!! Few more days to go, can't believe time's gone ... read more

Yesterday "Muar KL! Muar KL! Muar Muar KL KL! KL KL KL KL KL Muar Muar Muar KL!" - I'd have thought this was some incredibly strange birdcall if I couldn't see the small Muslim woman at Johor Bahru Bus Terminal screaming it outside the ticket offices. The terminal comprised of a long row of ticket offices for competing bus companies, fronted with an extsenisive, noisy and busy coach park, most of which was drowned out by this woman, who must be KKKL's greates asset. The ticket to Malacca/Melaka/Melacca etc (depending on preference, it seems) cost the equivalent of just over 2 pounds, and the coach turned out to be very comfortable and plush. Melaka is Malaysia's version of York: a small city with an extensive and colourful history that can keep a camera-wielding intellectual enthralled ... read more

After Kuala Lumpur we took the train to Melaka, or Tampin actually, about an hours drive from Melaka which doesnt have a train station. We were entertained by our taxi driver who was a bit crazy and had two teeth to his name, but knew lots about Melaka and the area to regail us with on the journey in his 1970s Nissan Saloon. Classy. Our guest house in Melaka was awesome, a really cute little place right by the river and the centre of town. The tourist areas of Melaka sadly are pants. The few remaing colonial buildings have been surrounded by concrete and tourists and spoilt. Oh and to Charlotte's dismay I insisted we visit the WORST replica ship in history in the mid day sun. Thankfully, the chinatown area was excellent, full of interesting ... read more

Melaka - Mersing - Tioman - Johor Bahru Well I think I have established that I am not a very intrepid traveller, I am finding the 'basic accom and resorts' hard to cope with. I think its because I'm on my own, I am sure if I was with someone, we would have a laugh about it and get on with it. But on my own, it leaves me feeling a bit vulnerable and wondering what the hell am I doing there? The last few days have been example of this. Melaka, on arrival by bus from KL, was a typical Malaysian town except with a little square of historical buildings and museum, all of which took an afternoon to explore. Otherwise it had very little going for it, I managed to find a nice clean ... read more